Download On the post-25 Ma geodynamic evolution of the western

ELSEVIER
Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
On the post-25 Ma geodynamic evolution of the western Mediterranean
Erwan Gueguen a , Carlo Doglioni b,Ł , Manuel Fernandez c
b
a Centro di Geodinamica, Università, Via Anzio, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università La Sapienza, P. le A. Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy
c CSIC, Institute of Earth Sciences, Jaume Almera, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Abstract
During the Neogene and Quaternary western Mediterranean geodynamics were dominated by the ‘eastward’ migration
of the Apenninic arc and associated back-arc basins. The migration was controlled by retreat of the Apenninic slab and
was associated with ‘boudinage’ of the lithosphere in the back-arc area. Palaeo-reconstruction of the kinematics of the arc
suggests about 775 km of migration from the Late Oligocene to present along a transect from the Gulf of Lions to Calabria.
A maximum of 135 km of N–S converge occurred between Africa and Europe during the same time span. The western
Mediterranean was thus mainly shaped by the migration of the slab related to west-directed subduction. It is hypothesized
that minor N–S convergence deformed the arc but was not the cause of its formation.  1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All
rights reserved.
Keywords: post-25 Ma; geodynamic evolution; western Mediterranean; ‘roll-back’; marginal basins
1. Introduction
The Mediterranean area has always been a complicated puzzle for the geodynamic reconstructions.
The main geodynamic factor controlling Mediterranean tectonics has usually been considered to be
the relative motion of Africa and Europe as a consequence of different spreading rates along the Atlantic
oceanic ridge. However, in spite of regularly E–
W-oriented transform faults in the Atlantic oceanic
crust, N–S convergence between Africa and Europe
has been postulated as the main force shaping the
Mediterranean since the Late Cretaceous. Since the
paper by Argand (1916), the Alpine orogen was conŁ Corresponding
author. Tel.: C39 (06) 4991-4549; Fax: C39
(06) 4454-729; E-mail: [email protected]
sidered to relate to collision between the Adriatic,
or African, promontory and Europe. This historical heritage has strongly influenced many tectonic
reconstructions of the Mediterranean region. Differently oriented tectonic features like the Tyrrhenian
Sea or the Apennines were interpreted in a context of general N–S convergence (e.g. Boccaletti
and Dainelli, 1982; and many others), proposing
that the N–S push was responsible for the eastward
escape, or ‘extrusion’, of the Apennines (e.g. Tapponnier, 1977). In this paper we propose four steps
(23 Ma, 10 Ma, 5 Ma, present) for the Neogene
to recent overall tectonic evolution of the western
Mediterranean area. This study integrates previous
results published on this topic (Gueguen et al.,
1997; Doglioni et al., 1997a,b), and represents an
alternative hypothesis to the generally accepted con-
0040-1951/98/$19.00  1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 4 0 - 1 9 5 1 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 1 8 9 - 9
260
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
cept that western Mediterranean geodynamics were
mainly shaped by N–S Africa–Europe convergence.
We see this as secondary to a dominant influence
of a west-to-east migrating Apenninic arc system.
A similar tectonic setting applies to the Caribbean
arc related to the west-directed Barbados subduction
zone. The southern arm of the arc was deformed by
N–S convergence of the South America plate with
respect to the back-arc region while the Barbados arc
migrated eastward at a faster rate.
2. Geodynamic setting of the western
Mediterranean
The opening of the western Mediterranean mainly
took place in the last 30 Ma, with genesis of irregular
basins which migrated in age from west to east.
The basins developed in the Late Oligocene–Early
Miocene in the westernmost parts (Alboran, Valencia
and Provençal basins; Maldonado et al., 1992; Roca
and Desegaulx, 1992; Comas et al., 1993; Gueguen
et al., 1993; Watts et al., 1993; Roca, 1994; Gueguen,
1995; Fernandez et al., 1995; Docherty and Banda,
1995), becoming progressively younger eastwards:
i.e. Middle–Late Miocene in the eastern Balearic
and Algerian basins (Roca and Desegaulx, 1992;
Sàbat et al., 1997), up to Late Miocene and Plio–
Pleistocene in the Tyrrhenian basin (Kastens et al.,
1988; and references therein).
The opening of these basins was contemporaneous
and located in the back-arc region of the ‘eastward’
retreating Apennines–Maghrebides subduction zone.
