The Opening of the Eastern Mediterranean and its Impact on the Tectonics of North Africa

The opening of the Eastern Mediterranean had a large impact on the structure of the North African passive margin. The first extension event that lead to the formation of the ocean can be traced back to the Permian. A Permian rift system is preserved in the subsurface of Tunisia, north of the Jefarra uplift. Renewed rifting occurred in the Triassic. Triassic rifts are preserved in the Atlas, Sicily, Sirt, and Levant margins. A phase of Jurassic rifting is observed in the Nile Delta and Sicily but a possible occurrence of rifting in the Sirt basin is obscured by younger Cretaceous rifting. Jurassic rift structures also occur in the Atlas. The North African margin rifted again in the Early Cretaceous when the Sirt Basin formed on the site of earlier Triassic rifts. The Sirt rift faults form a 3 armed system where the eastern faults trend E-W parallel to the earlier Triassic rift system. A southern arm trends SSW and a NW branch continues offshore across the passive margin. Early Cretacous rifts occur extensively in North Africa and are known to be related to South Atlantic spreading.