| Abstract: | A brief review of the geological knowledge on the anoxic basins of the eastern Mediterranean is presented. Anoxic basins have been discovered in two different geological settings in the eastern Mediterranean. Bannock Basin belongs to the compressional style of the Mediterranean Ridge, and Tyro and Poseidon Basins belong to the transcurrent tectonic style of the Strabo Trench. The origin of the basins is subsurface salt dissolution triggered by tectonic deformation of the sediments on the Mediterranean Ridge, and tectonic subsidence (pull-apart mechanism) in the Strabo Trench. The onset of a deep-sea brine lake is always related to the outcrop of Messinian salts on the side-walls of the basin. The rate of basin subsidence controls the evolution of the brine lakes, which can also be completely diluted by bottom water circulation. |
