
 The spectral ratio between horizontal and vertical components (H/V ratio) of microtremors measured at the ground surface has been used to estimate fundamental periods and amplification factors of a site, although this technique lacks theoretical background. The aim of this article is to formulate the H/V technique in terms of the characteristics of Rayleigh and Love waves, and to contribute to improve the technique. The improvement includes use of not only peaks but also troughs in the H/V ratio for reliable estimation of the period and use of a newly proposed smoothing function for better estimation of the amplification factor. The formulation leads to a simple formula for the amplification factor expressed with the H/V ratio. With microtremor data measured at 546 junior high schools in 23 wards of Tokyo, the improved technique is applied to mapping site periods and amplification factors in the area.

Ground Motion Characteristics Estimated from Spectral Ratio between Horizontal and Verticcl Components of Mietremors.

[1] The western Mediterranean subduction zone (WMSZ) extends from the northern Apennine to southern Spain and turns around forming the narrow and tight Calabrian and Gibraltar Arcs. The evolution of the WMSZ is characterized by a first phase of orogenic wedging followed, from 30 Ma on, by trench retreat and back-arc extension. Combining new and previous geological data, new tomographic images of the western Mediterranean mantle, and plate kinematics, we describe the evolution of the WMSZ during the last 35 Myr. Our reconstruction shows that the two arcs form by fragmentation of the 1500 km long WMSZ in small, narrow slabs. Once formed, these two narrow slabs retreat outward, producing back-arc extension and large scale rotation of the flanks, shaping the arcs. The Gibraltar Arc first formed during the middle Miocene, while the Calabrian Arc formed later, during the late Miocene-Pliocene. Despite the different paleogeographic settings, the mechanism of rupture and backward migration of the narrow slabs presents similarities on both sides of the western Mediterranean, suggesting that the slab deformation is also driven by lateral mantle flow that is particularly efficient in a restricted (upper mantle) style of mantle convection.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2002TC001488

Lateral slab deformation and the origin of the western Mediterranean arcs

/pdf/reconciling-plate-tectonic-reconstructions-of-alpine-tethys-1do3i5vm2t.pdf

Reconciling plate-tectonic reconstructions of Alpine Tethys with the geological–geophysical record of spreading and subduction in the Alps

The Mediterranean Basins : Tertiary Extension within the Alpine Orogen

SUMMARY Geological and geophysical constraints to reconstruct the evolution of the Central Mediterranean subduction zone are presented. Geological observations such as upper plate stratigraphy, HP–LT metamorphic assemblages, foredeep/trench stratigraphy, arc volcanism and the back-arc extension process are used to define the infant stage of the subduction zone and its latest, back-arc phase. Based on this data set, the time dependence of the amount of subducted material in comparison with the tomographic images of the upper mantle along two cross-sections from the northern Apennines and from Calabria to the Gulf of Lyon can be derived. Further, the reconstruction is used to unravel the main evolutionary trends of the subduction process. Results of this analysis indicate that (1) subduction in the Central Mediterranean is as old as 80 Myr, (2) the slab descended slowly into the mantle during the first 20–30 Myr (subduction speeds were probably less than 1 cm year x1 ), (3) subduction accelerated afterwards, producing arc volcanism and back-arc extension and (4) the slab reached the 660 km transition zone after 60–70 Myr. This time-dependent scenario, where a slow initiation is followed by a roughly exponential increase in the subduction speed, can be modelled by equating the viscous dissipation per unit length due to the bending of oceanic lithosphere to the rate of change of potential energy by slab pull. Finally, the third stage is controlled by the interaction between the slab and the 660 km transition zone. In the southern region, this results in an important re-shaping of the slab and intermittent pulses of back-arc extension. In the northern region, the decrease in the trench retreat can be explained by the entrance of light continental material at the trench.

