Abstract
We report here the discovery of a basin, which we call the Tyro Basin, in the eastern Mediterranean in which anoxic conditions exist and organic-rich sediments are accumulating. Bottom water samples show extremely high salt concentrations. A horizontal midwater sound reflector about 70 m above the basin floor was observed in a seismic reflection profile across the basin. From shipboard observations we conclude that dissolution of Messinian evaporites, exposed by faulting in the sides of the basin, causes stagnant bottom conditions. This basin provides an opportunity to test some of the hypotheses concerning the formation of sapropels present in cores collected from the same area. Cores taken in an adjacent similar basin (for which we propose the name Kretheus Basin) indicate a recent change from anoxic to oxygenated conditions which was probably caused by tectonic activity associated with the Strabo Trench.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cita, M. B. & Grignani, D. Nature and Origin of Cretaceous carbon-rich Facies, 165–195 (Academic, New York, 1982).
Huchon, P., Lybéris, N., Angelier, J., Le Pichon, X. & Renard, V. Tectonophysics 86, 69–112 (1982).
McKenzie, D. P. Geophys. J. R. astr. Soc. 58, 217–254 (1978).
Le Pichon, X. & Angelier, J. Tectonophysics 60, 1–42 (1979).
Le Pichon, X. et al. Trench-Forearc Geology, 319–333 (Blackwell, Oxford, 1982).
Kenyon, N. H., Belderson, R. H. & Stride, A. H. Trench-Forearc Geology, 335–343 (Blackwell, Oxford, 1982).
Mascle, J. et al. Tectonophysics 86, 133–147 (1982).
De Lange, G. J. & Ten Haven, H. L. Nature 305, 797–798 (1983).
Calvert, S. E. Geol. Soc. Newslett. (Abstr.) 12(3), 14 (1983).
Shokes, R. F., Trabant, P. K., Presley, B. J. & Reid, D. F. Science 196, 1443–1446 (1977).
Ross, D. A., Hays, E. E. & Allstrom, F. C. Hot Brines and Recent Heavy Metal Deposits in the Red Sea, 82–97 (Springer, New York, 1969).
IOC-International Bathymetric Chart of the Mediterranean (Leningrad, 1981).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jongsma, D., Fortuin, A., Huson, W. et al. Discovery of an anoxic basin within the Strabo Trench, eastern Mediterranean. Nature 305, 795–797 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/305795a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/305795a0
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Metazoans of redoxcline sediments in Mediterranean deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basins
BMC Biology (2015)
-
Deep sea turbidites in brine-filled anoxic basins of the Mediterranean Ridge. Depositional models based on sedimentological and geochemical characterization
Rendiconti Lincei (2007)
-
Prehistoric mega-tsunami in the eastern Mediterranean and its sedimentary response
Rendiconti Lincei (2005)
-
Serpulid tube-worms (Annelida: Polychaeta) of the central and eastern mediterranean with particular attention to the Levant Basin
Senckenbergiana maritima (1996)