Hostname: page-component-788cddb947-xdx58 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-18T22:36:38.940Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Revised stratigraphy of the Mesozoic rocks of southern Cyprus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

R. E. Swarbrick  and
A. H. F. Robertson
R. E. Swarbrick
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Sedgwick Museum, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ
A. H. F. Robertson
Affiliation:
Grant Institute of Geology, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JW
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Recent resurgence of interest in the Mesozoic rocks of SW and southern Cyprus necessitates redefinition of the Mesozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks in line with modern stratigraphical convention. Two fundamentally different rocks associations are present, the Troodos Complex, not redefined, a portion of late Cretaceous oceanic crust, and the Mamonia Complex, the tectonically dismembered remnants of a Mesozoic continental margin. Based on earlier work, the Mamonia Complex is divided into two groups, each subdivided into a number of subsidiary formations and members. The Ayios Photios Group is wholly sedimentary, and records the evolution of a late Triassic to Cretaceous inactive continental margin. The Dhiarizos Group represents Triassic alkalic volcanism and sedimentation adjacent to a continental margin. Several other formations not included in the two groups comprise sedimentary mélange and metamorphic rocks. The Troodos Complex possesses an in situ late Cretaceous sedimentary cover which includes two formations of ferromanganiferous pelagic sediments, radiolarites and volcaniclastic sandstones. The overlying Cainozoic calcareous units are not redefined here.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 117 , Issue 6 , November 1980 , pp. 547 - 563
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cleintaur, M. R., Knox, G. J. and Ealey, P. J. 1977. The geology of Cyprus and its place in the East-Mediterranean framework. Geologie Mijnb. 56 (1), 66–82.Google Scholar
Delaune-Mayère, M., Marcoux, J., Parrot, J. F. & Poisson, A. 1976. Modèle d'évolution Mésozoïque de la paléo-marge Téthysienne au niveau des nappes radiolaritiques et ophiolitiques du Taurus Lycien, d'Antalya et du Baer-Bassit. Internat. Sympos. on the Struct. Hist. of the Mediterranean Basins, Split (Yugoslavia) (Biju-Duval, B. and Montadert, L.), pp. 79–94. 1977. Paris: Editions Techniq.Google Scholar
Ealey, P. J. & Knox, G. J. 1975. The pre-Tertiary rocks of S.W. Cyprus. Geologie Mijnb. 54 85–100.Google Scholar
Gass, I. G. 1960. The petrography, structure and evolution of the Troodos Massif, Cyprus. (Unpubl. thesis, Univ. of Leeds.)Google Scholar
Gass, I. G. 1968. Is the Troodos Massif a fragment of Mesozoic ocean floor? Nature, Lond. 220 39–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedberg, H. D. 1976. International Stratigraphic Guide. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Henson, F. R. S., Browne, R. V. & McGinty, J. 1949. A synopsis of the stratigraphy and geological history of Cyprus. Q. Jl Geol. Soc. Lond. 105 1–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kluyver, H. M. 1969. Report on a regional geological mapping in Paphos District. Bull. geol. Surv. Dep. Cyprus, 4 21–36.Google Scholar
Lapierre, H. 1968(a). Nouvelle observations sur la série sédimentaire Mamonia (Chypre). C.r. Acad. Sci., Paris, t. 267 32–3.Google Scholar
Lapierre, H. 1968(b). Découverte d'une série volcano-sédimentaire probablement d'âge Crétacé supérieure au SW de l'île de Chypre. C.r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris, D 266 1817–1820.Google Scholar
Lapierre, H. 1975. Les formations sédimentaires et éruptives des nappes de Mamonia et leur relations avec le Massif du Troodos. Mém. Soc. géol. Fr. 123.Google Scholar
Lapierre, H. & Rocci, G. M. 1969. Un bel exemple d'association congénétique laves-radiolaritescalcaires: la formation triasique de Pétra tou Romiou (Chypre). C.r. Acad. Sci., Paris, D 268 2637–40.Google Scholar
