Structural development of the central Kyrenia Range (north Cyprus) in its regional setting in the eastern Mediterranean region

A detailed structural analysis of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic geological development of the central segment of the Kyrenia Range in its regional tectonic context is given here. The structural evidence comes from five structural traverses, outcrop observations, small-scale structures and related regional evidence. The majority of the structures are fault planes, of which a subordinate number exhibit slickenlines (fault plane data, n = 2688; with kinematics, n = 537). Additional kinematic data were obtained from C–S fabrics and folds. Small-scale structures in each stratigraphic unit were ‘backstripped’ to reveal relative chronology. Synthesis of the structural information indicates three phases of convergence-related deformation: (1) Late Cretaceous, associated with greenschist facies metamorphism, followed by exhumation that was probably associated with WNW–ESE to ENE–WSW-trending high-angle faulting; (2) Mid-Eocene, associated with southward thrusting, coupled with ~N–S strike-slip (transfer faulting) and oblique faulting in an overall sinistral transpressive stress regime; (3) Late Miocene-earliest Pliocene, involving southward thrusting and folding, localised back-thrusting, extensive fault reactivation and large-scale segmentation of the range. Intense uplift of the Kyrenia Range took place during the Plio-Pleistocene, possibly related to the collision of the Eratosthenes Seamount with the Cyprus trench to the south of the island. The three main convergent phases relate to stages of northward subduction and diachronous continental collision affecting the northerly, active continental margin of the Southern Neotethys.