Investigating the Messinian salt in the Lebanese Levant basin: Insights into the geology and tectonics of the eastern Mediterranean region

Abstract

The Messinian salt layer in the eastern Mediterranean region plays a key role in the Pliocene-Quaternary deformation and formation of the tectonic structures in the Levant Basin. The objective of this paper is to leverage 3D seismic reflection data from the northern Levant Basin offshore Lebanon in order to map the Messinian salt layer and understand its effect on the structures around it. For that, we used current 3D time seismic reflection data to investigate the seafloor and interpret the top and base of the salt layer, and we generated their corresponding bathymetric and structural maps. In addition, we generated isochron maps of the salt layer and the post-salt sedimentary section in an attempt to detect the variations in the lateral thicknesses of these layers. The presented maps helped to understand the impact of the Messinian salt deformation on the surrounding geological structures. We assess the distribution and geometries of the salt structures, and discuss the change in salt thickness across the basin. We also relate the halokinetic movement of the Messinian salt to the formation of bathymetric features along the seafloor. The results provide additional knowledge about the salt tectonics of the Messinian salt layer in the Levant Basin, and offer investigators to pursue further studies on the hydrocarbon potential in relation to the Messinian salt deformation.