Geological analysis of geophysical data obtained by the interpretation of crustal profiles indicates that in the central Mediterranean region the following structural domains can be distinguished: the foreland domains, an orogenic belt, and the Corsica-Sardinia block. The foreland domains are represented by two continental blocks, the Apulian block to the north and the Pelagian block to the south, belonging respectively to the Adria and to the Africa plates, separated by the oceanic crust of the Ionian Sea. The orogenic belt is located between two oceanic crusts: the old Ionian crust, at the present time subducting beneath the Calabrian arc, and the new crust of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The orogenic belt is represented by a multilayer allochthonous edifice composed of the Calabride chain, which tectonically overlies the so-called Apenninic-Maghrebian chain, which in turn is overthrust onto the upper Miocene and Pliocene top levels of a deep-seated thrust system that originated from the deformation of the innermost carbonates of the Apulian and Pelagian blocks (the external thrust system). The Calabride chain is composed of crystalline nappes originating, since the Eo-Oligocene, from the delaminated margin of the Europe plate. The Apenninic-Maghrebian chain tectonic units derive from the orogenic transport during Oligo-Miocene times of sedimentary sequences deposited in paleogeographic domains located between the Europe and the Afro-Adria plates. These units are composed of meso-Cenozoic shallow-water carbonate successions detached from a continental type of crustal sector named here the Panormide-Apenninic block. This is now recognizable by means of seismic lines shot in the Tyrrhenian off-shore of the southern Apennines and northern Sicily. The meso-Cenozoic basinal units that constitute the Apenninic-Maghrebian chain can be distinguished into two main groups of sequences, originally located on oceanic crusts separated by the Panormide-Apenninic crust: the external ones (Ionides) related to an original basin belonging to part of the Ionian paleo-basin involved in the orogenesis (Lagonegro, Imerese, Sicanian, and Monte Judica units) and the internal ones ascribed to the Alpine Tethys (Liguride-Sicilide units). The previously described allochthonous edifice is characterized by thin-skinned tectonics and represents a roof thrust system resting on the external thrust system, which derived from thick-skinned tectonics that produced folds and reverse faults with relatively moderate horizontal displacements. The external thrust system developed from late Miocene times, contemporaneously with the opening of the Tyrrhenian basin, and is named the Apulian thrust system in southern Italy and the Pelagian-Sicilian thrust belt in Sicily. The crustal sections of the CROP project (Deep Seismic Exploration in the Central Mediterranean and Italy) allow us to distinguish the thickness and distribution of the crusts in this area of the Mediterranean Sea, and they confirm that the foreland continental blocks, the Apulian and the Pelagian blocks, are separated by the Ionian oceanic crust. Both the foreland blocks extend below the orogenic belt, reaching the Tyrrhenian margins, with a gradual thinning and a transition to a Paleo-Ionian slab, probably not active at present time, from which the Ionides detached and overrode the external thrust system. The seismogeological data indicate the presence of a continental block, original basement of the Panormide-Apenninic platforms, that took part in the closure of the sectors of the Paleo-Ionian Sea interposed between the Panormide-Apenninic crust and the Pelagian and Apulian blocks. At the present time, it is colliding with the foreland blocks. Thus, this has been identified as collisional crust. The geologic evidence of this collisional stage is manifested in the northwest-southeast-oriented South Tyrrhenian system, which is characterized by dextral faults affecting both off-shore and on-shore areas of Sicily. A mirrorlike sinistral fault system occurs in the southern Apennines. Interpretative seismic reprocessing has permitted clear seismic imaging of the subducted Ionian slab. The distribution of the earthquakes transversally and longitudinally indicates that the slab is narrowing in a vertical direction; thus, at present, the active slab is limited to a short segment between northeastern Sicily (the Vulcano line) and southern Calabria (the Catanzaro line). To the west and to the northeast of these lines, a collisional setting can be recognized. The geological and geophysical data and the volcanological characteristics of the study area permit us to restore the paleogeographic and paleotectonic setting and have allowed us to recognize three orogenic stages: the Eo-Alpine, which originated during Cretaceous–Eocene times but is less evident in the study area; the Balearic stage (late Oligocene–early Miocene), in which the Corsica-Sardinia block collided with the Adria-Africa margins with thrusting of the Alpine Tethydes over Panormide units; and the Tyrrhenian stage (middle Miocene to present), when the onset of the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin occurred and the collisional crust followed the Ionian slab retreat, closing the interposed basin with tectonic transport of the Ionian ocean cover (the Ionides) over the foreland blocks.

