The Eratosthenes Continental Block in the Eastern Mediterranean - A Result of the Neo-Tethys and Alpine Tectonic Histories

2D and 3D Petroleum GeoServices and seismic surveys (PGS) acquired by operating companies, new well data have shed new light on the tectono-stratigraphic history of the Eratosthenes Continental Block (ECB) in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Its origin resulted from a period of rifting and extension during Triassic to Middle Jurassic and the formation of the Neo-Tethys. The ECB is a continental sliver detached from Arabia along NNW-SSE transform faults. Above a break-up unconformity, thick carbonate platforms developed during the Middle Upper Jurassic and the Lower Cretaceous. Two families of carbonate build-ups developed as a barrier at the edge of the platforms. In the centre of the ECB, carbonate growth was continuous. Drowning occurred in the Turonian, resulting in the deposition of pelagic chalks through to the Oligocene. The ECB was then deformed by the Neogene tectonics. A compression of Lower Miocene age affected the Levant Basin and uplifted the centre and western margin of the ECB and deformed the Herodotus basin sediments into west-vergent thrust anticlines. A Miocene carbonate platform developed on the top. Further deformations are linked to the northward subduction of the ECB below the Cyprus Arc. Results of 2D petroleum system modelling of the ECB will be presented.