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ABSTRACT
Crustal extension in the overriding plate at the Aegean coarse-grained clastic sediments in these half-grabens are
subduction zone, related to the rollback of the subducting exclusively derived from the non-metamorphic units atop the
African slab in the Miocene, resulted in a detachment fault detachment fault. Being in direct tectonic contact with HP-LT
separating high-pressure/low-temperature (HP-LT) metamorphic metamorphic rocks of the lower tectonic units today, the basins
lower from non-metamorphic upper tectonic units on Crete. In must have formed in the period between c. 20 and 15 Ma, prior
western Crete, detachment faulting at deeper crustal levels was to the exposure of the HP-LT metamorphic rocks at the surface,
accompanied by structural disintegration of the hangingwall and juxtaposed with the latter during ongoing deformation.
leading to the formation of half-graben-type sedimentary
basins filled by alluvial fan and fan-delta deposits. The Terra Nova, 19, 3947, 2007
(e.g. Ring et al., 2001a,b; Ring and ches de la Crete occidentale. Seidel
Introduction Reischmann, 2002). The lower tec- (1968) uses the term Konglomerat
The island of Crete is a prominent tonic units were rapidly exhumed by und Brekzienkalke (carbonate
horst structure in the central fore-arc displacement along the low-angle nor- conglomerates and breccia) and Kopp
of the Hellenic subduction zone, mal detachment fault from a depth of and Richter (1983) report on synoro-
which is governed by rollback of the over 30 km within a few million years genetische Schuttbildungen (synoro-
African slab. The geology of Crete in the mid-Miocene (Jolivet et al., genic detritus). The suggested
provides a nearly complete record of 1996; Thomson et al., 1998, 1999; Brix stratigraphic age of the breccio-con-
the evolution of the plate boundary et al., 2002) and had reached a posi- glomerates ranges from pre-Neogene
between Eurasia and Africa during the tion in the upper crust at less than to middle Miocene (Freudenthal,
last 35 Myr. about 10 km depth by c. 19 Ma 1969; Tataris and Christodoulou,
The internal structure of the fore- (Thomson et al., 1998). The rate of 1969; Creutzburg et al., 1977; Kopp
arc exposed on Crete is characterized exhumation requires rollback of the and Richter, 1983; Kontopoulos
by a pile of nappes derived from subducting slab (e.g. Thomson et al., et al., 1996). A lower bound to the
dierent paleogeographic zones (Sei- 1998, 1999). depositional age is posed by clasts
del and Wachendorf, 1986). The nap- Both lower and upper tectonic units bearing middle to late Eocene for-
pes are subdivided into the upper are exposed in western Crete, predom- aminifers, an upper bound by the
tectonic units, lacking a Cenozoic inantly bound by late normal faults, Tortonian (c. 9 Ma) marine sediments
metamorphism, and the lower tectonic and partly covered by Neogene sedi- (Frydas and Keupp, 1996; Frydas
units with a late Oligocene to early ments deposited between c. 9 and et al., 1999; Keupp and Bellas, 2000)
Miocene high-pressure/low-tempera- 5 Ma (e.g. Keupp and Bellas, 2000). in north-western Crete, which trans-
ture (HP-LT) metamorphism (Seidel Underneath these marine sediments, gressively overly the breccio-conglom-
et al., 1982). The upper units (com- huge masses of mainly breccias and erates. These marine Tortonian
prising from top to bottom the so- conglomerates are exposed in two sediments contain clasts from all units
called Uppermost Unit, Pindos Unit, areas of western Crete (Fig. 1), which of the Cretan nappe pile, including the
Tripolitza Unit) are separated from must be older than 9 Myr. Here we HP-LT metamorphic lower tectonic
the lower units (comprising the Phyl- give an overview on the geometry and units, and are in turn underlain by
liteQuartzite Unit, Plattenkalk Unit) depositional environment of these coarse terrestrial sediments (Creutz-
by a low-angle normal detachment basin lls and propose a simple tec- burg, 1963; Freudenthal, 1969) con-
fault (Seidel and Theye, 1993; Fasso- tonic model to explain their formation sisting predominantly of detritus
ulas et al., 1994; Jolivet et al., 1994, and present day structure. derived from the HP-LT metamorphic
1996; Kilias et al., 1994), recently PhylliteQuartzite Unit. This means
referred to as the Cretan detachment that the HP-LT metamorphic lower
Previous research and dating of the
tectonic units beneath the detachment
basin fills
Correspondence: Dr Markus Seidel, Am fault were subject to erosion c. 10 Ma,
Lindbruch 29, D-41470 Neuss, Germany. The Miocene breccio-conglomerates at the latest. The same holds for the
Tel.: +49-2137-915070; e-mail: markus. were rst described by Aubouin and breccio-conglomerates, as lithied
seidel@gmx.net Dercourt (1965), referring to les bre- fragments of these materials are found
(b)
sources leading to numerous coales-
cing alluvial fans and fan-delta lobes
respectively. The interngering sedi-
mentary facies and the internal struc-
ture of the deposits lead to
characterization as alluvial fan, sub-
marine steep-faced slope and basin-
plain environments (Figs 11 and
12a,b), with typical features of a
slope-type fan delta (e.g. Westcott
and Ethridge, 1980; McPherson et al.,
1987; Choe and Chough, 1988; Ne-
mec, 1990; Postma, 1990; Prior and
Bornhold, 1990).
