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Basic Role of Extrusion Processes in the Late Cenozoic Evolution of the Western and Central Mediterranean Belts. GEOSCIENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/geosciences11120499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Tectonic activity in the Mediterranean area (involving migrations of old orogenic belts, formation of basins and building of orogenic systems) has been determined by the convergence of the confining plates (Nubia, Arabia and Eurasia). Such convergence has been mainly accommodated by the consumption of oceanic and thinned continental domains, triggered by the lateral escapes of orogenic wedges. Here, we argue that the implications of the above basic concepts can allow plausible explanations for the very complex time-space distribution of tectonic processes in the study area, with particular regard to the development of Trench-Arc-Back Arc systems. In the late Oligocene and lower–middle Miocene, the consumption of the eastern Alpine Tethys oceanic domain was caused by the eastward to SE ward migration/bending of the Alpine–Iberian belt, driven by the Nubia–Eurasia convergence. The crustal stretching that developed in the wake of that migrating Arc led to formation of the Balearic basin, whereas accretionary activity along the trench zone formed the Apennine belt. Since the collision of the Anatolian–Aegean–Pelagonian system (extruding westward in response to the indentation of the Arabian promontory) with the Nubia-Adriatic continental domain, around the late Miocene–early Pliocene, the tectonic setting in the central Mediterranean area underwent a major reorganization, aimed at activating a less resisted shortening pattern, which led to the consumption of the remnant oceanic and thinned continental domains in the central Mediterranean area.
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Hertgen S, Yamato P, Guillaume B, Magni V, Schliffke N, van Hunen J. Influence of the Thickness of the Overriding Plate on Convergence Zone Dynamics. GEOCHEMISTRY, GEOPHYSICS, GEOSYSTEMS : G(3) 2020; 21:e2019GC008678. [PMID: 32714097 PMCID: PMC7375164 DOI: 10.1029/2019gc008678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2019] [Revised: 01/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/23/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The important role played by the upper plate in convergence zones dynamics has long been underestimated but is now more and more emphasized. However, the influence of its thickness and/or strength on orogenic systems evolution remains largely unknown. Here we present results from 3D thermo-mechanical numerical simulations of convergence zones (including oceanic subduction followed by continental subduction/collision), in which we vary the rheological profile of the overriding plate (OP). For this, we systematically modify the crustal thickness of the overriding lithosphere and the temperature at the Moho to obtain a thermal thickness of the overriding lithosphere ranging from 80 to 180 km. While all models share a common global evolution (i.e., slab sinking, interaction between slab and the 660 km discontinuity, continental subduction/collision, and slab breakoff), they also highlight first-order differences arising from the variations in the OP strength (thermal thickness). With a thin/weak OP, slab rollback is favored, the slab dip is low, the mantle flow above the slab is vigorous, and the trench migrates at a high rate compared to a thick/strong OP. In addition, slab breakoff and back-arc basin formation events occur significantly earlier than in models involving a thick OP. Our models therefore highlight the major role played by the thickness/strength of the OP on convergence zone dynamics and illustrate its influence in a quantitative way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Solenn Hertgen
- Univ Rennes, CNRS, Géosciences Rennes ‐ UMR 6118RennesFrance
| | - Philippe Yamato
- Univ Rennes, CNRS, Géosciences Rennes ‐ UMR 6118RennesFrance
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), ParisFrance
| | | | - Valentina Magni
- The Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, Department of GeosciencesUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
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Compression-extension transition of continental crust in a subduction zone: A parametric numerical modeling study with implications on Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Cathaysia Block. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0171536. [PMID: 28182640 PMCID: PMC5300286 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2016] [Accepted: 01/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The Cathaysia Block is located in southeastern part of South China, which situates in the west Pacific subduction zone. It is thought to have undergone a compression-extension transition of the continental crust during Mesozoic-Cenozoic during the subduction of Pacific Plate beneath Eurasia-Pacific Plate, resulting in extensive magmatism, extensional basins and reactivation of fault systems. Although some mechanisms such as the trench roll-back have been generally proposed for the compression-extension transition, the timing and progress of the transition under a convergence setting remain ambiguous due to lack of suitable geological records and overprinting by later tectonic events. In this study, a numerical thermo-dynamical program was employed to evaluate how variable slab angles, thermal gradients of the lithospheres and convergence velocities would give rise to the change of crustal stress in a convergent subduction zone. Model results show that higher slab dip angle, lower convergence velocity and higher lithospheric thermal gradient facilitate the subduction process. The modeling results reveal the continental crust stress is dominated by horizontal compression during the early stage of the subduction, which could revert to a horizontal extension in the back-arc region, combing with the roll-back of the subducting slab and development of mantle upwelling. The parameters facilitating the subduction process also favor the compression-extension transition in the upper plate of the subduction zone. Such results corroborate the geology of the Cathaysia Block: the initiation of the extensional regime in the Cathaysia Block occurring was probably triggered by roll-back of the slowly subducting slab.