Lapierre, H. & Rocci, G. M. 1976. Le volcanisme alcalin du sud-ouest de Chypre et le problème de l'ouverture des régions téthysiennes au Trias. Tectonophysics, 30 299–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mantis, M. 1970. Upper Cretaceous — Tertiary foraminiferal zones in Cyprus. Cyprus Res. Centre, Nicosia, 227–241.Google Scholar
Marcoux, J. 1976. Les séries triasique nappes à radiolarites et ophiolites d'Antalya (Turquie): homologies et signification probable. Bull. Soc. géol. Fr. 18 511–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moores, E. M. & Vine, F. J. 1971. The Troodos Massif, Cyprus and other ophiolites as oceanic crust: evolution and implications. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 268 433–66.Google Scholar
Morel, S. W. 1964. The geology of Parekklisha area. Unpublished Cyprus Geological Surv. Dept. report.Google Scholar
Pantazis, Th. M. 1967. The geology and mineral resources of the Pharmakas-Kalavasos Area. Mem. geol. Surv. Dep. Cyprus, 8.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. H. F. 1976. Pelagic chalks and calciturbidites from the lower Tertiary of the Troodos Massif, Cyprus. J. Sed. Pet. 46 1007–1016.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. H. F. 1977(a). The Moni Mélange, Cyprus: an olistostrome formed at a destructive plate margin. J. geol. Soc. Lond. 133 447–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A. H. F. 1977(b). The Kannaviou Formation, Cyprus: volcaniclastic sedimentation of a probable late Cretaceous volcanic arc. J. geol. Soc. Lond. 134 269–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A. H. F. & Hudson, J. D. 1974. Pelagic sediments in the Cretaceous and Tertiary history of Cyprus. In Pelagic Sediments: On Land and Under the Sea (ed. Hsu, K. J. and Jenkyns, H. C.) Spec. Pubis. Intn. Ass. Sedimentologists 1 403–36.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. H. F. & Woodcock, N. H. 1979. Mamonia Complex, S.W. Cyprus: Origin and emplacement of a Mesozoic Continental Margin. Bull. geol. Soc. Amer. 90 651–55.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A. H. F. & Woodcock, N. H. 1980(a). Origin and emplacement of the allochthonous rocks of Southern Cyprus. Proc. 6th Colloq Aegean. Geol. Izmir, 1977. (In press.)Google Scholar
Robertson, A. H. F. & Woodcock, N. H. 1980(b) Structural setting of the Troodos Massif in the East Mediterranean. Proceedings of International Ophiolite Symposium, Nicosia, Cyprus, 1979. (In press.)Google Scholar
Smith, A. G., Hynes, A. J., Menzies, M., Nisbet, E. G., Price, I., Welland, M. H. & Ferrier, E. J. 1975. The stratigraphy of the Othris Mountains, Eastern Central Greece: a deformed Mesozoic continental margin sequence. Eclogae geol. Helv. 68, (3), 463–81.Google Scholar
Swarbrick, R. E. 1980. The Mamonia Complex, S.W. Cyprus; a Mesozoic continental margin and its relationship to the Troodos Complex. Proc. Int. Ophiolite Symposium, Nicosia, Cyprus, 1979. (In press.)Google Scholar
Swarbrick, R. E. & Naylor, M. A. 1980. The Kathikas Mélange, S.W. Cyprus: late Cretaceous submarine debris flows. Sedimentology 27 63–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, W. M. 1973. The Cyprian Gravity Nappe and the autochthonous basement of Cyprus. In Gravity and Tectonics (ed. de Jong, K. A. & Scholten, R.), pp. 287–301. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Vine, F. J., Poster, C. K. & Gass, I. G. 1978. Aeromagnetic Survey of the Troodos Igneous Massif. Nature Phys. Sci. Lond. 244 34–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, R. A. M. 1959. The geology and mineral resources of the Xeros-Troodos Area. Mem. geol. Surv. Cyprus, 1.Google Scholar
Woodcock, N. H. & Robertson, A. H. F. 1977. Origins of some ophiolite related metamorphic rocks of the ‘Tethyan’ belt. Geology 5 373–76.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodcock, N. H. & Robertson, A. H. F. 1980. Tectonics and sedimentation as a guide to emplacement of part of the Antalya Complex, S.W. Turkey. Proc. 6th Colloq. Aegean Geology, Izmir, 1977.Google Scholar