/pdf/history-of-subduction-and-back-arc-extension-in-the-central-4rsg8dirg2.pdf

History of subduction and back‐arc extension in the Central Mediterranean

On the post-25 Ma geodynamic evolution of the western Mediterranean

Abstract West-directed subduction zones show east-verging arcs of 1500–3000 km. They are usually younger than 50 Ma and are characterized by a frontal accretionary wedge and a back-arc basin propagating together toward the east. The accretionary wedge scrapes off superficial layers of the downgoing plate (thin-skinned tectonics) whereas the back-arc extension cross-cuts the entire subduction hanging wall (thick-skinned tectonics). The slab of this type of subduction is steep to vertical and the hanging wall of the subduction has a mean elevation of 1000 m below sea level. Trenches and foredeeps are the deepest basins of the Earth and the mean depth is of 5000 m below sea level. West-directed subduction occurs both in case of the highest E-W convergence rates among plates (e.g. W Pacific examples) and no or very low convergence (e.g. Carpathians). Following Atlantic W-directed subduction examples, the W-directed subductions seem to develop along the back-thrust belt of former E-directed subduction zones, where oceanic lithosphere occur in the foreland to the east with the narrowing of the American continents. This could be applied to the onset of the Apennines subduction along the back-thrust belt of the Alpine-Betic orogen where Tethys oceanic crust was present. The Alpine orogen was stretched and scattered in the Apennines back-arc basin. The back-arc extension is internally punctuated by necks (sub-basins) and boudins (horsts of continental lithosphere). Asymmetric extension in the back-arc basin appears controlled by differential drag between the eastward mantle flow and the overlying passively transported crustal remnants. Compression in the accretionary prism may be interpreted as the superficial expression of the shear occurring between the downgoing lithosphere and the horizontally moving mantle which compensates the slab roll-back. The area of the Apennines appears lower than the area of the sedimentary cover before subduction: this favours the idea that not significant crustal slices have been involved in the Apenninic accretionary prism, and the basement thrust sheets included in the western part of the belt are mainly relicts of the Alpine-Betic orogen.

On the origin of west-directed subduction zones and applications to the western Mediterranean

The western Mediterranean late Oligocene–Miocene basins (Alboran, Valencia and Provencal basins) are a coherent system of interrelated troughs. In all basins normal faults and thermal subsidence migrated toward the east progressively moving to the Miocene-to-Pleistocene Algerian and Tyrrhenian basins. All those troughs appear elements of the back-arc opening related to the eastward roll-back of the W-directed Apennines–Maghrebides subduction zone, similarly to western Pacific back-arc settings.



These late Oligocene–early Miocene basins nucleated both within the Betic cordillera (e.g. Alboran sea) and in its foreland (Valencia and Provencal troughs). The N40–70° direction of grabens is oblique to the coexisting N60–80°-trending orogen and shows its structural independence from the orogenic roots. Thus, as the extension cross-cuts the orogen and developed also well outside the thrust belt front, the westernmost basins of the Mediterranean had to develop independently from the Alps-Betics orogen. Therefore, the Alboran extension, considered a classic example of a basin generated by the collapse of an orogen, cannot be ascribed to the detachment or annihilation of the lithospheric root. In contrast with the eastward migrating extensional basins, the Betic-Balearic thrust front was migrating westward producing interference or inversion structures.

The Western Mediterranean extensional basins and the Alpine orogen

The western Mediterranean is composed of irregular troughs formed as back-arc basins in the hanging wall of the W-directed Apenninic subduction which retreated eastward during Neogene and Quaternary times. The basins are progressively younger toward the east, ageing from late Oligocene–early Miocene (Valencia, Provencal, Alboran and Algerian basins), to middle Miocene–Pleistocene (Tyrrhenian Sea). The basins isolated boudins of continental lithosphere, the Sardinia–Corsica block representing the largest. The boudinage has a wavelength of 100–400 km and facilitated stretching of the continental lithosphere with formation of new oceanic crust in the Provencal, Algerian, Vavilov and Marsili basins. The boudins developed both in the earlier Alpine–Betic orogen (Alboran basin) and in its foreland (Provencal and Valencia troughs). The extension appears clearly asymmetric due to its eastward polarity, accommodated by E-dipping master low-angle normal faults. Moreover the thinning shows variations in boudinage wavelength and is characterized by several along-strike transfer zones and heterogeneities. The western Mediterranean back-arc setting is comparable with Atlantic and western Pacific back-arc basins associated with W-directed subduction zones that show similar large-scale lithospheric boudinage.

Lithospheric boudinage in the Western Mediterranean back-arc basin

On the interference between the early apennines-maghrebides backarc extension and the alps-betics orogen in the neogene geodynamics of the western med iterranean

Erwan Gueguen

Papers

On the post-25 Ma geodynamic evolution of the western Mediterranean

On the origin of west-directed subduction zones and applications to the western Mediterranean

The Western Mediterranean extensional basins and the Alpine orogen

Lithospheric boudinage in the Western Mediterranean back-arc basin

On the interference between the early apennines-maghrebides backarc extension and the alps-betics orogen in the neogene geodynamics of the western med iterranean