Geometría de los volcanes de lodo y de los pliegues de la Dorsal Mediterránea al Sur de Creta (Mediterráneo Oriental)

Abstract

Side scan sonar images and high resolution profiles obtained with the R/V Gelendzhik in the 1993 cruise of the TREDMAR program, give new information on the geometry of the mud volcanoes, folds and fractures located in the central part of the Mediterranean Ridge. Mud volcano emplacement modify the regional stress field related to the subduction of the African plate below the Eurasian plate, and originate a fold system with concentric hinge lin es around the area with highest quantity of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes can be formed from anticlinal folds whose nucleus have been intruded by breccias with a high content of mud matrix. Flows of mud breccias from anticlinal emission areas produce mud volcanoes whose elongation is parallel to fold axis trends