ABSTRACT
Recently published academic and industrial 2D- and 3D-seismic data elucidate early stages of the evolution of the Messinian evaporites in the Levantine Basin/eastern Mediterranean. The tabular evaporites within the basin represent a salt giant which was deposited in a deep basin-shallow water environment. Six evaporitic sequences have been identified within the entire basin. Four units are interpreted as massive halite units and two of them as alternating successions of clastic sediments and/or evaporitic facies. Individual deformation of the intra-evaporitic sequences like folding and thrusting strongly suggests tectonic shortening during the depositional phase. A second thin-skinned tectonic phase started at the upper Pliocene when the prograding shelves and slopes squeezed the evaporites basinward. There is a clear line of evidence for fluid flow through and out of the evaporites.