The arc migrated about 800 km ‘eastward’ from the
Late Oligocene to present. The extension in the western Mediterranean and the growth of the Apenninic
arc developed in the general frame of slow convergence between Africa and Europe, mainly after a terminal collisional episode in the Pyrenees at 20 Ma
(Mattauer and Séguret, 1971; Viallard, 1978, 1979).
The direction of Africa–Europe relative motion is
still under debate. Most reconstructions show directions of relative motion spanning northwest to northeast (Dewey et al., 1989; Helman and Mazzoli, 1994;
Campan, 1995; Albarello et al., 1995). The largest
amount of shortening computed in Tunisia relative to
Europe during the last 23 Ma spans 100 to 165 km
(Dewey et al., 1989; Campan, 1995). It appears that
the amount of N–S Africa–Europe relative motion
was five to eight times slower than the eastward migration of the Apenninic arc during the last 23 Ma,
i.e. 4–7 mm=year of N–S convergence vs. 30–40
mm=year of eastward migration of the Apenninic arc
(Gueguen et al., 1997, and references therein).
Recent geodetic data confirm this overall setting
(Ward, 1994) and show that the ‘absolute’ plates
motion directions of Europe and Africa are northeast oriented (Smith et al., 1994) and not north or
northwest directed as usually assumed. The eastward migration of the arc associated with westdirected subduction generated right-lateral transpression along the entire E–W-trending northern
African belt and its Sicilian continuation (e.g. Channell et al., 1990), whereas left-lateral transtension
has been described along the same trend in the
back-arc setting just to the north of the African
margin (Doglioni, 1991). Within this geodynamic
framework, the western Mediterranean was initiated during the Late Oligocene as the west-directed
Apennines–Maghrebides subduction started (Robertson and Grasso, 1995). At this time, the main
‘east’-directed Alpine subduction had reached the
continental collision stage leading to the flip of the
subduction zone along the back-thrust belt of the
Alpine orogen area where remnants of the oceanic
Tethys were still present (Doglioni et al., 1998).
The new west-directed subduction retreated eastward
to its present position beneath the Apennines and
Maghrebides. In the hangingwall of the subduction
back-arc extension opened irregular troughs as the
Provençal, Algerian and Tyrrhenian basins (Réhault
et al., 1984; Malinverno and Ryan, 1986; Royden
et al., 1987; Doglioni, 1991). Lithospheric swells,
a type of giant boudin, were isolated between those
basins, such as the Corsica–Sardinia and the Balearic
promontory (Gueguen et al., 1997). Magmatism accompanied this evolution with calc-alkaline episodes
particularly located on the western margins of the
‘boudins’ and alkaline magmas widespread within
the basins (Hernandez et al., 1987; Kastens et al.,
1988; Martı́ et al., 1992; and references therein).
Even for the last 30 Ma, geodynamic models for
the western Mediterranean are still very controversial
because it is very difficult to estimate the amount
of displacement of continental blocks within the
Mediterranean domain. The reason is that the data
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
261
generally used to constrain a plate kinematics model
are derived from magnetic anomalies, fracture zones
and morphology of the conjugate margins. However,
in the western Mediterranean magnetic patterns do
not allow easy identification of the anomalies and
all the basins developed within or at the edge of an
active orogen, such that the conjugate margins are
deformed, except the Liguro–Provençal basin.
3. The 25 Ma palaeogeography
The Provençal and Tyrrhenian domains were restored using the N120–90º direction of opening
given by the transform and transfer faults. In order to
constrain the horizontal displacement we applied an
area-balancing method to a crustal section (Fig. 1)
drawn along the direction of movement (small circle)
of our kinematic model and corresponding to the line
of major displacement. To draw this section, running
from the Gulf of Lions to northern Calabria, we used
multichannel seismic lines (ECORS-NW, MS40) and
seismic refraction data (Egger et al., 1988; Réhault
et al., 1990; Scarascia et al., 1994).
The Provençal basin was restored to its end-ofrifting setting (Gueguen, 1995), corresponding to a
displacement of 350 km. In order to restore the
Tyrrhenian part we assumed an original crustal thickness of 50 km due to the presence of the Alpine
orogen as indicated by the presence of Alpine rocks
in Calabria and offshore Sardinia and inland Corsica,
and a mean width of 200 km of the orogen. With
these assumptions the amount of total extension
needed in order to restore the Tyrrhenian domain to
its pre-rift situation is about 425 km. Pre-existing
models (Moussat et al., 1985; Malinverno and Ryan,
1986) proposed a smaller value of 350 km extension, assuming an initial crustal thickness of 30 km,
which corresponds to a normal-thickness continental
crust without taking into account the presence of the
Alpine orogen.
