Slab retreat, slab tearing and interactions of slabs are first-order drivers of the deformation of the overriding lithosphere. An independent description of the tectonic evolution of the back-arc and ...peripheral regions is a pre-requisite to test the proposed conceptual, analogue and numerical models of these complex dynamics in 3-D. We propose here a new series of detailed kinematics and tectonic reconstructions from 35 Ma to the Present shedding light on the driving mechanisms of back-arc rifting in the Mediterranean where several back-arc basins all started to form in the Oligocene. The step-by-step backward reconstructions lead to an initial situation 35 Ma ago with two subduction zones with opposite direction, below the AlKaPeCa block (i.e. belonging to the Alboran, Kabylies, Peloritani, Calabrian internal zones). Extension directions are quite variable and extension rates in these basins are high compared to the Africa-Eurasia convergence velocity. The highest rates are found in the Western Mediterranean, the Liguro-Provencal, Alboran and Tyrrhenian basins. These reconstructions are based on shortening rates in the peripheral mountain belts, extension rates in the basins, paleomagnetic rotations, pressure-temperature-time paths of metamorphic complexes within the internal zones of orogens, and kinematics of the large bounding plates. Results allow visualizing the interactions between the Alps, Apennines, Pyrenean-Cantabrian belt, Betic Cordillera and Rif, as well as back-arc basins. These back-arc basins formed at the emplacement of mountain belts with superimposed volcanic arcs, thus with thick, hot and weak crusts explaining the formation of metamorphic core complexes and the exhumation of large portions of lower crustal domains during rifting. They emphasize the role of transfer faults zones accommodating differential rates of retreat above slab tears and their relations with magmatism. Several transfer zones are identified, separating four different kinematic domains, the largest one being the Catalan-Balearic-Sicily Transfer Zone. Their integration in the wider Mediterranean realm and a comparison of motion paths calculated in several kinematic frameworks with mantle fabric shows that fast slab retreat was the main driver of back-arc extension in this region and that large-scale convection was a subsidiary driver for the pre-8 Ma period, though it became dominant afterward. Slab retreat and back-arc extension was mostly NW-SE until ∼20 Ma and the docking of the AlKaPeCa continental blocks along the northern margin of Africa induced a slab detachment that propagated eastward and westward, thus inducing a change in the direction of extension from NW-SE to E-W. Fast slab retreat between 32 and 8 Ma and induced asthenospheric flow have prevented the transmission of the horizontal compression due to Africa-Eurasia convergence from Africa to Eurasia and favored instead upper-plate extension driven by slab retreat. Once slab retreat had slowed down in the Late Miocene, this N-S compression was felt and recorded again from the High Atlas to the Paris Basin.
Slab tearing induces localized deformations in the overriding plates of subduction zones and transfer zones accommodating differential retreat in back-arc regions. Because the space available for ...retreating slabs is limited in the Mediterranean realm, slab tearing during retreat has been a major ingredient of the evolution of this region since the end of the Eocene. The association of detailed seismic tomographic models and extensive field observations makes the Mediterranean an ideal natural laboratory to study these transfer zones. We review in this paper the various structures in back-arc regions differential retreat from the Alboran Sea to the Aegean-Anatolian region and discuss them with the help of 3D numerical models to better understand the partitioning of deformation between high-angle and low-angle faults, as well as the 3D kinematics of deformation in the middle and lower crusts. Simple, archetypal, crustal-scale strike-slip faults are in fact rare in these contexts above slab tears. Transfer zones are in general instead wide deformation zones, from several tens to several hundred kilometers. A partitioning of deformation is observed between the upper and the lower crust with low-angle extensional shear zones at depth and complex association of transtensional basins at the surface. In the Western Mediterranean, between the Gulf of Lion and the Valencia basin, transtensional strike-slip faults are associated with syn-rift basins and lower crustal domes elongated in the direction of retreat (a-type domes), associated with massive magmatic intrusions in the lower crust and volcanism at the surface. On the northern side of the Alboran Sea, wide E-W trending strike-slip zones in the brittle field show partitioned thrusting and strike-slip faulting in the external zones of the Betics, and E-W trending metamorphic core complexes in the internal zones, parallel to the