Evidence for slab rollback in westernmost Mediterranean from improved upper mantle imaging

doi:10.1016/J.EPSL.2013.02.024

Home
/
Papers
/
Evidence for slab rollback in westernmost Mediterranean from improved upper mantle imaging

Journal Article•DOI•

Evidence for slab rollback in westernmost Mediterranean from improved upper mantle imaging

Maximiliano Bezada¹, Eugene D. Humphreys¹, Douglas R. Toomey¹, Mimoun Harnafi, J.M. Dávila², Josep Gallart³ - Show less +2 more•Institutions (3)

University of Oregon¹, Royal Institute and Observatory of the Spanish Navy², Spanish National Research Council³

15 Apr 2013-Earth and Planetary Science Letters (Elsevier)-Vol. 368, pp 51-60

TL;DR: In this paper, the deployment and data processing for Spanish stations was funded by Consolider-Ingenio 2010 project TOPO-IBERIA (CSD2006-00041) as well as ALERT-ES (CGL2010-19803-C03-02).

read less

About: This article is published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.The article was published on 2013-04-15. It has received 181 citations till now.

...read moreread less

Citations

PDF

Open Access

More filters

Journal Article•DOI•

Mantle dynamics in the Mediterranean

[...]

Claudio Faccenna¹, Thorsten W. Becker², Ludwig Auer, Andrea Billi, Lapo Boschi³, Jean-Pierre Brun⁴, Fabio A. Capitanio⁵, Francesca Funiciello¹, Ferenc Horváth⁶, Laurent Jolivet, Claudia Piromallo⁷, Leigh H. Royden, Federico Rossetti¹, Enrico Serpelloni⁷ - Show less +10 more•Institutions (7)

Roma Tre University¹, University of Southern California², Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus³, University of Rennes⁴, Monash University, Clayton campus⁵, Eötvös Loránd University⁶, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology⁷

01 Sep 2014-Reviews of Geophysics

TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual and quantitative framework for the causes of surface deformation in the Mediterranean is discussed, which can be outlined by two, almost symmetric, upper mantle convection cells.

...read moreread less

Abstract: The Mediterranean offers a unique opportunity to study the driving forces of tectonic deformation within a complex mobile belt. Lithospheric dynamics are affected by slab rollback and collision of two large, slowly moving plates, forcing fragments of continental and oceanic lithosphere to interact. This paper reviews the rich and growing set of constraints from geological reconstructions, geodetic data, and crustal and upper mantle heterogeneity imaged by structural seismology. We proceed to discuss a conceptual and quantitative framework for the causes of surface deformation. Exploring existing and newly developed tectonic and numerical geodynamic models, we illustrate the role of mantle convection on surface geology. A coherent picture emerges which can be outlined by two, almost symmetric, upper mantle convection cells. The downwellings are found in the center of the Mediterranean and are associated with the descent of the Tyrrhenian and the Hellenic slabs. During plate convergence, these slabs migrated backward with respect to the Eurasian upper plate, inducing a return flow of the asthenosphere from the backarc regions towards the subduction zones. This flow can be found at large distance from the subduction zones, and is at present expressed in two upwellings beneath Anatolia and eastern Iberia. This convection system provides an explanation for the general pattern of seismic anisotropy in the Mediterranean, first-order Anatolia and Adria microplate kinematics, and may contribute to the high elevation of scarcely deformed areas such as Anatolia and Eastern Iberia. More generally, the Mediterranean is an illustration of how upper mantle, small-scale convection leads to intraplate deformation and complex plate boundary reconfiguration at the westernmost terminus of the Tethyan collision.

...read moreread less

375 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Origin and consequences of western Mediterranean subduction, rollback, and slab segmentation

[...]

Douwe J.J. van Hinsbergen¹, Reinoud L.M. Vissers¹, Wim Spakman¹, Wim Spakman²•Institutions (2)

Utrecht University¹, University of Oslo²

01 Apr 2014-Tectonics

TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the questions of what caused Oligocene rollback initiation, and how its subsequent evolution split up an originally coherent fore arc into circum-southwest Mediterranean segments.

