Eratosthenes Seamount: collisional processes in the easternmost Mediterranean in relation to the Plio‐Quaternary uplift of southern Cyprus

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Abstract
Important new light is shed on subduction and incipient collisional processes in the Easternmost Mediterranean, notably the Plio‐Quaternary uplift of the Troodos ophiolite, from new geophysical information collected during a cruise of the R.V. Gelendzhik in July 1993, as part of the Training‐through‐Research' programme. The data collected over the Eratosthenes Seamount formed part of the site‐survey work for Leg 160 of the Ocean Drilling Program scheduled for spring 1995. The main results are that the Eratosthenes Seamount is in the process of actively subsiding, breaking‐up and being thrust, beneath both Cyprus to the north and the Levantine Basin to the south. Northwards thrusting appears to post‐date the Messinian, when evaporites accumulated around the lower flanks of a pre‐existing seamount feature. Comparison with the geology of southern Cyprus and offshore areas suggests a causative link between northward underthrusting of the Eratosthenes Seamount and late Pliocene‐mid Quaternary uplift of southern Cyprus, focused on the centre of the Troodos ophiolite.