Abstract The Oligocene–Miocene was a time characterized by major climate changes as well as changing plate configurations. The Middle Miocene Climate Transition (17 to 11 Ma) may even have been triggered by a plate tectonic event: the closure of the eastern Tethys gateway, the marine connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. To address this idea, we focus on the evolution of Oligocene and Miocene foreland basins in the southernmost part of Turkey, the most likely candidates to have formed this gateway. In addition, we take the geodynamic evolution of the Arabian–Eurasian collision into account. The Muş and Elazığ basins, located to the north of the Bitlis–Zagros suture zone, were most likely connected during the Oligocene. The deepening of both basins is biostratigraphically dated by us to occur during the Rupelian (Early Oligocene). Deep marine conditions (between 350 and 750 m) prevailed until the Chattian (Late Oligocene), when the basins shoaled rapidly to subtidal/intertidal environment in tropical to subtropical conditions, as indicated by the macrofossil assemblages. We conclude that the emergence of this basin during the Chattian severely restricted the marine connection between an eastern (Indian Ocean) and western (Mediterranean) marine domain. If a connection persisted it was likely located south of the Bitlis–Zagros suture zone. The Kahramanmaraş basin, located on the northern Arabian promontory south of the Bitlis–Zagros suture zone, was a foreland basin during the Middle and Late Miocene, possibly linked to the Hatay basin to the west and the Lice basin to the east. Our data indicates that this foreland basin experienced shallow marine conditions during the Langhian, followed by a rapid deepening during Langhian/Serravallian and prevailing deep marine conditions (between 350 and 750 m) until the early Tortonian. We have dated the youngest sediments underneath a subduction-related thrust at c . 11 Ma and suggest that this corresponds to the end of underthrusting in the Kahramanmaraş region, i.e. the end of subduction of Arabia. This age coincides in time with the onset of eastern Anatolian volcanism, uplift of the East Anatolian Accretionary Complex, and the onset of the North and East Anatolian Fault Zones accommodating westward escape tectonics of Anatolia. After c . 11 Ma, the foreland basin south of the Bitlis formed not (or no longer) a deep marine connection along the northern margin of Arabia between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. We finally conclude that a causal link between gateway closure and global climate change to a cooler mode, recorded in the Mi3b event (δ 18 O increase) dated at 13.82 Ma, cannot be supported.