Provenance of clasts
Careful eld investigations and the
microscopic examination in thin sec-
tions of more than 250 samples have
shown that the components of the
breccio-conglomerates are exclusively
derived from the non-metamorphic
tectonic units atop the Cretan detach-
ment fault. Predominant clasts are
lagoonal limestones, biomicrites, bio-
sparites, slightly recrystallized lime-
stones, dolomitic limestones,
dolomites and dedolomites with
microfacies and fossil assemblages
corresponding to members of the
Tripolitza Unit. Minor clasts of radi-
olarites, micritic limestones with radi-
olarians (pelagic limestones),
calcarenites (turbiditic limestones),
sandstones and limestones with chert
are probably derived from the Pindos
Unit. The same holds for mm-sized
clasts made up of quartz, phyllosili-
cates and epidote or fragments of
metamorphic rocks (Cretaceous and
Paleogene ysch in the Pindos unit). A
few fragments of marble (Seidel, 2003)
Fig. 6 Huge clast (between the white arrows) in a matrix-rich debrisow deposit. The possibly represent the Uppermost
dimensions of the clast are c. 105 65 cm. Topolia gorge, roadside, c. 50 m south of Unit, situated atop the Pindos unit
the trac lights at the southern entrance of the tunnel. and otherwise not preserved in
Tectonic model
A simple tectonic model for the evo-
lution of western Crete between c. 20
and 10 Ma and the related half-gra-
bens are shown in Fig. 13. During
progressive crustal extension, caused
by rollback of the subducting plate,
strain became localized into a low-
angle normal detachment fault cutting
through the nappe pile down to a
depth of more than 30 km. At some
stage during progressive extension, the
hangingwall to the low-angle detach-
ment fault underwent minor
stretching, leading to the formation
of WE-trending half-grabens lled by
coarse-grained clastic sediments. As
shown by the spectrum of clastic
components, exclusively rocks of the
upper tectonic units constituting the
hangingwall to the low-angle normal
fault were subject to erosion at that
stage, while the HP-LT metamorphic
lower tectonic units in the footwall of
the detachment fault were not yet
exposed in the source area. Today, in
places, the Neogene clastic sediments
Fig. 10 Lithied debrisow deposit near Lissos. The grain size of the clasts is highly deposited in the half-grabens rest
variable; bedding and a preferred orientation of the clasts are not discernible; the immediately on HP-LT metamorphic
debrisow is matrix-rich. rocks of the PhylliteQuartzite Unit
Acknowledgements
The nancial support by the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (grants SE 282/
15, STO 196/14, PP 1006-ICDP) and the
University of Cologne is gratefully
acknowledged. We thank Prof. G. Kosta-
kis and E. Mistakidou (Technical Univer-
sity of Chania) for technical support and
Prof. G.H. Davis (University of Arizona)
for reprints.
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Fig. 11 Vertical log through a ne-grained sequence of the submarine part of the fossil zircon partial annealing in high
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