...read moreread less

Abstract: The western Mediterranean recorded subduction rollback, slab segmentation and separation. Here we address the questions of what caused Oligocene rollback initiation, and how its subsequent evolution split up an originally coherent fore arc into circum-southwest Mediterranean segments. We kinematically reconstruct western Mediterranean geology from subduction initiation to present, using Atlantic plate reconstructions as boundary condition. We test possible reconstructions against remnants of subducted lithosphere imaged by seismic tomography. Transform motion between Africa and Iberia (including the Baleares) between ~120 and 85 Ma was followed by up to 150 km convergence until 30 Ma. Subduction likely initiated along the transform fault that accommodated pre-85 Ma translation. By the ~30 Ma inception of rollback, up to 150 km of convergence had formed a small slab below the Baleares. Iberia was disconnected from Sardinia/Calabria through the North Balearic Transform Zone (NBTZ). Subduction below Sardinia/Calabria was slightly faster than below the Baleares, the difference being accommodated in the Pyrenees. A moving triple junction at the trench-NBTZ intersection formed a subduction transform edge propagator fault between the Baleares and Calabria slab segments. Calabria rolled back eastward, whereas the Baleares slab underwent radial (SW-S-SE) rollback. After Kabylides-Africa collision, the western slab segment retreated toward Gibraltar, here reconstructed as the maximum rollback end-member model, and a Kabylides slab detached from Africa. Opening of a slab window below the NBTZ allowed asthenospheric rise to the base of the fore arc creating high-temperature metamorphism. Western Mediterranean rollback commenced only after sufficient slab-pull was created from 100 to 150 km of slow, forced subduction before ~30 Ma.

...read moreread less

273 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Atlas of the underworld : Slab remnants in the mantle, their sinking history, and a new outlook on lower mantle viscosity

[...]

Douwe G. van der Meer¹, Douwe G. van der Meer², Douwe J.J. van Hinsbergen¹, Wim Spakman¹, Wim Spakman³ - Show less +1 more•Institutions (3)

Utrecht University¹, Nexen², University of Oslo³

01 Oct 2017-Tectonophysics

TL;DR: The Atlas of the Underworld as discussed by the authors is a compilation comprising subduction systems active in the past ~300Myr, assuming no relative horizontal motions between adjacent slabs following break-off, but without assuming a mantle reference frame.

...read moreread less

253 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Finite-frequency Rayleigh wave tomography of the western Mediterranean: Mapping its lithospheric structure

[...]

Imma Palomeras¹, S. Thurner¹, Alan Levander¹, K. Liu¹, Antonio Villaseñor, Ramón Carbonell, Mimoun Harnafi - Show less +3 more•Institutions (1)

Rice University¹

01 Jan 2014-Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems

TL;DR: In this paper, a 3D shear wave velocity model for the crust and upper mantle of the western Mediterranean from Rayleigh wave tomography was presented, where the authors analyzed the fundamental mode in the 20-167 s period band (6.0-50.0 mHz) from earthquakes recorded by a number of temporary and permanent seismograph arrays.

...read moreread less

Abstract: [1] We present a 3-D shear wave velocity model for the crust and upper mantle of the western Mediterranean from Rayleigh wave tomography. We analyzed the fundamental mode in the 20–167 s period band (6.0–50.0 mHz) from earthquakes recorded by a number of temporary and permanent seismograph arrays. Using the two-plane wave method, we obtained phase velocity dispersion curves that were inverted for an isotropic Vs model that extends from the southern Iberian Massif, across the Gibraltar Arc and the Atlas mountains to the Saharan Craton. The area of the western Mediterranean that we have studied has been the site of complex subduction, slab rollback, and simultaneous compression and extension during African-European convergence since the Oligocene. The shear velocity model shows high velocities beneath the Rif from 65 km depth and beneath the Granada Basin from ∼70 km depth that extend beneath the Alboran Domain to more than 250 km depth, which we interpret as a near-vertical slab dangling from beneath the western Alboran Sea. The slab appears to be attached to the crust beneath the Rif and possibly beneath the Granada Basin and Sierra Nevada where low shear velocities (3.8 km/s) are mapped to >55 km depth. The attached slab is pulling down the Gibraltar Arc crust, thickening it, and removing the continental margin lithospheric mantle beneath both Iberia and Morocco as it descends into the deeper mantle. Thin lithosphere is indicated by very low upper mantle velocities beneath the Alboran Sea, above and east of the dangling slab and beneath the Cenozoic volcanics.

