Tectonic, Geodynamic and Paleogeographic Evolution of the Western Mediterranean

About this Research Topic

Background

The Western Mediterranean has accommodated NW-SE plate convergence between Africa and Eurasia since the late Cretaceous. The earliest stages of compression are not well constrained and many of the geological features of the region have developed since the late Oligocene in relation to other tectonic mechanisms triggered in this convergent setting, like slab roll-back, slab detachment, tearing, edge delamination or thermal and mechanical removal of the base of the lithosphere. These tectonic mechanisms have induced material flow in directions oblique to the NW-SE direction of convergence between the plates, for example, westwards in the Gibraltar arc or eastwards in the Calabrian arc. Furthermore, the outward migration of these arcs, driven by mantle tectonic mechanisms, has been followed by extensional collapse of the internal parts of the orogens, producing the Alboran, Algero-Balearic, Ligurian and Tyrrhenian basins from West to East between the Oligocene and the Quaternary, which are floored by thinned orogenic continental crust, exhumed mantle and oceanic crust. Moreover, once the effects of slab retreat and tearing have migrated away, many extended regions of the Western Mediterranean were inverted and uplifted, under continued Africa-Eurasia NW-SE plate convergence. Although the extension is generally described to have affected the internal zones of the orogenic wedges, recent work shows that locally the external foreland thrust belts (FTBs) are also thinned in the Apennines, Betics, Rif, Tunisian Tell and Sicily. Thus, during the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Western Mediterranean, orogenic arcs have migrated in space and sedimentary basins have developed over the locus of previous overthickened crust and orogenic topography, contributing to dramatic changes in the paleogeography of the region. Foreland thrust belts have become isolated in the middle of Cenozoic basins. Marine gateways have developed and closed between the Mediterranean, remnants of the Alpine Tethys, and the Atlantic Ocean. Island arcs and archipelago have formed and migrated in the wake of retreating slabs forming temporary landbridges between Africa and Eurasia. Processes that have affected deeply other Earth features like marine connectivity, climate or faunal evolution and biodiversity.

We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Methods, and other article types of contributions suited for this topic. We particularly encourage (but are not limited to) contributions of the following issues:
• Geophysical and geological observations about the structure and tectonic evolution of orogenic belts and basins of the Western Mediterranean;
• Geodynamic reconstructions of the Western Mediterranean, including provenance studies, source to sink relationships, and paleogeographic reconstructions;
• Evolution of marine gateways and landmasses, and their influence on ocean current circulation in and out of the Mediterranean during the Cenozoic;
• Analog or numerical modeling of tectonic mechanisms and topographic evolution with application to the Western Mediterranean;
• Biogeographic evolution in the Western Mediterranean.

Keywords: Western Mediterranean, tectonic evolution, source to sink relations, paleogeography, geophysical constraints, biogeography

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