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

a Centro di Geodinamica, Universita, Via Anzio, 85100 Potenza, Italyb Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita 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’ migrationof the Apenninic arc and associated back-arc basins. The migration was controlled by retreat of the Apenninic slab andwas associated with ‘boudinage’ of the lithosphere in the back-arc area. Palaeo-reconstruction of the kinematics of the arcsuggests 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 westernMediterranean was thus mainly shaped by the migration of the slab related to west-directed subduction. It is hypothesizedthat minor N–S convergence deformed the arc but was not the cause of its formation. 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. Allrights reserved.

Keywords: post-25 Ma; geodynamic evolution; western Mediterranean; ‘roll-back’; marginal basins

1. Introduction

The Mediterranean area has always been a com-plicated puzzle for the geodynamic reconstructions.The main geodynamic factor controlling Mediter-ranean tectonics has usually been considered to bethe relative motion of Africa and Europe as a conse-quence of different spreading rates along the Atlanticoceanic ridge. However, in spite of regularly E–W-oriented transform faults in the Atlantic oceaniccrust, N–S convergence between Africa and Europehas been postulated as the main force shaping theMediterranean since the Late Cretaceous. Since thepaper by Argand (1916), the Alpine orogen was con-

Ł Corresponding author. Tel.: C39 (06) 4991-4549; Fax: C39(06) 4454-729; E-mail: doglioni@axrma.uniroma1.it

sidered to relate to collision between the Adriatic,or African, promontory and Europe. This histori-cal heritage has strongly influenced many tectonicreconstructions of the Mediterranean region. Differ-ently oriented tectonic features like the TyrrhenianSea or the Apennines were interpreted in a con-text of general N–S convergence (e.g. Boccalettiand Dainelli, 1982; and many others), proposingthat the N–S push was responsible for the eastwardescape, or ‘extrusion’, of the Apennines (e.g. Tap-ponnier, 1977). In this paper we propose four steps(23 Ma, 10 Ma, 5 Ma, present) for the Neogeneto recent overall tectonic evolution of the westernMediterranean area. This study integrates previousresults published on this topic (Gueguen et al.,1997; Doglioni et al., 1997a,b), and represents analternative 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 weremainly shaped by N–S Africa–Europe convergence.We see this as secondary to a dominant influenceof a west-to-east migrating Apenninic arc system.A similar tectonic setting applies to the Caribbeanarc related to the west-directed Barbados subductionzone. The southern arm of the arc was deformed byN–S convergence of the South America plate withrespect to the back-arc region while the Barbados arcmigrated eastward at a faster rate.

2. Geodynamic setting of the westernMediterranean

The opening of the western Mediterranean mainlytook place in the last 30 Ma, with genesis of irregularbasins which migrated in age from west to east.The basins developed in the Late Oligocene–EarlyMiocene in the westernmost parts (Alboran, Valenciaand Provencal basins; Maldonado et al., 1992; Rocaand Desegaulx, 1992; Comas et al., 1993; Gueguenet 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 Balearicand Algerian basins (Roca and Desegaulx, 1992;Sabat 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 contemporaneousand located in the back-arc region of the ‘eastward’retreating Apennines–Maghrebides subduction zone.The arc migrated about 800 km ‘eastward’ from theLate Oligocene to present. The extension in the west-ern Mediterranean and the growth of the Apenninicarc developed in the general frame of slow conver-gence between Africa and Europe, mainly after a ter-minal collisional episode in the Pyrenees at 20 Ma(Mattauer and Seguret, 1971; Viallard, 1978, 1979).The direction of Africa–Europe relative motion isstill under debate. Most reconstructions show direc-tions of relative motion spanning northwest to north-east (Dewey et al., 1989; Helman and Mazzoli, 1994;Campan, 1995; Albarello et al., 1995). The largestamount of shortening computed in Tunisia relative toEurope 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 motionwas five to eight times slower than the eastward mi-gration of the Apenninic arc during the last 23 Ma,i.e. 4–7 mm=year of N–S convergence vs. 30–40mm=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’ platesmotion directions of Europe and Africa are north-east oriented (Smith et al., 1994) and not north ornorthwest directed as usually assumed. The east-ward migration of the arc associated with west-directed subduction generated right-lateral trans-pression along the entire E–W-trending northernAfrican belt and its Sicilian continuation (e.g. Chan-nell et al., 1990), whereas left-lateral transtensionhas been described along the same trend in theback-arc setting just to the north of the Africanmargin (Doglioni, 1991). Within this geodynamicframework, the western Mediterranean was initi-ated during the Late Oligocene as the west-directedApennines–Maghrebides subduction started (Robert-son and Grasso, 1995). At this time, the main‘east’-directed Alpine subduction had reached thecontinental collision stage leading to the flip of thesubduction zone along the back-thrust belt of theAlpine orogen area where remnants of the oceanicTethys were still present (Doglioni et al., 1998).The new west-directed subduction retreated eastwardto its present position beneath the Apennines andMaghrebides. In the hangingwall of the subductionback-arc extension opened irregular troughs as theProvencal, Algerian and Tyrrhenian basins (Rehaultet al., 1984; Malinverno and Ryan, 1986; Roydenet al., 1987; Doglioni, 1991). Lithospheric swells,a type of giant boudin, were isolated between thosebasins, such as the Corsica–Sardinia and the Balearicpromontory (Gueguen et al., 1997). Magmatism ac-companied this evolution with calc-alkaline episodesparticularly located on the western margins of the‘boudins’ and alkaline magmas widespread withinthe basins (Hernandez et al., 1987; Kastens et al.,1988; Martı et al., 1992; and references therein).

