TITLE:
Generation and Disruption of Subducted Lithosphere in the Central-Western Mediterranean Region and Time-Space Distribution of Magmatic Activity Since the Late Miocene
AUTHORS:
Enzo Mantovani, Marcello Viti, Caterina Tamburelli, Daniele Babbucci
KEYWORDS:
Deep Tectonics, Slab Tears and Slab Breakoffs, Magmatism, Central-Western Mediterranean
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.13 No.9,
September
29,
2022
ABSTRACT: The long migration of the Balearic Arc (Alpine-Apennine and
Alpine-Maghrebian belts) in the Early-Middle Miocene caused the formation of a
subducted lithospheric edifice in the western and central Mediterranean
regions. Then, since the Late Miocene, this slab was almost completely
disrupted, only maintaining a narrow and deformed remnant beneath the
southernmost Tyrrhenian basin. This work describes a tentative reconstruction
of the tectonic processes that caused the formation of major tears and
breakoffs in the original slabs and the consequent disruption of the subducted
lithosphere. In particular, it is suggested that this relatively fast process
was produced by the collision between the Anatolian-Aegean system and the
continental Adriatic domain, which triggered a number of extrusion processes.
Possible connections between the proposed tectonic evolution and the
spatio-temporal distribution and geochemical signatures of magmatic activity
are then discussed. It is supposed that such activity has been mainly
conditioned by the occurrence of transtensional tectonics in the wake of escaping
orogenic wedges.