Seismic indicators of focused fluid flow and cross-evaporitic seepage in the Eastern Mediterranean

Fluids (and associated remobilised sediments) are sourced from different intervals, from the sub- and supra-evaporitic section, and possibly within the evaporites. Only a minor proportion of the fluid flow features are certainly sourced from below the Messinian evaporites, and most of them are located in the Nile-Levant-Eratosthenes areas. The few examples of pathways that are able to cross thick, undeformed and well preserved evaporites are typically correlated to overpressure release and hydrofracturing. This confirms that the evaporites do act regionally as a very good seal as expected, while fluids are able to cross the evaporites only in their most extreme expression, i.e. in near-lithostathic overpressure conditions. This is confirmed by our observations made in the Eastern Mediterranean, where in the presence of relatively undisturbed evaporites, cross-evaporite vertical fluid pathways are only observed at the high end of the flux-pressure range, and involve sediment remobilisation. Maps combining these different elements can be used to detect areas potentially more prone to breaching.