main retreat direction with a transition in time from ductile to brittle deformation. On the opposite, the southern margin of the Alboran Sea shows short en-échelon strike-slip faults. Deep structures are not known there. In the Aegean-Anatolian region, two main tear faults with different degrees of maturity are observed. Western Anatolia (Menderes Massif) and the Eastern Aegean Sea evolved above a major left-lateral tear in the Hellenic slab. In the crust, the differential retreat was accommodated mostly by low-angle shear zones with a constant direction of stretching and the formation of a-type high-temperature domes exhumed from the middle and lower crust. These low-angle shear zones evolve through time from ductile to brittle. On the opposite side of the Aegean region, the Corinth and Volos Rift as well as the Kephalonia fault offshore, accommodate the formation of a dextral tear fault. Here, only the brittle crust can be observed, but seismological data suggest low-angle shear zones at depth below the rifts. We discuss the rare occurrence of pure strike-slip faults in these contexts and propose that the high heat flow above the retreating slabs and more especially above slab tears favors a ductile behavior with distributed deformation of the crust and the formation of low-angle shear zones and high-temperature domes. While retreat proceeds, aided by tears, true strike-slip fault system may localize and propagate toward the retreating trench, ultimately leading to the formation of new plate boundary, as shown by the example of the North Anatolian Fault.
As the Messinian sea-level draw down associated with the Messinian Salinity Crisis is still questioned, we propose to show that the widely spread erosion surface affecting the Mediterranean margins ...is indeed linked to an exondation demonstrated from offshore and onshore data. Our study presents a comprehensive onshore to offshore correlation of the Messinian erosional surface. It is focused on small drainage systems or interfluve areas, outside of evaporite basins or incised canyons, where the Messinian erosion had not yet been studied previously: around Ibiza on the Balearic Promontory and around Orosei on the Eastern Sardinian margin, Tyrrhenian Basin, both areas where new offshore data were recently acquired. We show that the late Messinian erosion formed in subaerial settings, as testified by evidence of continentalization events, and attests for a regression phase that was correlated from the offshore continental slopes to the onshore paleo-platforms in both areas. Characteristics of this erosion in both study areas strengthen the scenario with at least one important low-stand sea-level for the Messinian Salinity Crisis with evaporites subbasins lying at different depths and possibly disconnected.
This study deals with the structure and recent deformation of the Eastern Iberian margin, extending from basement to seafloor and including the south-western margin of the Valencia Basin, the ...Alicante Shelf, the Ibiza Channel and its southern margin descending into the Algerian Basin. This area underwent a complex tectonic evolution linked to the back-arc opening of the North-western Mediterranean and the concomitant contraction of the Betic belt due to the collision with blocks located between Africa and Europe. This Oligo-Miocene structural heritage gave rise to a complex and continuous deformation through times including Late Miocene post-orogenic extension and Pliocene to Quaternary compression in the western Balearic area and coeval extension in the Valencia basin.
This study presents maps of the depth to basement and Base of the Pliocene, as well as bathymetry data and seismic lines, which provide a precise integrated 3D study of the offshore domain. It reveals a major reactivation of the area, represented by the N80 to N60 trending structures, small discontinuous folds and thrusts in the Ibiza Channel and a large flexure on the Alicante shelf. The structures are picked out by erosion surfaces or deposits linked to the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). These markers are ubiquitous in the seismic sedimentary sequences and record the lateral and vertical deformation active from the Messinian Salinity Crisis to the Present. The contraction in the western Iberian margin and concomitant extension in the southern Valencia Basin are consistent with the regional stress field as determined from the focal mechanisms of offshore earthquakes or recent GPS measurements. The tectonic compression of the studied area casts doubt on the eventual propagation of the present-day compressive stress from the Algerian margin to the Western Balearic Promontory.
► The study area shows evidence of end-Miocene to Present-day inversion. ► The Alicante shelf shows N80 large-scale deep-rooted flexures and thrusts. ► The Ibiza Channel is structured by narrow folds well expressed in the bathymetry. ► MSC evaporites do not onlap the margin but are uplifted by the contractional events.
