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Intermediate depth seismicity in the western Mediterranean unrelated to subduction of oceanic lithosphere

Abstract

There are three zones in the Gibraltar area where intermediate depth earthquakes occur down to 150 km. Two of these, the Gulf of Cadiz and the western Alboran Sea, are oceanic areas which could be associated with the subduction of oceanic lithosphere. Our present measurements of arrival times of P and S waves show, however, that the third zone beneath the High Atlas is a typical intracontinental chain, where it is not likely that oceanic lithosphere has been subducted during the past 20 million years.

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Hatzfeld, D., Frogneux, M. Intermediate depth seismicity in the western Mediterranean unrelated to subduction of oceanic lithosphere. Nature 292, 443–445 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292443a0

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