Even for the last 30 Ma, geodynamic models forthe western Mediterranean are still very controversialbecause it is very difficult to estimate the amountof displacement of continental blocks within theMediterranean domain. The reason is that the data

E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269 261

generally used to constrain a plate kinematics modelare derived from magnetic anomalies, fracture zonesand morphology of the conjugate margins. However,in the western Mediterranean magnetic patterns donot allow easy identification of the anomalies andall the basins developed within or at the edge of anactive orogen, such that the conjugate margins aredeformed, except the Liguro–Provencal basin.

3. The 25 Ma palaeogeography

The Provencal and Tyrrhenian domains were re-stored using the N120–90º direction of openinggiven by the transform and transfer faults. In order toconstrain the horizontal displacement we applied anarea-balancing method to a crustal section (Fig. 1)drawn along the direction of movement (small circle)of our kinematic model and corresponding to the lineof major displacement. To draw this section, runningfrom the Gulf of Lions to northern Calabria, we usedmultichannel seismic lines (ECORS-NW, MS40) andseismic refraction data (Egger et al., 1988; Rehaultet al., 1990; Scarascia et al., 1994).

The Provencal basin was restored to its end-of-rifting setting (Gueguen, 1995), corresponding to adisplacement of 350 km. In order to restore theTyrrhenian part we assumed an original crustal thick-ness of 50 km due to the presence of the Alpineorogen as indicated by the presence of Alpine rocksin Calabria and offshore Sardinia and inland Corsica,and a mean width of 200 km of the orogen. Withthese assumptions the amount of total extensionneeded in order to restore the Tyrrhenian domain toits pre-rift situation is about 425 km. Pre-existingmodels (Moussat et al., 1985; Malinverno and Ryan,1986) proposed a smaller value of 350 km exten-sion, assuming an initial crustal thickness of 30 km,which corresponds to a normal-thickness continentalcrust without taking into account the presence of theAlpine orogen.

In our model, we require a total movement of 775km to balance the entire section of Fig. 1. Northwardin the southern Apennines, Schiattarella et al. (1997)calculated, using a balanced section, shortening of250 km for the Apenninic units, whereas for theLigurides units shortening may be estimated as 350km, giving a total of 550 km.

Fig. 1. Balanced cross-section illustrating the evolution of thewestern Mediterranean during the Neogene and Quaternary (lo-cation in Figs. 2 and 5). See text for discussion. The Apenninicsubduction retreated eastward since the Late Oligocene–EarlyMiocene to present times. The back-arc extension first led to‘lithospheric necking’ of the Provencal basin then it jumped tothe east of Sardinia and developed the Tyrrhenian Sea includingthe Vavilov and Marsili sub-basins. This appears to indicate adiscontinuous process of extension in the hangingwall of thewest-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 thecentral Apennines (Barchi et al., 1997) shows thatthe Alpine belt has been delaminated by east-dippinglow-angle normal faults. Along this line shorteningis estimated as 200 km.

262 E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269

In the Valencia trough and in the North Algerianbasin, an estimate of horizontal movement is com-plicated by the fact that it is not possible to restorean initial crustal thickness even of 30 km. This isprobably due to the presence of inherited Mesozoicbasins (Gelabert et al., 1992; Roca and Guimera,1992). The only data we can use to constrain the hor-izontal movements in the above area are estimatesof shortening in the Tell. The shortening betweenthe palaeo-margins of Kabylie and Africa can be es-timated as 200 km (Bouillin, 1979) but consideringalso the Tell nappes, the displacement must be larger.According to Vila (1980), the amount of shorteningmay even reach 250 km for the Tortonian phasealone. From our palaeogeographic reconstruction,300 km of shortening is the maximum possible.

