Tracing Oligocene−Miocene source-to-sink systems in the deep Levant Basin: A sandstone provenance study

The Levant Basin in the Eastern Mediterranean contains an ∼3-km-thick, predominantly siliciclastic section of Oligocene−Miocene age, which hosts large hydrocarbon reservoirs (“Tamar Sands Play”). Here, we present a provenance study of Oligocene−Miocene sandstones based on detrital zircon U-Pb-Hf and heavy mineral assemblages. Samples were retrieved from four boreholes across the Levant Basin: Myra-1, Dolphin-1, Leviathan-1, and Karish North-1. Our investigations revealed that the sediments are dominated by Neoproterozoic and older Precambrian zircons with variable Hf isotopic composition, indicating that they were mainly reworked from Paleozoic−Mesozoic sandstones of African-Arabian provenance, with minor derivation from the Neoproterozoic basement of the Arabian-Nubian Shield. Variations in the proportions of pre−900 Ma zircons were encountered in various levels of the siliciclastic section. These zircons were markedly enriched (44%−57%) in the Rupelian and Aquitanian−Burdigalian intervals, accompanied by abundant detrital apatite peloids in the heavy mineral fraction, and relatively sparse (21%−38%) in the Chattian−Aquitanian and Langhian−Tortonian intervals, alongside scarce Mesozoic−Cenozoic zircons. These findings allow us to associate the deep-basin detrital record with two sedimentary transport systems that reached the Levant Basin from both NE Africa and Arabia simultaneously until the late Miocene, when sediment transport from Arabia ceased. While Rupelian and Aquitanian−Burdigalian sediments, including the main section of the “Tamar Sands,” were derived mainly from Arabian sources via the Levant continental margin, Chattian−Aquitanian and Langhian−Tortonian sediments were primarily sourced from NE Africa via the Nile Delta. Detrital contribution from the Eurasian side of the Eastern Mediterranean was not identified, suggesting that sand originating in the Arabia-Eurasia collision belt did not reach the Levant Basin.