AAPG Bulletin, V. 84, No. 7 (July 2000), P. 997-1014.

Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary Development of Depositional Basins in Samaria as a Reflection of Eastern Mediterranean Tectonic Evolution¹

E. Rosenthal,² G. Weinberger,²A. Almogi-Labin,³ and A. Flexer⁴

©Copyright 2000. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved. 
¹Manuscript received December 4, 1997; revised manuscript received October 22, 1998; final acceptance December 15, 1999.
²Hydrological Service, POB 6381, IL-91063 Jerusalem, Israel; e-mail: [email protected]
³Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhei Israel St., IL-95501 Jerusalem, Israel.
⁴Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel Aviv University, IL-69978 Ramat-Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel.
We wish to express our deep appreciation and gratitude to F. Hirsch of the Geological Survey of Israel for critically reading an early version of the manuscript and contributing highly valuable advice for improving the paper. We are highly indebted to Z. Garfunkel from the Institute for Earth Sciences of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who gave us the opportunity of his wisdom and experience. Thanks are also extended to Martin Collin of the Hydrological Service for editing the paper. 

ABSTRACT

The Mt. Scopus Group in Israel consists of chalk, chert, phosphorite, organic-rich carbonate (locally known as oil shale), and shale of Coniacian- Paleocene age. The rock sequence includes several rock units, including the En-Zeitim Formation (with the related Har-Zefat Member), Mishash Formation, and Biriya Formation. Within the study area, the thicknesses of these rock units vary considerably (100-600 m), reflecting the geometry of basins that formed after the end of the Turonian and evolved during the early-late Senonian. Following the opening of the South Atlantic ridge during the Late Cretaceous, the convergence between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia generated a regional compressive regime throughout the eastern Mediterranean region. This compression formed the Syrian arc fold system that is characterized by a general northeastern direction; however, preexisting northeast- and northwest-directed fold and fault patterns responded differently in various areas. Chains of depocenters aligned along the northwest-directed faults subsided during different time increments. The bituminous chalk of Mt. Scopus Group preserved in these depocenters is considered a genuine petroleum source rock with a total organic carbon content of 10-15 wt. %. The tectonic pattern and the three-dimensional distribution of the impermeable sediments of Mt. Scopus Group are also important for groundwater exploitation in the area.