The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) is a controversial geological event that influenced the Mediterranean Basin in the late Miocene leaving behind a widespread Salt Giant. Today, more than 90% of the ...Messinian evaporitic deposits are located offshore, buried below the Plio-Quaternary sediments and have thus been studied mainly by marine seismic reflection imaging.
Onshore-offshore records’ comparisons and correlations should be considered a key approach to progress in our understanding of the MSC. This approach has however not been widely explored so far. Indeed, because of the erosion on the Messinian continental shelves and slopes during the MSC, only few places in the Mediterranean domain offers the opportunity to compare onshore and offshore records that have been preserved from erosion. In this paper, we compare for the first time the MSC records from two basins that were lying at intermediate water depths during the MSC and in which salt layers emplaced in topographic lows: the Central Mallorca Depression (CMD) in the Balearic Promontory, and the Caltanissetta Basin (CB) in Sicily. The reduced tectonic movements in the CMD since the late Miocene (Messinian) till recent days, favored the conservation of most of the MSC records in a configuration relatively close to their original configuration, thus allowing a comparison with the reference records outcropping in Sicily. We perform seismic interpretation of a wide seismic reflection dataset in the study area with the aim of refining the mapping of the Messinian units covering the Balearic Promontory (BP) and restituting their depositional history based on a detailed comparison with the Messinian evaporitic units of the Sicilian Caltanissetta Basin. We discuss how this history matches with the existing 3-stages chrono-stratigraphic model. We show that the Messinian units of Central Mallorca Depression could be an undeformed analog of those outcropping on-land in the Sicilian Caltanissetta Basin, thus questioning the contemporaneous onset of the salt deposition on the Mediterranean scale. We show a change in seismic facies at a certain range of depth between stage 1 MSC units, and wonder if this could reflect the threshold/maximum depth of deposition of bottom growth PLG selenites passing more distally to pelagic snowfall cumulate gypsum. Moreover, we confirm that PLG could be deposited in water depths exceeding 200 m.
•First Messinian salinity crisis seismic vs outcrop comparison and correlation.•Updated map of the Messinian Salinity Crisis units in the Balearic Promontory.•Central Mallorca Depression versus Central Caltanissetta Basin.•Evidence of a major erosional event on the promontory due to important base level drawdown.•New Messinian 3-stages depositional scenario in the Central Mallorca Depression.
Although the main events of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) are today mostly known, the exact succession of the different episodes remains unclear. This, in particular, is because (i) no drilling ...has reached the base of the Salt, and thus the onset of the MSC in the basins is unknown, and (ii) lateral correlations between the margins and the deep basins are missing. The Valencia Basin, which is intermediate in depth between the marginal basins and the deep basins, is an ideal location for studying the transitional domain. It displays the relationships between the polygenic erosion on the margins, the deposition of the thin Upper Evaporites bracketed by basal and top erosion surfaces in the central part of the basin, and the thick MSC sequence in the deep oceanic Provençal Basin. Early detrital deposits located below the MSC sequence of the deep basin suggest an early lowering of the sea level prior to the MSC desiccation.
The Pyrenean Belt ends against the Gulf of Lion passive margin. The mechanism responsible for dismantling the mountain belt during Oligocene rifting has not yet found a proper explanation. The Late ...Eocene and Oligocene period is characterized by a first order change in subduction dynamics in the Mediterranean and the subduction zones started to retreat with back-arc basins forming at the expense of mountain belts build earlier. The slab subducting below Provence and Sardinia-Corsica started a fast south-eastward retreat, forming the Liguro-Provençal Basin. This syn-rift period in the Gulf of Lion margin is coeval with exhumation of the eastern Pyrenean basement, while underthrusting of Iberia continued until Early Miocene. Based on interpretation of seismic lines, we propose a tentative model in which the mantle flow related with Apennine slab retreat has (1) exhumed and thinned the continental mantle below the Gulf of Lion and the eastern Pyrenees and (2) exhumed the lower crust, leading to crustal thinning and subsidence of the Gulf of Lion margin. The wide distribution of syn-rift volcanism in the transition between the Gulf of Lion and Valencia Basin is in line with the geometry observed in the margin suggesting ductile deformation of a weak continental crust, typical of volcanic margins. The direction of SKS-waves seismic anisotropy below the Pyrenees and the observed migration of exhumation toward the west fit this simple model. The concentration of syn-rift magmatism and the ductile behaviour of the crust during rifting can be explained by the high heat flow above the slab tear that separates the future Apennines and Maghreb branches of the West Mediterranean subduction zone. Finally, removal of upper mantle, inducing uplift and an increase of potential energy, may explain why thrusting continued in the Pyrenees while rifting was still active nearby along strike.
