Geodynamics of the Western Mediterranean Region

The Western Mediterranean region represents a complex tectonic mosaic shaped by the convergence of the African and Eurasian plates, the closure of the Maghrebian Tethys and the interplay of multiple microcontinental blocks. A major feature is the retreat and tearing of subducting slabs beneath the Alboran Sea and Tyrrhenian basins, which has driven episodic back-arc extension and the formation of rift basins since the Oligocene. Simultaneously, the collision of the AlKaPeCa microcontinental domain (Alboran, Kabylies, Peloritan, Calabria) against North Africa has caused slab detachment events and lateral slab tears, promoting differential extension directions through time. Crustal shortening in the Betic-Rif orogenic arc coexists with transtensional faulting in intramontane basins, while the Atlas Mountains record both crustal shortening and mantle-driven uplift. Volcanism and geothermal anomalies attest to asthenospheric upwelling associated with slab rollback, and ongoing seismicity underscores active deformation across plate boundaries. This region stands as a natural laboratory for processes of slab-driven rifting, lithospheric-scale shear-zone formation and the feedbacks between deep mantle dynamics and surface tectonics. Its geodynamics bear directly on seismic and volcanic hazards, resource distribution and basin evolution across southern Europe and northern Africa.

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Geodynamics of the Western Mediterranean Region publication trend

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Technical terms

Slab rollback: The process by which a subducting plate steepens and retreats trenchward, inducing extension in the overriding plate.

Back-arc basin: A rifted basin that forms behind a volcanic arc as a result of slab rollback and mantle upwelling.

Mylonite: A fine-grained, strongly deformed rock formed by ductile shearing in deep crustal shear zones.

Lithospheric extension: The stretching and thinning of the rigid outer layer of the Earth, often leading to crustal thinning and basin formation.

References

1. Tectono-metamorphic interaction of upper mantle peridotites and lower crustal units during continental rifting in the western Betic Cordillera. Gondwana Research (2024).
2. Revealing the Secrets of the Western Mediterranean: A Deep Earthquake and the Overturned Slab. The Seismic Record (2024).
3. cGPS Record of Active Extension in Moroccan Meseta and Shortening in Atlasic Chains under the Eurasia-Nubia Convergence. Sensors (2023).
4. Detailed tectonic reconstructions of the Western Mediterranean region for the last 35 Ma, insights on driving mechanisms. BSGF – Earth Sciences Bulletin (2020).