Late Cretaceous (ca. 84 Ma) compressive deformation of the stable platformof northeast Africa (Egypt): Far-field stress effects of the "Santonian event" and origin of the Syrian arc deformation belt

Large-scale, northeast-trending asymmetric folds and associated contraction al faults, seismically induced slump structures, and strike-slip and extens ional faults of Santonian age occur within the Eastern Desert of Egypt, 150 km south of the Syrian are mobile belt. The region also displays a locally developed angular unconformity at the base of the flat-lying Campanian lim estone. These features demonstrate that the deformation event responsible f or the Syrian are also led to northwest-southeast shortening in central Egy pt ca, 84 Ma. The late Santonian shortening corresponds precisely with a br ief period of compression that swept across the entire African plate, coeva l with a significant change in the poles of opening of the North Atlantic. This "San tonian event" is a prominent example of the role that far-field c ompressional stresses can play in stable, intraplate settings.