In the Gibraltar area, according to plate-kinemat-ics models of the relative motion of Europe andAfrica (Dewey et al., 1989; Albarello et al., 1995;Campan, 1995), the amount of shortening since theEarly Oligocene (Anomaly 13) must be less than 150km. This is in good agreement with the fact that theamount of shortening in the Tellian chain doublesfrom west to east (Vila, 1980).

In Late Oligocene time, opening of the Liguro–Provencal basin was already initiated. Fig. 2 showsthe palaeogeography at the beginning of the Mioceneafter the Oligocene extension of the Liguro–Provencal margins, but before oceanization of thebasin (Gueguen, 1995). This reconstruction juxta-poses the foot of the continental slope as shownon seismic reflection profiles and fits the marginmorphology, considering the Corsica–Sardinia blockas almost rigid as constrained by Permian dykescrossing the Straight of Bonifacio between the twoislands (Arthaud and Matte, 1977). Such a recon-struction minimizes the problems of the Provencalbasin reconstruction and gives a good correlation ofthe geologic features between the Sardinian block onone 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 apole located at 42.7ºN and 9.6ºE (Gueguen, 1995).Fig. 3 illustrates a palaeotectonic reconstruction of

this time period. During the late Burdigalian, theCalabrian and Peloritan massifs began to separatefrom the Sardinia block with the opening of theTyrrhenian area (i.e. Vavilov basin). At this timethe Valencia trough was still opening, even if com-pression was still operating in the Balearic islands.Due to the rotations of the continental blocks, thelength of the Apenninic arc increased, leading to thebreak-up of the arc between the Balearic islands andSardinia and to the formation of an oceanic domaincorresponding to an area of fan-shaped magneticanomalies that can be observed in an aeromagneticmap of the Algerian basin (Galdeano and Rossignol,1977). From the Late Oligocene, the North Algerianbasin started to open by dislocation of its internalzones. The Kabylian basement is affected by a newtransgression marked by deposition of conglomer-ates and sandstones of the Oligo–Miocene Kabylianunit. Coevally the Numidian trough overrode theAfrican margin.

5. From 10 Ma to 5 Ma

The Liguro–Provencal basin, the Valencia troughand the North Algerian basin were almost com-pletely opened at 10 Ma. The Numidian trough wasclosed and the Kabylian blocks were attached toAfrica. This explains why the Tortonian correspondsto a period of major reorganization in the west-ern Mediterranean. In fact, during the opening ofthe North Algerian basin, coeval closure of the Nu-midian trough by roll-back of the subduction zoneabsorbed all of the convergence of Africa with re-spect to Europe. From the Tortonian, the effects ofthis convergence were transferred to the North Al-gerian basin and to North Africa, where a majorcompressive phase was characterized by large-scalefolding and thrusting.

The northern arm of the arc (i.e. the Apenninicand Tyrrhenian area) was affected by eastward mi-gration of compression in the eastern margin ofthe arc and extension followed immediately to thewest. The Vavilov basin progressively reached theoceanization stage during the Late Miocene–EarlyPliocene, while the Marsili basin started to open(Fig. 4), and Calabria was also affected by exten-sional tectonics. This jump in the extension process

E.G

ueguenet

al./Tectonophysics298

(1998)259–269

263

Fig. 2. Early Miocene palaeotectonic reconstruction of the western Mediterranean showing the extensional system (Provencal–Valencia–Alboran), considered as the back-arcbasin 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 markedthe 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–Beticorogen 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.

264E

.Gueguen

etal./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-arcextension continued to migrate eastwards.

E.G

ueguenet

al./Tectonophysics298

(1998)259–269

265

Fig. 4. Early Pliocene palaeotectonic reconstruction. The Tyrrhenian basin began to develop oceanic crust in the Vavilov area. The entire system associated with theApenninic subduction migrated eastward at rates up to 50 mm=year.

266E

.Gueguen

etal./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’ retreatingApenninic 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) 259–269 267

was marked by a change in direction of opening fromN120º to N140º. This was probably controlled by thefact that the only oceanic domain in the forelandallowing easy subduction roll-back was (and still is)the Ionian Sea.

6. From 5 Ma to present

In the Tyrrhenian domain the Vavilov basin wasalmost completely opened and new oceanic crustbegan to form in the Marsili basin during the LatePliocene (Fig. 5). In the southern Apennines, inter-ference of the subduction zone with thicker conti-nental crust of the Apulian platform halted migra-tion of the subduction hinge, whereas in the centraland northern Apennines subduction of thin Adriaticoceanic lithosphere allowed continuing roll-back ofthe hinge. Owing to these different roll-back rates thevelocity of the Apenninic slab retreat was split in two‘sub-arcs’ separated by the Tremiti line (Doglioni etal., 1994).

