Latakia Ridge

The Latakia Ridge is a major underwater formation extending over 200 km along the northern margin of the Levantine Basin, marking the plate boundary between the African Plate and the Anatolian Plate. Rising up to 500 metres above the surrounding seafloor, it forms the easternmost segment of the Cyprus Arc, connecting the Hecataeus Rise south of Cyprus with a series of ridges off the Syrian coast. The ridge first developed in the mid-Late Cretaceous as a compressional fold-thrust belt, and was later reworked by left-lateral strike-slip motion from the Pliocene to the present. Exploration has revealed significant hydrocarbon potential in the region, with seismic images suggesting large gas accumulations trapped beneath the thrust faults.