In our model, we require a total movement of 775
km to balance the entire section of Fig. 1. Northward
in the southern Apennines, Schiattarella et al. (1997)
calculated, using a balanced section, shortening of
250 km for the Apenninic units, whereas for the
Ligurides units shortening may be estimated as 350
km, giving a total of 550 km.
Fig. 1. Balanced cross-section illustrating the evolution of the
western Mediterranean during the Neogene and Quaternary (location in Figs. 2 and 5). See text for discussion. The Apenninic
subduction retreated eastward since the Late Oligocene–Early
Miocene to present times. The back-arc extension first led to
‘lithospheric necking’ of the Provençal basin then it jumped to
the east of Sardinia and developed the Tyrrhenian Sea including
the Vavilov and Marsili sub-basins. This appears to indicate a
discontinuous process of extension in the hangingwall of the
west-directed subduction in which large slices of lithosphere are
‘boudinated’ and dragged eastward (after Gueguen et al., 1997).
Further north, the CROP03 seismic line across the
central Apennines (Barchi et al., 1997) shows that
the Alpine belt has been delaminated by east-dipping
low-angle normal faults. Along this line shortening
is estimated as 200 km.
262
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
In the Valencia trough and in the North Algerian
basin, an estimate of horizontal movement is complicated by the fact that it is not possible to restore
an initial crustal thickness even of 30 km. This is
probably due to the presence of inherited Mesozoic
basins (Gelabert et al., 1992; Roca and Guimerá,
1992). The only data we can use to constrain the horizontal movements in the above area are estimates
of shortening in the Tell. The shortening between
the palaeo-margins of Kabylie and Africa can be estimated as 200 km (Bouillin, 1979) but considering
also the Tell nappes, the displacement must be larger.
According to Vila (1980), the amount of shortening
may even reach 250 km for the Tortonian phase
alone. From our palaeogeographic reconstruction,
300 km of shortening is the maximum possible.
In the Gibraltar area, according to plate-kinematics models of the relative motion of Europe and
Africa (Dewey et al., 1989; Albarello et al., 1995;
Campan, 1995), the amount of shortening since the
Early Oligocene (Anomaly 13) must be less than 150
km. This is in good agreement with the fact that the
amount of shortening in the Tellian chain doubles
from west to east (Vila, 1980).
In Late Oligocene time, opening of the Liguro–
Provençal basin was already initiated. Fig. 2 shows
the palaeogeography at the beginning of the Miocene
after the Oligocene extension of the Liguro–
Provençal margins, but before oceanization of the
basin (Gueguen, 1995). This reconstruction juxtaposes the foot of the continental slope as shown
on seismic reflection profiles and fits the margin
morphology, considering the Corsica–Sardinia block
as almost rigid as constrained by Permian dykes
crossing the Straight of Bonifacio between the two
islands (Arthaud and Matte, 1977). Such a reconstruction minimizes the problems of the Provençal
basin reconstruction and gives a good correlation of
the geologic features between the Sardinian block on
one side and Iberia and Europe on the other.
4. From 25 Ma to 10 Ma
During the 25–10 Ma time period, the Corsica–
Sardinia block rotated 60º anticlockwise around a
pole located at 42.7ºN and 9.6ºE (Gueguen, 1995).
Fig. 3 illustrates a palaeotectonic reconstruction of
this time period. During the late Burdigalian, the
Calabrian and Peloritan massifs began to separate
from the Sardinia block with the opening of the
Tyrrhenian area (i.e. Vavilov basin). At this time
the Valencia trough was still opening, even if compression was still operating in the Balearic islands.
Due to the rotations of the continental blocks, the
length of the Apenninic arc increased, leading to the
break-up of the arc between the Balearic islands and
Sardinia and to the formation of an oceanic domain
corresponding to an area of fan-shaped magnetic
anomalies that can be observed in an aeromagnetic
map of the Algerian basin (Galdeano and Rossignol,
1977). From the Late Oligocene, the North Algerian
basin started to open by dislocation of its internal
zones. The Kabylian basement is affected by a new
transgression marked by deposition of conglomerates and sandstones of the Oligo–Miocene Kabylian
unit. Coevally the Numidian trough overrode the
African margin.
