The Oligo-Miocene deepwater system of the Levant Basin

- 5 -intrusion and stretching of the crust took place, no indications for sea-floor spreading andemplacement of new oceanic crust are found (Gardosh and Druckman, 2006).The post-rift phase is associated with cooling and subsidence that was probably more intense withinthe basin than on the eastern margin. The Late Jurassic to Middle Cretaceous section records agradual formation of a passive-margin profile and the subsequent development of a deep-marinebasin bordered by a shallow-marine shelf (Bein and Gvirtzman, 1977; Garfunkel, 1998). Thepassive-margin stage is characterized by recurring cycles of marine transgression and regressionassociated with relative sea-level changes (Flexer et al., 1986; Gardosh, 2002). These are reflectedby marine onlaps, unconformity surfaces, stacking of carbonate platforms, on the basin's margin,and mass transported deposition in the basin.The convergence phase is related to the closure of the Neotethyan Ocean system and the northwardmotion of the Afro-Arabian plate towards Eurasia (Robertson, 1998). In the Levant region thismotion is manifested by large-scale contractional deformation of the Syrian Arc fold belt (Krenkel,1924; Picard, 1959). Syrian Arc type folds are found throughout the Levant region, in an areaextending from the Western Desert of Egypt, through Israel to Lebanon and Syria. Based on surfacestudies, Walley (2001) suggested two main folding phases: Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary. Thesubsurface study of the Levant Basin confirmed this suggestion (Gardosh and Druckman, 2006;Gardosh et al., 2006; Bar et al., 2008; Gardosh et al., 2008). The Late Cretaceous Syrian Arc phaseI is characterized by inversion of the Early Mesozoic normal faults and the development ofasymmetric, high-amplitude folds found mostly near the eastern Levant margin and further inland.The Early Tertiary Syrian Arc phase II is characterized by the formation of low-amplitude foldsthroughout the basin, uplifting and tilting of marginal blocks at the eastern part of the basin andfurther inland. The contractional activity resulted with the formation of a wide elevated fold belt inthe eastern part of Levant basin, extending 50-70 km west of the present-day coastline (Gardosh andDruckman, 2006; Gardosh et al., 2006; Gardosh et al., 2008).Tertiary tectonic activity and sea-level falls caused intense erosion and accumulation of severalkilometers thick basin-fill (Gardosh et al., 2006; Gardosh et al., 2008). Fluvial systems flowed onthe exposed shelf from elevated areas in the east, while submarine turbidity currents incised theupper slope and transported siliciclastic sediments further into the basin (Druckman et al., 1995).The Oligo-Miocene and Pliocene drainage system includes several main submarine canyons andnumerous secondary conduits (Gardosh et al., 2006; Gardosh et al., 2008). Two of the canyons in