Verzhbitskii, E. V. and Kaz'min, V. G. (1999): Geothermal regime and specific features of the tectonic evolution of the western Mediterranean basins

Leg/Site/Hole:
Identifier:
2000-021745
georefid

Creator:
Verzhbitskii, E. V.
Russian Academy of Sciences, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow, Russian Federation
author

Kaz'min, V. G.
author

Identification:
Geothermal regime and specific features of the tectonic evolution of the western Mediterranean basins
1999
Geotectonics
MAIK Nauka/ Interperiodica Publishing, Birmingham, AL, United States
33
6
480-488
According to the data on heat-flow parameters, the active phase of rifting in the Algiers-Provencal basin started in the Early-Middle Oligocene, 34+ or -3 Ma, and this correlates with other geological and geophysical data. The high background heat-flow values (81 mW/m (super 2) ) and thin (45 km) lithosphere indicate that the Algiers-Provencal basin was formed by the sea floor extension and spreading. Contemporaneous formation of back-arc basins in the western and eastern Mediterranean during the Oligocene (Algiers-Provencal, Aegean, Cilician, or Adana) is connected with the change in the kinematic conditions in Africa-Eurasia convergence zone. For the Tyrrhenian Sea, the rate of spreading was calculated from heat-flow data for the three axes of spreading (Magnaghi, Vavilov, and Marsili). The rates of spreading received: 1.4 cm/yr (Magnaghi), about 3 cm/yr (Vavilov), and 5.7 cm/yr (Marsili), are very close to the rate values calculated from deep sea drilling data. The southeastward shift of the axes of spreading with a simultaneous acceleration of spreading may indicate the acceleration of the rollback of the African plate (i.e., an increase in its dip angle in the Calabrian subduction zone), in the context of blocking the subduction by the thick sedimentary strata of the Ionian basin.
English
Serial
Coverage:Geographic coordinates:
North:45.0000
West:-6.0000East: 18.3000
South:34.0000

Solid-earth geophysics; African Plate; Algiers-Provencal Basin; back-arc basins; basins; Cenozoic; Deep Sea Drilling Project; Eurasian Plate; faults; geothermal systems; lithosphere; Mediterranean Sea; Oligocene; Paleogene; plate convergence; plate tectonics; rifting; sea-floor spreading; sedimentary cover; subduction zones; Tertiary; Tyrrhenian Sea; West Mediterranean;

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