...read moreread less

118 citations

Cites background from "Evidence for slab rollback in weste..."

...These images, of varying quality, have been made with ray and finite-frequency teleseismic P wave travel time tomography [Blanco and Spakman, 1993; Calvert et al., 2000; Wortel and Spakman, 2000; Piromallo and Morelli, 2003; Spakman and Wortel, 2004], surface wave tomography [Peter et al., 2008;…...
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Crust and upper mantle of the western Mediterranean – Constraints from full-waveform inversion

[...]

Andreas Fichtner¹, Antonio Villaseñor²•Institutions (2)

ETH Zurich¹, Spanish National Research Council²

15 Oct 2015-Earth and Planetary Science Letters

TL;DR: In this article, a full-wave-form tomographic model of the western Mediterranean crust and mantle constructed from complete three-component recordings from permanent and temporary networks is presented, which includes body and multi-mode surface waves in the period range from 12-150 s.

...read moreread less

105 citations

Cites background or result from "Evidence for slab rollback in weste..."

...…al., 2001; Palomeras et al., 2014), body wave traveltimes (e.g. Spakman et al., 1993; Villaseñor et al., 2003; Piromallo and Morelli, 2003; Koulakov et al., 2009; Bezada et al., 2013; Bonnin et al., 2014), or a combination of both (e.g. Chang et al., 2010; Fichtner et al., 2013b; Zhu et al., 2015)....
[...]
...Our major findings in terms of Earth structure are the following: (i) In addition to the well-studied Alboran slab (e.g. Bezada et al., 2013; Bonnin et al., 2014; Palomeras et al., 2014), an E-W trending high-velocity anomaly is visible around 200–300 km depth beneath the Algerian coast....
[...]

1
2
3
4
…
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37

Collapse

References

PDF

Open Access

More filters

Journal Article•DOI•

Constraints on seismic velocities in the Earth from traveltimes

[...]

Brian Kennett¹, E. R. Engdahl², R. Buland²•Institutions (2)

Australian National University¹, National Earthquake Information Center²

01 Jul 1995-Geophysical Journal International

TL;DR: In this article, a new empirical traveltime curves for the major seismic phases have been derived from the catalogues of the International Seismological Centre by relocating events by using P readings, depth phases and the iasp91 traveltimes, and then re-associating phase picks.

...read moreread less

Abstract: SUMMARY New empirical traveltime curves for the major seismic phases have been derived from the catalogues of the International Seismological Centre by relocating events by using P readings, depth phases and the iasp91 traveltimes, and then re-associating phase picks. A smoothed set of traveltime tables is extracted by a robust procedure which gives estimates of the variance of the traveltimes for each phase branch. This set of smoothed empirical times is then used to construct a range of radial velocity profiles, which are assessed against a number of different measures of the level of fit between the empirical times and the predictions of the models. These measures are constructed from weighted sums of L2 misfits for individual phases. The weights are chosen to provide a measure of the probable reliability of the picks for the different phases. A preferred model, ak135, is proposed which gives a significantly better fit to a broad range of phases than is provided by the iasp91 and sp6 models. The differences in velocity between ak135 and these models are generally quite small except at the boundary of the inner core, where reduced velocity gradients are needed to achieve satisfactory performance for PKP differential time data. The potential resolution of velocity structure has been assessed with the aid of a non-linear search procedure in which 5000 models have been generated in bounds about ak135. Msfit calculations are performed for each of the phases in the empirical traveltime sets, and the models are then sorted using different overall measures of misfit. The best 100 models for each criterion are displayed in a model density plot which indicates the consistency of the different models. The interaction of information from different phases can be analysed by comparing the different misfit measures. Structure in the mantle is well resolved except at the base, and ak135 provides a good representation of core velocities.