5. From 10 Ma to 5 Ma
The Liguro–Provençal basin, the Valencia trough
and the North Algerian basin were almost completely opened at 10 Ma. The Numidian trough was
closed and the Kabylian blocks were attached to
Africa. This explains why the Tortonian corresponds
to a period of major reorganization in the western Mediterranean. In fact, during the opening of
the North Algerian basin, coeval closure of the Numidian trough by roll-back of the subduction zone
absorbed all of the convergence of Africa with respect to Europe. From the Tortonian, the effects of
this convergence were transferred to the North Algerian basin and to North Africa, where a major
compressive phase was characterized by large-scale
folding and thrusting.
The northern arm of the arc (i.e. the Apenninic
and Tyrrhenian area) was affected by eastward migration of compression in the eastern margin of
the arc and extension followed immediately to the
west. The Vavilov basin progressively reached the
oceanization stage during the Late Miocene–Early
Pliocene, while the Marsili basin started to open
(Fig. 4), and Calabria was also affected by extensional tectonics. This jump in the extension process
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
Fig. 2. Early Miocene palaeotectonic reconstruction of the western Mediterranean showing the extensional system (Provençal–Valencia–Alboran), considered as the back-arc
basin of the west-directed Apenninic subduction (in black). Note the eastward vergence of both the Apenninic trench and of the back-arc extension. In grey are marked
the fronts of the Alpine–Betic orogen which is cross-cut by the zone of back-arc extension. The back-arc basin of the Apenninic subduction fragmented the Alpine–Betic
orogen into the segmented basins. Note the distance between the reconstructed Early Miocene arc and its present position (775 km) with respect to the contemporaneous,
but smaller north-northwestward motion of Africa relative to Europe (135 km). A–A0 shows location of the section shown in Fig. 1.
263
264
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
Fig. 3. Most of the western Mediterranean basins had already opened during Tortonian times. Both the trench of the Apennine subduction and related focus of back-arc
extension continued to migrate eastwards.
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
Fig. 4. Early Pliocene palaeotectonic reconstruction. The Tyrrhenian basin began to develop oceanic crust in the Vavilov area. The entire system associated with the
Apenninic subduction migrated eastward at rates up to 50 mm=year.
265
266
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
Fig. 5. The western Mediterranean is composed of sub-basins becoming younger from west to east. They developed in the hangingwall of the ‘eastward’ retreating
Apenninic subduction, as back-arc basins, during the last 30 Ma. These sub-basins are triangular in shape. A–A0 shows location of the section shown in Fig. 1.
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
was marked by a change in direction of opening from
N120º to N140º. This was probably controlled by the
fact that the only oceanic domain in the foreland
allowing easy subduction roll-back was (and still is)
the Ionian Sea.
6. From 5 Ma to present
In the Tyrrhenian domain the Vavilov basin was
almost completely opened and new oceanic crust
began to form in the Marsili basin during the Late
Pliocene (Fig. 5). In the southern Apennines, interference of the subduction zone with thicker continental crust of the Apulian platform halted migration of the subduction hinge, whereas in the central
and northern Apennines subduction of thin Adriatic
oceanic lithosphere allowed continuing roll-back of
the hinge. Owing to these different roll-back rates the
velocity of the Apenninic slab retreat was split in two
‘sub-arcs’ separated by the Tremiti line (Doglioni et
al., 1994).
7. Conclusions
An Early Miocene reconstruction of the western
Mediterranean (Fig. 2) shows that the Alpine–Betic
system had by then reached the continental collision
stage, making subduction more difficult. This situation favoured the inversion of the subduction, resulting in initiation of the Apennines–Maghrebides
system along the front of the Alpine–Betic backthrust belt which represented a zone of weakness,
especially in the area where Tethyan oceanic crust
persisted. Roll-back of this west-directed subduction
then induced opening of the Provençal–Valencia–
Alboran basins, which should be considered as initial back-arc basins related to this subduction, i.e.
with both subduction and back-arc basins of the
same migration polarity and the same age. The western Mediterranean Late Oligocene–Miocene basins
(Alboran, Valençia and Provençal basins) are, in
fact, a coherent system of interrelated troughs. For
all these basins the extension and the thermal subsidence migrated eastwards progressively towards
the Miocene–Pleistocene Algerian and Tyrrhenian
basins. All of these troughs represent parts of a
267
back-arc basin system, opening related to eastward
roll-back of the west-directed Apenninic subduction
zone. This back-arc extension generated a system
of lithospheric ‘boudins’, which disrupted the lithosphere in the hangingwall of the subduction zone.
