Abstract: Reefs of Early Miocene (Aquitanian/Burdigalian) and Late Miocene (Tortonian) age are exposed in Cyprus, mainly around the periphery of the Troodos ophiolitic massif. Reef growth followed early Tertiary deep-water sedimentation and localized tectonic uplift. The Aquitanian/Burdigalian Terra Member formed on isolated, stable basement highs in southeast and west Cyprus. Up to 500 m- by 80 m-sized, faunally diverse patch reefs grew in relatively shallow, calm seas. Fore-reef and basinal facies are exposed in western Cyprus. Reefs of the Tortonian Koronia Member reflect local tectonic settings. Those in southern Cyprus developed on linear highs, related to earlier crustal compression. These reefs are preserved almost entirely as channelised talus in adjacent basins. Around the western and, particularly the northern margins of the Troodos ophiolite, reef growth was influenced by active crustal extension. Patch reefs in the north formed on uplifting fault blocks and large volumes of talus were shed down steep slopes into basins to the north. In west Cyprus, the reefs grew on both flanks of a gradually subsiding graben, with local preservation of back-reef facies. The Late Miocene reefs were dominated by Porites, first largely domal, then mainly as sheet-like encrustations. Growth of both the Early and Late Miocene reefs was preceded by erosion and was then followed by transgression, associated with a relative sea-level rise. Reef growth was finally brought to an end by Messinian desiccation of the Mediterranean. The reefs were cemented by Mg - calcite and botryoidal aragonite during and shortly after growth. Subsequently, during exposure to meteoric and brackish waters, the fabric of the reef was modified by dissolution, neomorphism, calcite spar and locally gypsum cementation. Uplift and extensional faulting caused fracturing of the, by then, brittle reefs (Terra Member) and fissures were locally enlarged by karst-forming solutions. A marine transgression in the ensuing Early Pliocene time then filled the fissures with fine-grained carbonate sediments, which were prone to mixing-zone dolomitization.

Abstract: Small patch reefs, up to 8 m high and 40-50 m across, occur locally within Early Miocene terrigenous clastic sediments in the Kasaba basin of Southwest Turkey. The patch reefs are located within a prograding fan delta-type succession, interpreted as part of a foreland basin, underlain by a collapsed Mesozoic carbonate platform. The Miocene foreland basin developed in response to southeasterly thrusting of a thick pile of allochthonous thrust sheets, the Lycian Nappes, representing Tethyan continental margin and oceanic units. Well preserved, undeformed patch reefs are present in the Upper Miocene Kasaba Formation; poorly preserved patch reefs also occur in the Lower Miocene Kemer Formation. The patch reefs developed directly on gravel and coarse sand fans, without pioneer coral development. The primary framework builders (Favites, Tarbellastraea, Montastraea, Porites) progressively changed in morphology upwards from dish-shaped, tabular corals, to large branching colonies. The patch reefs are asymmetrical in plan view, with more extensively developed off-reef facies on the landward flanks, where reworked reef-derived talus interfingers with terrigenous sediment. The primary coral framework was encrusted by a secondary framework of coralline algae and encrusting foraminifera. The reefs were modified by a variety of boring and grazing organisms (e.g., bivalves, sponges, bryozoa), producing abundant sediment that accumulated in areas between individual coral colonies and as off-reef flanking facies. The patch reefs are interpreted to have formed on the abandoned, submarine toes of coastal alluvial fans, following switching in sediment supply and/or change in relative sea level. In Southwest Turkey, wave and storm activity in the microtidal Mediterranean Sea was mainly onshore, reworking reef-derived material landwards. The patch reefs were later buried by alluvial fans, overthrust during final emplacement of the Lycian Nappes, then exhumed following uplift and erosion during Plio-Quaternary time.