...read moreread less

2,925 citations

"Evidence for slab rollback in weste..." refers methods in this paper

...D reference model (AK-135, Kennett et al., 1995) would not be resolved....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Extension in the Tyrrhenian Sea and Shortening in the Apennines as Result of Arc Migration Driven by Sinking of the Lithosphere

[...]

Alberto Malinverno, William B. F. Ryan

01 Apr 1986-Tectonics

TL;DR: In this paper, an arc migration model was proposed to explain the dynamic relationship between extension in the Tyrrhenian basin and compression in the Apennines, and the estimated contemporaneous (post-middle Miocene) amounts of extension and shortening in the apennines appear to be very similar.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Previously proposed models for the evolution of the Tyrrhenian basin-Apenninic arc system do not seem to satisfactorily explain the dynamic relationship between extension in the Tyrrhenian and compression in the Apennines. The most important regional plate kinematic constraints that any model has to satisfy in this case are: (1) the timing of extension in the Tyrrhenian and compression in the Apennines, (2) the amount of shortening in the Apennines, (3) the amount of extension in the Tyrrhenian, and (4) Africa-Europe relative motion. The estimated contemporaneous (post-middle Miocene) amounts of extension in the Tyrrhenian and of shortening in the Apennines appear to be very similar. The extension in the Tyrrhenian Sea is mostly accomplished in an E-W direction, and cannot be straightforwardly related to the calculated N-S Africa-Europe convergence. A model of outward arc migration fits all these constraints. In a subducting system, the subduction zone is expected to migrate outward due to the sinking of the underthrusting plate into the mantle. The formation of a back-arc or internal basin, i.e. of a basin internal to the surrounding belt of compression, (in this case the Tyrrhenian Sea) is then expected to take place if the motion of the overriding plate does not compensate for the retreat of the subduction zone. The sediment cover will be stripped from the underthrusting plate by the outward migrating arc of the overriding plate, and will accumulate to form an accretionary wedge. This accretionary body will grow outward in time, and will eventually become an orogenic belt, (in this case the present Apennines) when the migrating arc collides with the stable continental foreland on the subducting plate. An arc migration model satisfactorily accounts for the basic features of the Tyrrhenian-Apennine system and for its evolution from 17 Ma to the present, and appears to be analogous to the tectonic evolution of other back-arc settings both inside and outside the Mediterranean region. An interesting implication of the proposed accretionary origin of the Apennines is that the problematic “Argille Scagliose” (scaly clays) melange units might have been emplaced as overpressured mud diapirs, as observed in other accretionary prisms, and not by gravity slides from the internal zones.

...read moreread less

1,745 citations

"Evidence for slab rollback in weste..." refers background in this paper

...The prevailing idea for the geologic evolution of the western Mediterranean in the Cenozoic is based on north dipping subduction near the gulf of Lyon undergoing vigorous rollback since ∼30 Ma as a consequence of slow Africa–Eurasia convergence across the ∼130 My old Alpine Tethys oceanic lithosphere (Lonergan and White, 1997; Malinverno and Ryan, 1986; Royden, 1993)....
[...]
...…in the Cenozoic is based on north dipping subduction near the gulf of Lyon undergoing vigorous rollback since ∼30 Ma as a consequence of slow Africa–Eurasia convergence across the ∼130 My old Alpine Tethys oceanic lithosphere (Lonergan and White, 1997; Malinverno and Ryan, 1986; Royden, 1993)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Kinematics of the western Mediterranean

[...]