The westernmost basins of the Mediterranean developed obliquely with respect to the Alpine–Betic
orogen because Late Oligocene–Early Miocene extension nucleated within both the pre-existing Betic
cordillera (e.g. Alboran Sea) and in its foreland
(Valencia and Provençal troughs). The N40–70º direction of grabens was oblique to the partly coeval
N60–80º-trending orogen and showed a structural
independence from trends in its orogenic roots. The
Apennines–Maghrebides arc migrated eastward during the retreat of the west-directed subduction zone
since ca. 30–25 Ma. The greatest migration occurred in Calabria, southern Italy, where the arc
moved about 800 km eastwards. N–S compression
related to Africa–Europe relative motion deformed
the southern arm of the Apennines–Maghrebides
subduction system. This relative convergence is estimated as about 150 km and cannot be considered as
the mechanism for generating the Apenninic subduction which is much larger and moving in a different
direction. This geodynamic setting recalls in some
way the west-directed Barbados subduction where
the southern arm of the eastward migrating arc was
deformed and emplaced northward during Tertiary
and Quaternary times by coeval N–S convergence
(e.g. Venezuela), owing to clockwise rotation of
South America. During Tertiary times Africa rotated
anticlockwise relative to Europe (Channell, 1996),
while the Apenninic subduction was migrating eastwards at a faster rate.
Acknowledgements
Discussions with P. Harabaglia, E. Roca, R. Sabadini and F. Sabat were very helpful. The paper
benefited from critical reviews by F. Mongelli and
J.P. Réhault. The European Community and ASI
supported this study (HCM Research Networks,
‘Geodynamic modelling of western Mediterranean’),
grant ERBCHRXCT940607.
268
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
References
Albarello, D., Mantovani, E., Babbucci, D., Tamburelli, C., 1995.
Africa–Eurasia kinematics: main constraints and uncertainties.
Tectonophysics 243, 25–36.
Argand, E., 1916. Sur l’arc des Alpes Occidentales. Eclogae
Geol. Helv. 14, 145–191.
Arthaud, P., Matte, P., 1977. Détermination de la position initiale
de la corse et de la Sardaigne à la fin de l’orogénèse hercynienne grâce aux marqueurs géologiques anté-mésozoı̈ques.
Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr. 7, 19 (4), 833–840.
Barchi, M., Minelli, G., Pialli, G., 1997. The Crop 03 profile:
a synthesis of results on deep structures of the Northern
Apennines. Mem. Soc. Geol. Ital. 52, 383–400.
Boccaletti, M., Dainelli, P., 1982. Il sisterma regmatico
neogenico–quaternario nell’area mediterranea: esempio di deformazione plastico–rigida post-collisionale. Mem. Soc. Geol.
Ital. 24, 465–482.
Bouillin, J.P., 1979. La Transversale de Collo et d’El Milia
(Petite Kabylie): une région-clef pour l’interprétation de la
tectonique alpine de la chaı̂ne littorale d’Algérie. Mem. Soc.
Geol. Fr. 135, 1–84.
Campan, A., 1995. Analyse cinématique de l’Atlantique équatorial: implications sur l’évolution de l’Atlantique Sud et sur
la frontière de plaques Amérique du Nord=Amérique du Sud.
PhD Thesis, Univ. P.&M. Curie, Paris VI.
Channell, J.E.T., 1996. Palaeomagnetism and palaeogeography
of Adria. In: Morris, A., Tarling, D.H. (Eds.), Palaeomagnetism and Tectonics of the Mediterranean Region. Geol. Soc.
London Spec. Publ. 105, 119–135.
Channell, J.E.T., Oldow, J.S., Catalano, R., D’Argenio, B., 1990.
Palaeomagnetically determined rotations in the western sicilian fold and thrust belt. Tectonics 9, 641–660.
Comas, M.C., Garcia-Dueñas, V., Soto, J.I., Campos, J., 1993.
An extensional basin developed on a collisional orogen: the
Alboran Sea. In: Seranne, M., Malavielle, J. (Eds.), Late
Orogenic Extension in Mountain Belts. Doc. BRGM Fr. 219,
44–46.
