Open Questions and New Frontiers for Exploration in the Deep-Water Domain of the Levant Basin

Abstract

Summary The Levant Basin is currently a hot-spot in terms of oil and gas exportation. The world-class gas discoveries offshore Egypt, Cyprus and Israel within Oligo-Miocene turbiditic sands and Early Cretaceous carbonate buildups turned the limelight to this part of the East Mediterranean. Open questions regarding its tectonic evolution include the depth, thickness and nature of the crust, the dominant trend of the Tethyan rift structures and phases, the effect of the Late Mesozoic plate collision along the Cyprus and Latakia Arcs and the distribution, nature, and origin of the Early–to-Middle Miocene structures. Data collected in both the Levant northern and southern sub-basins allow comparing them and drawing conclusions regarding few of these questions. Both basins lack any sign of the Late Mesozoic collision, they subsided fast since the Early Tertiary and were subject to intense Early-to-Middle Miocene activity, resulting in diapir-like structures in the south and long, N-S folds in the north. The Oligo-Miocene section in both basins is as yet a major target for oil and gas exploration and the implications of our study for the timing of trap formation coupled with hydrocarbon expulsion and migration open new directions for future studies.