John F. Dewey, M. L. Helman, S. D. Knott, E. Turco, D. H. W. Hutton - Show less +1 more

01 Jan 1989-Geological Society, London, Special Publications

TL;DR: In this article, a preliminary model for the Cenozoic kinematic evolution of the western Mediterranean oceanic basins and their peripheral orogens is presented, which integrates the motion of Africa relative to Europe based upon a new study of Atlantic fracture zones using SEASAT data and the Lamont-Doherty magnetic anomaly database.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Summary The kinematic understanding of the relationship between relative plate motion and the structure of orogenic belts depends upon a knowledge of relative plate motion across the plate boundary system, the relative motion of small blocks and flakes within the system, an evaluation of orogenic body forces, and an understanding of the thermomechanical evolution of the upper part of the orogenic lithosphere in determining strength and detachment levels. We have built a preliminary model for the Cenozoic kinematic evolution of the western Mediterranean oceanic basins and their peripheral orogens that integrates (1) the motion of Africa relative to Europe based upon a new study of Atlantic fracture zones using SEASAT data and the Lamont-Doherty magnetic anomaly database, (2) a new interpretation of the rotation of Corsica/Sardinia and the opening of the Balearic and Tyrrhenian oceanic basins, (3) sedimentary facies sequences in the Apennines, Calabria, and Sicily, and (4) Apennine/Calabrian structure and structural sequence.

...read moreread less

1,545 citations

"Evidence for slab rollback in weste..." refers background in this paper

...The primary objection comes from the apparent incompatibility of this model with the presence of the thinned continental crust of the Alborán domain, which lies between Africa and Iberia, where rollback would have occurred....
[...]
...8b), suggests that relative motion between Iberia and Africa (Dewey et al., 1989; Jolivet and Faccenna, 2000; Rosenbaum et al., 2002a, 2002b) was accommodated by an underthrusting of ocean lithosphere beneath the Iberian margin....
[...]
...The prevailing idea for the geologic evolution of the western Mediterranean in the Cenozoic is based on north dipping subduction near the gulf of Lyon undergoing vigorous rollback since ∼30 Ma as a consequence of slow Africa–Eurasia convergence across the ∼130 My old Alpine Tethys oceanic lithosphere (Lonergan and White, 1997; Malinverno and Ryan, 1986; Royden, 1993)....
[...]
...From 27 to 5 Ma the Alborán continental crust underwent an episode of hightemperature metamorphism, was then uplifted, and transported a few hundred km into the westernmost Mediterranean where it was thrust onto the continental margins of Africa and Iberia as it 1X/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier B.V....
[...]
...The southern and western subduction segments are thought to have retreated to the south towards Africa and west towards Gibraltar, leading to the opening the Algerian basin, and extension in the Alborán terrane (Fig....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Tomographic imaging of P and S wave velocity structure beneath northeastern Japan

[...]

Dapeng Zhao, Akira Hasegawa, Shigeki Horiuchi

10 Dec 1992-Journal of Geophysical Research

TL;DR: In this article, an efficient three dimensional ray tracing algorithm which iteratively uses the pseudobending technique and Snell's law was developed to solve a large and sparse system of observation equations.

...read moreread less

Abstract: The seismic body wave tomography method has been improved and extended to adapt to a general velocity structure with a number of complexly shaped seismic velocity discontinuities (SVDs) and with three-dimensional variations in the velocities in the modeling space. An efficient three dimensional ray tracing algorithm which iteratively uses the pseudobending technique and Snell's law is developed. The large and sparse system of observation equations is solved by using the LSQR algorithm. This method is applied to 18,679 arrival times from 470 shallow and intermediate-depth earthquakes in order to study P and S wave tomographic images beneath northeastern Japan. In addition to first P and S wave arrivals, clear later arrivals of SP waves converted at the Moho and PS and SP waves converted at the upper boundary of the subducted Pacific plate (UBPP) are also used in the inversion. The UBPP, Conrad and Moho are taken as three SVDs, and their depth distributions obtained by previous studies are used. High-resolution P and S wave tomographic images down to a depth of 200 km have been determined. Large velocity variations amounting to 6% for P wave and 10% for S wave are revealed in the crust and upper mantle. In the crust low-velocity (low-V) zones exist beneath active volcanoes. In the upper mantle the low-V zones dip toward the west from the volcanic front. A high-velocity (high- V) zone corresponding to the subducted Pacific plate is clearly delineated. Most earthquakes in the lower plane of the double-planed deep seismic zone are found to occur in relatively high-V areas. The obtained tomographic images are also found to explain other seismological observations well.