•Fast erasing of mountain belt by flow of asthenosphere underneath•Gulf of Lion passive margin results from collapse of Pyrenees Axial Zone.•Toe of Gulf of Lion margin is made of exhumed lower crust and mantle.•Exhumed lower crust was initially underneath the Pyrenees Axial Zone.•Collapsed belt carried by hot and weak lithosphere in back-arc region
We present a global inventory of transform continental margins, based on both a worldwide comparison of continent-ocean boundary identifications with oceanic fracture zones traces, and a compilation ...of published regional studies. This inventory increases the number of identified transform margins from 29 to 78. These margins represent 16% of continental margins in cumulative length and 31% of non-convergent margins. We include morphological data, published upper crustal sections, continent to ocean transition locations and published Moho shape data in the new database. This review confirms that continent to ocean transitions are sharper at transform margins than at divergent margins. It also emphasizes the structural diversity of transform margins. Associated with one third of transform margins, we define marginal plateaus as a new type of relief that corresponds to a flat but deep surface inside the continental slope, and that may be inherited from crustal thinning prior to transform faulting. Transform margin initiation appears to be favoured along propagating oceans and within cold and thick lithospheres.
•Our global inventory identifies 78 transform continental margins.•Transform margins represent 31% of non-convergent margins in cumulative length.•Many transform margins have a marginal plateau of intermediate depth.•Transform margins display an important variety in shape and structure.•Marginal plateaus are often found between two oceans and in thinned continental crust domains.
The Balearic Promontory (Spain) is of key importance to understand the tectonic kinematics of the westernmost Mediterranean, because its continued marine sedimentation has recorded the contrasting ...effects expected from competing geodynamic models proposed for the region. Near the center of this promontory, between the islands of Mallorca and Ibiza, the Miocene to Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Central Mallorca Depression presents an ideal record of the tectonic deformation that has received only limited attention. We use a widespread dataset of 2D seismic reflection profiles to identify, interpret and map the main prominent reflectors and extrapolate the thickness of the pre-Messinian and Pliocene-Quaternary sedimentary units. We then quantify the timing and style of deformation related to the various fault systems. Our results reveal for the first time a series of aligned small depressions bounded by extensional and strike-slip faults and filled with Plio-Quaternary sediment, perfectly aligned with the sub-basins of the onshore Mallorca Graben. A subsidence analysis confirms this correlation. We identify non-cylindrical deformation within the Plio-Quaternary unit that is remarkably similar to that observed onshore, suggesting continuous fault zones from the Central Mallorca Depression to Mallorca Island. We interpret an intra-PQ unconformity as the marker of a transition from extensional to strike-slip tectonic regime. The strike-slip stage is represented by both transpressional and transtensional structures, interpreted as restraining/releasing bends respectively and step overs along the faults. We show that these offshore faults in the Central Mallorca Depression overlap well with seismic epicenters and suggest major active strike-slip corridors that have an onshore continuity both until eastern Mallorca and in the southwestern Ibiza margin. The role of previous tectonic inherited structures (rifting, Betic thrusts, post-orogenic collapse) on the deformation reported here is discussed and we propose a tentative sketch that integrates our results in a Miocene to Present-day evolution at regional scale.
•Post-Messinian deformation affects the Central Mallorca Depression.•Strike-slip fault systems correlate onland-offshore Mallorca and Ibiza Islands.•The systems localize extensional / compressional structures into long corridors.•Small depocenters of PQ units align onland-offshore.•Recent tectonics and important structural inheritance control local subsidence.
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