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Jolivet L, Augier R, Faccenna C, Negro F, Rimmele G, Agard P, Robin C, Rossetti F, Crespo-Blanc A. Subduction, convergence and the mode of backarc extension in the Mediterranean region. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2008. [DOI: 10.2113/gssgfbull.179.6.525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 127] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Abstract30-35 Ma ago a major change occurred in the Mediterranean region, from a regionally compressional subduction coeval with the formation of Alpine mountain belts, to extensional subduction and backarc rifting. Backarc extension was accompanied by gravitational spreading of the mountain belts formed before this Oligocene revolution. Syn-rift basins formed during this process above detachments and low-angle normal faults. Parameters that control the formation and the kinematics of such flat-lying detachments are still poorly understood. From the Aegean Sea to the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Alboran Sea, we have analysed onshore the deformation and P-T-t evolution of the ductile crust exhumed by extension, and the transition from ductile to brittle conditions as well as the relations between deep deformation and basin formation. We show that the sense of shear along crustal-scale detachments is toward the trench when subduction proceeds with little or no convergence (northern Tyrrhenian and Alboran after 20 Ma) and away from the trench in the case of true convergence (Aegean). We tentatively propose a scheme explaining how interactions between the subducting slab and the mantle control the basal shear below the upper plate and the geometry and distribution of detachments and associated sedimentary basins. We propose that ablative subduction below the Aegean is responsible for the observed kinematics on detachments (i.e. away from the trench). The example of the Betic Cordillera and the Rif orogen, where the directions of stretching were different in the lower and the upper crust and changed through time, is also discussed following this hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurent Jolivet
- Laboratoire de Tectonique, UMR 7072, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, T 46-00 E2, case 129, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris cedex, France.
| | - Romain Augier
- Institut des Sciences de la Terre d’Orléans, Bâtiment Géosciences, BP 6759, 45067 Orléans cedex 2, France
| | - Claudio Faccenna
- Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, University of Roma Tre, Largo San Murialdo 1, 00146 Rome, Italy
| | - François Negro
- Institut de Géologie et d’Hydrogéologie, Université de Neuchâtel, 11 rue Emile Argand, CP 158, 2009 Neuchâtel, Suisse
| | - Gaetan Rimmele
- Schlumberger SRPC, Well Integrity Technologies, 1 rue Becquerel, BP 202, 92142 Clamart cedex, France
| | - Philippe Agard
- Laboratoire de Tectonique, UMR 7072, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, T 46-00 E2, case 129, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris cedex, France.
| | - Cécile Robin
- Geosciences, UMR 4661, Université de Rennes I, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes cedex, France
| | - Federico Rossetti
- Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, University of Roma Tre, Largo San Murialdo 1, 00146 Rome, Italy
| | - Ana Crespo-Blanc
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad – CSIC, Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
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Funiciello F, Moroni M, Piromallo C, Faccenna C, Cenedese A, Bui HA. Mapping mantle flow during retreating subduction: Laboratory models analyzed by feature tracking. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2006. [DOI: 10.1029/2005jb003792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 168] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- F. Funiciello
- Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche; Università degli Studi “Roma TRE”; Rome Italy
| | - M. Moroni
- Dipartimento di Idraulica, Trasporti e Strade; Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”; Rome Italy
| | - C. Piromallo
- Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia; Rome Italy
| | - C. Faccenna
- Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche; Università degli Studi “Roma TRE”; Rome Italy
| | - A. Cenedese
- Dipartimento di Idraulica, Trasporti e Strade; Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”; Rome Italy
| | - H. A. Bui
- Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche; Università degli Studi “Roma TRE”; Rome Italy
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Hafkenscheid E, Wortel MJR, Spakman W. Subduction history of the Tethyan region derived from seismic tomography and tectonic reconstructions. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2006. [DOI: 10.1029/2005jb003791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 239] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Bellahsen N. Dynamics of subduction and plate motion in laboratory experiments: Insights into the “plate tectonics” behavior of the Earth. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2005. [DOI: 10.1029/2004jb002999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 136] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Schellart WP. Kinematics of subduction and subduction-induced flow in the upper mantle. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2004. [DOI: 10.1029/2004jb002970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 197] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- W. P. Schellart
- Australian Crustal Research Centre, School of Geosciences; Monash University; Melbourne Australia
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Funiciello F, Faccenna C, Giardini D, Regenauer-Lieb K. Dynamics of retreating slabs: 2. Insights from three-dimensional laboratory experiments. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2003. [DOI: 10.1029/2001jb000896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Claudio Faccenna
- Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche; Universita' degli Studi “Roma Tre,”; Rome Italy
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Regard V, Faccenna C, Martinod J, Bellier O, Thomas JC. From subduction to collision: Control of deep processes on the evolution of convergent plate boundary. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2003. [DOI: 10.1029/2002jb001943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Regard
- Centre Européen de Recheche et d'Enseignement en Géosciences de l'Environnement, UMR CNRS 6635; Université Aix-Marseille III; Aix-en-Provence France
| | - Claudio Faccenna
- Dipartimiento di Scienze Geologiche; Università Roma tre; Rome Italy
| | | | - Olivier Bellier
- Centre Européen de Recheche et d'Enseignement en Géosciences de l'Environnement, UMR CNRS 6635; Université Aix-Marseille III; Aix-en-Provence France
| | - Jean-Charles Thomas
- Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique, UMR CNRS 5559; Université Joseph Fourier; Grenoble France
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