...read moreread less

1,050 citations

"Evidence for slab rollback in weste..." refers background in this paper

...…progressively updated and new ray paths are found at each iteration (e.g. Bijwaard and Spakman, 2000; Papazachos and Nolet, 1997; Sambridge, 1990; Zhao et al., 1992) and the second limitation has been addressed by using finite-frequency sensitivity kernels, most commonly the Born or…...
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Mediterranean extension and the Africa‐Eurasia collision

[...]

Laurent Jolivet, Claudio Faccenna

01 Dec 2000-Tectonics

TL;DR: A number of tectonic events occurred contemporaneously in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East 30-25 Myr ago as discussed by the authors, which are contemporaneous to or immediately followed a strong reduction of the northward absolute motion of Africa.

...read moreread less

Abstract: A number of tectonic events occurred contemporaneously in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East 30–25 Myr ago. These events are contemporaneous to or immediately followed a strong reduction of the northward absolute motion of Africa. Geological observations in the Neogene extensional basins of the Mediterranean region reveal that extension started synchronously from west to east 30–25 Myr ago. In the western Mediterranean it started in the Gulf of Lion, Valencia trough, and Alboran Sea as well as between the Maures massif and Corsica between 33 and 27 Ma ago. It then propagated eastward and southward to form to Liguro-Provencal basin and the Tyrrhenian Sea. In the eastern Mediterranean, extension started in the Aegean Sea before the deposition of marine sediments onto the collapsed Hellenides in the Aquitanian and before the cooling of high-temperature metamorphic core complexes between 20 and 25 Ma. Foundering of the inner zones of the Carpathians and extension in the Panonnian basin also started in the late Oligocene-early Miocene. The body of the Afro-Arabian plate first collided with Eurasia in the eastern Mediterranean region progressively from the Eocene to the Oligocene. Extensional tectonics was first recorded in the Gulf of Aden, Afar triple junction, and Red Sea region also in the Oligocene. A general magmatic surge occurred above all African hot spots, especially the Afar one. We explore the possibility that these drastic changes in the stress regime of the Mediterranean region and Middle East and the contemporaneous volcanic event were triggerred by the Africa/Arabia-Eurasia collision, which slowed down the motion of Africa. The present-day Mediterranean Sea was then locked between two collision zones, and the velocity of retreat of the African slab increased and became larger than the velocity of convergence leading to backarc extension. East of the Caucasus and northern Zagros collision zone the Afro-Arabian plate was still pulled by the slab pull force in the Zagros subduction zone, which created extensional stresses in the northeast corner of the Afro-Arabian plate. The Arabian plate was formed by propagation of a crack from the Carlsberg ridge westward toward the weak part of the African lithosphere above the Afar plume.

...read moreread less

925 citations

"Evidence for slab rollback in weste..." refers background in this paper

...The primary objection comes from the apparent incompatibility of this model with the presence of the thinned continental crust of the Alborán domain, which lies between Africa and Iberia, where rollback would have occurred....
[...]
...8b), suggests that relative motion between Iberia and Africa (Dewey et al., 1989; Jolivet and Faccenna, 2000; Rosenbaum et al., 2002a, 2002b) was accommodated by an underthrusting of ocean lithosphere beneath the Iberian margin....
[...]
...The prevailing idea for the geologic evolution of the western Mediterranean in the Cenozoic is based on north dipping subduction near the gulf of Lyon undergoing vigorous rollback since ∼30 Ma as a consequence of slow Africa–Eurasia convergence across the ∼130 My old Alpine Tethys oceanic lithosphere (Lonergan and White, 1997; Malinverno and Ryan, 1986; Royden, 1993)....
[...]
...From 27 to 5 Ma the Alborán continental crust underwent an episode of hightemperature metamorphism, was then uplifted, and transported a few hundred km into the westernmost Mediterranean where it was thrust onto the continental margins of Africa and Iberia as it 1X/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier B.V....
[...]
...The southern and western subduction segments are thought to have retreated to the south towards Africa and west towards Gibraltar, leading to the opening the Algerian basin, and extension in the Alborán terrane (Fig....
[...]