First Paleomagnetic Map of the Easternmost Mediterranean Derived from Combined Geophysical-Geological Analysis

The easternmost Mediterranean is a tectonically complex region evolving in the long term and located in the midst of the progressive Afro-Eurasian collision (e.g., Ben-Avraham, 1978; Khain, 1984). Both rift-oceanic systems and terrane belts are known to have been formed in this collision zone (Stampfli et al., 2013). Despite years of investigation, the geological-geophysical structure of the easternmost Mediterranean is not completely known. The formation of its modern complex structure is associated with the evolution of the Neotethys Ocean and its margins (e.g., Ben-Avraham and Ginzburg, 1990; Robertson et al., 1991; Ben-Avraham et al., 2002). The easternmost Mediterranean was formed during the initial phase of the Neotethys in the Early and Late Permian (Golonka and Ford, 2000; Stampfli et al., 2013). At present this block of the ocean crust situated in the northern part of the Sinai plate (Ben-Avraham, 1978; Eppelbaum et al., 2012, 2014) is object of our investigation.