Abstract Over the last 65 Ma, our world assumed its modern shape. This timespan is divided into the Palaeogene Period, lasting from 65 to 23 Ma and the Neogene, which extends up to the present day (see Gradstein & Ogg (2004) and Gregory et al. (2005) for discussion about the Quaternary). Throughout the Cenozoic Era, Africa was moving towards Eurasia in a northward direction and with a counterclockwise rotation. Numerous microplates in the Mediterranean area were compressed, gradually fusing, and Eurasia underwent a shift from a marine archipelago to continental environments, related to the rising Alpine mountain chains ( Figs 17.1 & 17.2 ). Around the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, Africa's movement and subduction beneath the European plate led to the final disintegration of the ancient Tethys Ocean. The Indo-Pacific Ocean came into existence in the east while various relict marine basins remained in the west. In addition to the emerging early Mediterranean Sea, another relict of the closure of the Tethys was the vast Eurasian Paratethys Sea. The Oligocene and Miocene deposits of Central Europe are largely related to the North Sea in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the south and the intermediate Paratethys Sea and its late Miocene to Pliocene successor Lake Pannon. At its maximum extent, the Paratethys extended from the Rhône Basin in France towards Inner Asia. Subsequently, it was partitioned into a smaller western part consisting of the Western and the Central Paratethys and the larger Eastern Paratethys. The Western Paratethys comprises the Rhône Basin and the Alpine Foreland Basin of Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria. The Central Paratethys extends from the Vienna Basin in the west to the Carpathian Foreland in the east where it abuts the area of the Eastern Paratethys. Eurasian ecosystems and landscapes were impacted by a complex pattern of changing seaways and land bridges between the Paratethys, the North Sea and the Mediterranean as well as the western Indo-Pacific (e.g. Rögl 1998 ; Popov et al. 2004 ). This geodynamically controlled biogeographic differentiation necessitates the establishment of different chronostratigraphic/geochronologic scales. The geodynamic changes in landscapes and environments were further amplified by drastic climate changes during the Cenozoic. The warm Cretaceous climate continued into the early Palaeogene with a distinct optimum near the Palaeocene-Eocene boundary (Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum) and the Early Eocene (Early Eocene Climate Optimum). A gradual decrease in temperature during the later Eocene culminated in the formation of the first icesheets in Antarctica around the Eocene-Oligocene boundary ( Zachos et al. 2001 ; Prothero et al. 2003 ). A renewed warming trend that began during the Late Oligocene continued into the Middle Miocene with a climax at the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum. The turning point at around 14.2 Ma led to the onset of the Middle Miocene Climate Transition indicated by the cooling of surface waters and the expansion of the East Antarctic icesheet ( Shevenell et al. 2004 ). A final trend reversal during the Early Pliocene is reflected by a gentle warming until 3.2 Ma ( Zachos et al. 2001 ) when the onset of permanent Arctic glaciation heralded the Pleistocene ice ages (see Litt et al. 2008 ). The Cenozoic history of Central Europe is chronicled in a dense pattern of Palaeogene and Neogene basins. In addition to the more stable North Sea Basin, the majority of these basins were strongly influenced by the Alpine compressive tectonics which caused a general uplift of Europe during the Cenozoic (see Froitzheim et al. 2008 ; Reicherter et al. 2008 ). The marginal position of the seas covering the area and the considerable synsedimentary geodynamic control resulted in incomplete stratigraphic sequences with frequent unconformities, erosional surfaces and depositional gaps. This chapter deals with the Paleogene and Neogene (“Tertiary”) geological development of Central Europe and its adjacent areas. It is structured according to the main geological regions relevant for the Cenozoic: (1) The European Plate; (2) the Alps and Alpine Foredeep; (3) the Carpathians, their foredeep and the Pannonian Basins System; and (4) the Southern Alps and Dinarides. Each subchapter is arranged from west to east, and north to south.

ABSTRACT A broad synform in the Balagne region of northern Corsica (France) comprises the most complete remnant of the southwestern Alpine foreland basin and associated orogenic wedge, which have been otherwise fragmented and mostly eroded by a late Cenozoic postcollisional episode of microplate dispersal along the southern European continental margin. The Upper Cretaceous–Eocene turbidites of the Balagne region record the opening and subsequent progressive closure of the Ligurian-Piedmont ocean, the main branch of the Alpine Tethys in the Western Mediterranean. Sandstone detrital modes (gross and heavy-mineral compositions) of the Balagne turbidites can be compared with those of age-equivalent lithostratigraphic units of the western Alps and the Northern Apennines, thus defining broad sediment paleodispersal patterns and providing compelling paleogeographic constraints on the transition from pre-orogenic passive-margin to synorogenic foreland sedimentation. Upper Cretaceous turbidites of the Novella and Alturaia Formations were deposited along the northeastern (European) margin of the narrow Ligurian-Piedmont ocean. In contrast, the mixed carbonate/siliciclastic turbidites of the Upper Cretaceous Narbinco Formation have a distinct composition relative to the age-equivalent Novella and Alturaia Formations and cannot have been derived from the same sediment source area of the Helminthoid Flysch of the Northern Apennines and the Ligurian Alps. The Middle Eocene Balagne foreland basin fill represents a phase of sediment underfilling during the progressive flexure of the Corsican foreland in front of the advancing Alpine orogenic wedge. The basin-fill succession consists of, from bottom to top: (1) continental-to-transitional conglomerate and sandstone filling paleodepressions within the foreland basement complex; (2) thin and discontinuous nummulitic limestone capping—and partly lateral equivalent to—the basal conglomerate; (3) hemipelagic pelite; and (4) a thick turbidite section.