Dewey, J.F., Helman, M.L., Turco, E., Hutton, D.H.W., Knott,
S.D., 1989. Kinematics of the western Mediterranean. In:
Coward, M.P., Dietrich, D., Park, R.G. (Eds.), Alpine Tectonics. Geol. Soc. London Spec. Publ. 45, 265–283.
Docherty, C., Banda, E., 1995. Evidence for the eastward migration of the Alboran sea based on regional subsidence analysis:
a case for basin formation by delamination of the subcrustal
lithosphere? Tectonics 14 (4), 804–818.
Doglioni, C., 1991. A proposal of kinematic modelling for
W-dipping subductions — possible applications to the
Tyrrhenian–Apennines system. Terra Nova 3, 423–434.
Doglioni, C., Mongelli, F., Pieri, P., 1994. The Puglia uplift (SE
Italy): an anomaly in the foreland of the Apenninic subduction
due to buckling of a thick continental lithosphere. Tectonics
13, 1309–1321.
Doglioni, C., Gueguen, E., Sabat, F., Fernandez, M., 1997a.
The western Mediterranean extensional basins and the Alpine
orogen. Terra Nova 9 (3), 109–112.
Doglioni, C., Mongelli, F., Pialli, G., 1997b. Boudinage of the
Alpine belt in the Apenninic backarc. Mem. Soc. Geol. Ital.,
in press.
Doglioni, C., Gueguen, E., Harabaglia, P., Mongelli, F., 1998.
On the origin of W-directed subduction zones and applications to the western Mediterranean. In: Durand, B., Jolivet, L.,
Horvath, F., Séranne, M. (Eds.), The Mediterranean Basins:
Tertiary Extension within the Alpine Orogen. Geol. Soc. London, Spec. Publ., in press.
Egger, A., Demartin, M., Ansorge, J., Banda, E., Maistrello,
M., 1988. The gross structure of the crust under Corsica and
Sardinia. Tectonophysics 150, 363–389.
Fernandez, M., Foucher, J.P., Jurado, M.J., 1995. Evidence for
the multi-stage formation of the southwestern Valencia trough.
Mar. Pet. Geol. 12, 101–109.
Galdeano, G., Rossignol, J.C., 1977. Assemblage à altitude constante des cartes d’anomalies magnétiques couvrant
l’ensemble du bassin occidental de la Méditerranée. Bull. Soc.
Geol. Fr. 7, 19 (3), 461–468.
Gelabert, B., Sabat, F., Rodriguez-Perea, A., 1992. A structural
outline of the Serra de Tramuntana of Mallorca (Balearic
Islands). Tectonophysics 203, 167–183.
Gueguen, E., 1995. Le Bassin Liguro–Provençal: un véritable
ocean. Exemple de segmentation des marges et de hiatus
cinématiques. Implications sur les processus d’amincissement
crustal. Ph.D. Thesis, Brest Univ., 315 pp.
Gueguen, E., Olivet, J.-L., Réhault, J.-R., 1993. Kinematic model
in the Western Mediterranean: new constraints. Terra Abstr.,
EUG Mtg., Strasbourg.
Gueguen, E., Doglioni, C., Fernandez, M., 1997. Lithospheric
boudinage in the western Mediterranean back-arc basins. Terra
Nova 9 (4), 184–187.
Helman, M., Mazzoli, S., 1994. Neogene patterns of relative
plate motion for Africa–Europe: some implications for recent
central Mediterranean tectonics. Geol. Rundsch. 83, 464–468.
Hernandez, J., de Larouzière, F.D., Bolze, J., Bordet, R.,
1987. Le magmatisme néogène bético–rifain et le couloir de
décrochement trans-Alboran. Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr. 3, 257–267.
Kastens, K., Mascle, J., Auroux, C., et al., 1988. ODP Leg 107 in
the Tyrrhenian Sea: insights into passive margin and back-arc
basin evolution. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 100, 1140–1156.
Maldonado, A., Campillo, A.C., Mauffret, A., Alonso, B., Woodside, J., Campos, J., 1992. Alboran Sea late Cenozoic tectonic
and stratigraphic evolution. Geo-Mar. Lett. 12, 179–186.
Malinverno, A., Ryan, W.B.F., 1986. Extension in the Tyrrhenian Sea and shortening in the Apennines as a result of arc
migration driven by sinking of the lithosphere. Tectonics 5,
227–245.
