Upper Cenozoic stratigraphy and paleogeographic evolution of Myrtoon and adjacent basins, Aegean Sea, Greece

The southern Aegean Sea has undergone major subsidence as a result of back-arc extension during the Neogene. The details of this subsidence and the resulting sedimentation patterns have been examined in the Myrtoon basin and adjacent areas, including the south Evoikos, Saronikos and Argolikos gulfs, by comparing seismic stratigraphy and facies interpretation from multichannel seismic profiles with the stratigraphic and sedimentologic history of adjacent land areas. A detailed seismostratigraphy has been developed for the whole area in the late Neogene. The Messinian erosion surface is an important regional marker. Pliocene and early Quaternary markers are dated by comparison of marine transgressions with dated sections along the coast and dated volcanic rocks oil islands. The region appears to have progressively subsided since the Miocene. Myrtoon basin and Saronikos Gulf were lake basins in the Messinian that were flooded to form deep-water marine basins during the basal Pliocene transgression. South Evoikos and Argolikos basins were progressively flooded during the Pliocene and early Quaternary. In most areas, deep-marine basins filled principally with hemipelagic sediment, but a submarine fan developed in the early Pliocene in the northern Myrtoon basin and fail deltas built into the basin from the east and southwest. Opening of marine 'gateways' as a result of subsidence led to enhanced oceanographic circulation and the formation of regional erosion surfaces at basin margins. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.