Abstract Today, the main flux of sediment from the Iberian Peninsula is carried to the Atlantic Ocean by westerly or northwesterly flowing rivers. The only major contribution of sediment from Iberia to the Mediterranean is that carried by the Ebro River, which flows along a foreland basin before cutting through the Catalan Ranges to form a delta in the adjacent Valencian Trough of the Mediterranean. During the Cretaceous and Early Eocene the sediment flux was to the northwest in this part of Iberia. During Late Eocene–Tortonian times it was mainly centripetal, as in other Tertiary Basins in Iberia. Beginning in the Seravallian–Tortonian the main flux of sediment has been to the adjacent Valencian Trough of the Mediterranean. This change in direction, it is proposed, was initiated in Pre-Messinian times by a small river cutting back into the Ebro Basin by headward erosion and was possibly aided, or even induced, by changes in palaeo-slope during contemporaneous rifting along the Mediterranean coast.

Abstract The vast thickness (>10 km) of relatively undeformed Cambrian to Recent sedimentary cover of the Moesian Platform in Romania and Bulgaria offers an exceptional record of Cimmerian and Alpine tectonics in the surrounding Carpathian and Balkan thrust-fold belts. Above the Hercynian unconformity, Permian to Middle Triassic continental to shallow marine sediments deposited in a facies succession are quite typical for the European passive margin. Widespread Anisian-Carnian vol- canism indicates an aborted rifting period also marked by locally very thick (>2000 m) evaporites. Based on systematic analysis of reflection seismic data and isopach maps, we interpret two large-scale subsurface features (Optasi- Peris uplift and North Bulgarian arch) as Middle Triassic rift flanks associat-ed with two aborted, E-trending branches of the Paleotethys Basin. The striking appearance of the crystalline basement and the deeper levels of the Paleozoic succession (Cambrian-Silurian systems) in the subcrop of the over-lying Jurassic can be understood in terms of rapid uplift and severe denuda-tion of the rift shoulders. The extensional period was replaced during the Norian-Rhaetian times by a compressional regime in the whole Moesian Platform. Although these Late Triassic Cimmerian folds were undoubtedly formed due to compression, detailed structural analysis permitted a more specific interpretation of the deformation in terms of fault-bend folding in a north-vergent, thin-skinned thrust-fold belt. Structural modeling of the anticlines suggests relatively minor shortening (9-18%). Whereas these structures are very characteristic for North Bulgaria, their structural significance is gradually diminishing to the north, in the Romanian part of the platform. In a wider paleotectonic sce-nario, the north-vergent anticlines beneath the Moesian Platform are inter-preted as the frontal, foreland thrust-fold belt of the Mediterranean Cimmerides propagating into the foreland. Above the Cimmerian unconformity, the sedimentary facies and thickness relations of Lower to Middle Jurassic carbonates clearly show the develop-ment of a south-facing passive margin. East-west-trending Jurassic troughs bounded by normal faults can be documented in the southern, Bulgarian side of the Moesian Platform. From the Early Cretaceous on, sedimentation was clearly influenced by successive compressional periods in the Balkans approaching the southern edge of the Moesian Platform. These consecutive Cretaceous through Eocene Alpine compressive periods, such as the Austrian, Mediterranean, Laramian, Illyrian, and Pyrenean, created the north-vergent thrust-fold belt of the Balkans separated from the platform sequence by a series of relatively narrow foredeeps. Whereas the final docking of the Balkans on the Moesian Platform margin occurred at the end of the Eocene, this did not happen on the northern edge until the late Miocene, when the Carpathians stopped moving onto the platform.