Martı́, J., Mitjavila, J., Roca, E., Aparicio, A., 1992. Cenozoic magmatism of the Valencia trough (western Mediterranean): relationship between structural evolution and volcanism. Tectonophysics 203, 145–165.
Mattauer, M., Séguret, M., 1971. Les relations entre la chaı̂ne
pyrénéenne et le golfe de Gascogne. In: Histoire Structurale
du Golfe de Gascogne. Technip, Paris, pp. IV.4-1–IV.4-24.
Moussat, E., Réhault, J.-R., Fabbri, A., Mascle, G., 1985. Evolution géologique de la Mer Tyrrhénienne. C. R. Acad. Sci.
Paris 301 (7), 491–495.
E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269
Réhault, J.P., Mascle, J., Boillot, G., 1984. Evolution géodynamique de la Méditerranée depuis l’Oligocène. Mem. Soc.
Geol. Ital. 27, 85–96.
Réhault, J.P., Tisseau, C., Brunet, M.F., Louden, K., 1990. Subsidence analysis on the Sardinian margin and the central
Tyrrhenian basin: thermal modelling and heat flow control;
deep structure implications. J. Geodyn. 12, 269–310.
Robertson, A.H.F., Grasso, M., 1995. Overview of the Late
Tertiary–recent tectonic and palaeo-environmental development of the Mediterranean region. Terra Nova 7, 114–127.
Roca, E., 1994. La evolucion geodinamica de la Cuenca
Catalano–Balear y areas adyacentes desde el Mesozoico hasta
la actualidad. Acta Geol. Hisp. 29, 3–25.
Roca, E., Desegaulx, P., 1992. Analysis of the geological evolution and vertical movements in the València trough area,
western Mediterranean. Mar. Pet. Geol. 9, 167–185.
Roca, E., Guimerá, J., 1992. The Neogene structure of the
eastern Iberian margin: structural constraints on the crustal
evolution of the Valencia trough (western Mediterranean).
Tectonophysics 203, 203–218.
Royden, L., Patacca, E., Scandone, P., 1987. Segmentation and
configuration of subducted lithosphere in Italy: an important
control on thrust-belt and foredeep-basin evolution. Geology
15, 714–717.
Sàbat, F., Roca, E., Munoz, J.A., Vergés, J., Santanach, P., Sans,
M., Masana, E., Estévez, A., Santisteban, C., 1997. Role of
extension and compression in the evolution of the eastern
margin of Iberia: the ESCI-València trough seismic profile.
269
Rev. Soc. Geol. Esp. 8 (4), 431–448.
Scarascia, S., Lozej, A., Cassinis, R., 1994. Crustal structures of
the Ligurian, Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas and adjacent onshore
areas interpreted from wide-angle seismic profiles. Boll. Geof.
Teor. Appl. 36, 141–144, 5–19.
Schiattarella, M., Doglioni, C., Prosser, G., Tramutoli, M., 1997.
Large-scale geometry and kinematics of the southern Apennines. EUG 9, Terra Nova, Abstr. Suppl. 1, p. 109.
Smith, D.E., Kolenkiewicz, R., Nerem, R.S., Dunn, P.J., Torrence, M.H., Robbins, J.W., Klosko, S.M., Williamson, R.G.,
Pavlis, E.C., 1994. Contemporary global horizontal crustal
motion. Geophys. J. Int. 119, 511–520.
Tapponnier, P., 1977. Evolution tectonique du système alpin en
Méditerranée: poinçonnement et écrasement rigide–plastique.
Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr. 19 (3), 437–460.
Viallard, P., 1978. Tectogénèse de la chaı̂ne ibérique: relations
substratum–couverture dans une tectonique polyphasée. C. R.
Acad. Sci. Paris 287D, 1103–1106.
Viallard, P., 1979. La chaı̂ne ibérique: zone de cisaillement
intracontinentale pendant la tectogenèse alpine. C. R. Acad.
Sci. Paris 289D, 65–68.
Vila, J.M., 1980. La chaı̂ne alpine d’Algérie orientale et des
confins algéro-tunisiens. PhD Thesis, Univ. Paris VI, 663 pp.
Ward, S.N., 1994. Constraints on the seismotectonics of the central Mediterranean from Very Long Baseline Interferometry.
Geophys. J. Int. 117, 441–452.
Watts, A.B., Platt, J.P., Bulh, P., 1993. Tectonic evolution of the
Alboran Sea Basin. Basin Res. 5, 153–177.