7. Conclusions

An Early Miocene reconstruction of the westernMediterranean (Fig. 2) shows that the Alpine–Beticsystem had by then reached the continental collisionstage, making subduction more difficult. This situ-ation favoured the inversion of the subduction, re-sulting in initiation of the Apennines–Maghrebidessystem along the front of the Alpine–Betic back-thrust belt which represented a zone of weakness,especially in the area where Tethyan oceanic crustpersisted. Roll-back of this west-directed subductionthen induced opening of the Provencal–Valencia–Alboran basins, which should be considered as ini-tial back-arc basins related to this subduction, i.e.with both subduction and back-arc basins of thesame migration polarity and the same age. The west-ern Mediterranean Late Oligocene–Miocene basins(Alboran, Valencia and Provencal basins) are, infact, a coherent system of interrelated troughs. Forall these basins the extension and the thermal sub-sidence migrated eastwards progressively towardsthe Miocene–Pleistocene Algerian and Tyrrhenianbasins. All of these troughs represent parts of a

back-arc basin system, opening related to eastwardroll-back of the west-directed Apenninic subductionzone. This back-arc extension generated a systemof lithospheric ‘boudins’, which disrupted the litho-sphere in the hangingwall of the subduction zone.The westernmost basins of the Mediterranean de-veloped obliquely with respect to the Alpine–Beticorogen because Late Oligocene–Early Miocene ex-tension nucleated within both the pre-existing Beticcordillera (e.g. Alboran Sea) and in its foreland(Valencia and Provencal troughs). The N40–70º di-rection of grabens was oblique to the partly coevalN60–80º-trending orogen and showed a structuralindependence from trends in its orogenic roots. TheApennines–Maghrebides arc migrated eastward dur-ing the retreat of the west-directed subduction zonesince ca. 30–25 Ma. The greatest migration oc-curred in Calabria, southern Italy, where the arcmoved about 800 km eastwards. N–S compressionrelated to Africa–Europe relative motion deformedthe southern arm of the Apennines–Maghrebidessubduction system. This relative convergence is esti-mated as about 150 km and cannot be considered asthe mechanism for generating the Apenninic subduc-tion which is much larger and moving in a differentdirection. This geodynamic setting recalls in someway the west-directed Barbados subduction wherethe southern arm of the eastward migrating arc wasdeformed and emplaced northward during Tertiaryand Quaternary times by coeval N–S convergence(e.g. Venezuela), owing to clockwise rotation ofSouth America. During Tertiary times Africa rotatedanticlockwise relative to Europe (Channell, 1996),while the Apenninic subduction was migrating east-wards at a faster rate.

Acknowledgements

Discussions with P. Harabaglia, E. Roca, R. Saba-dini and F. Sabat were very helpful. The paperbenefited from critical reviews by F. Mongelli andJ.P. Rehault. The European Community and ASIsupported 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. EclogaeGeol. Helv. 14, 145–191.

Arthaud, P., Matte, P., 1977. Determination de la position initialede la corse et de la Sardaigne a la fin de l’orogenese her-cynienne grace aux marqueurs geologiques ante-mesozoıques.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 NorthernApennines. Mem. Soc. Geol. Ital. 52, 383–400.

Boccaletti, M., Dainelli, P., 1982. Il sisterma regmaticoneogenico–quaternario nell’area mediterranea: esempio di de-formazione 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 region-clef pour l’interpretation de latectonique alpine de la chaıne littorale d’Algerie. Mem. Soc.Geol. Fr. 135, 1–84.

Campan, A., 1995. Analyse cinematique de l’Atlantique equa-torial: implications sur l’evolution de l’Atlantique Sud et surla frontiere de plaques Amerique du Nord=Amerique du Sud.PhD Thesis, Univ. P.&M. Curie, Paris VI.

Channell, J.E.T., 1996. Palaeomagnetism and palaeogeographyof Adria. In: Morris, A., Tarling, D.H. (Eds.), Palaeomag-netism 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 sicil-ian fold and thrust belt. Tectonics 9, 641–660.

Comas, M.C., Garcia-Duenas, V., Soto, J.I., Campos, J., 1993.An extensional basin developed on a collisional orogen: theAlboran Sea. In: Seranne, M., Malavielle, J. (Eds.), LateOrogenic 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 Tecton-ics. Geol. Soc. London Spec. Publ. 45, 265–283.

Docherty, C., Banda, E., 1995. Evidence for the eastward migra-tion of the Alboran sea based on regional subsidence analysis:a case for basin formation by delamination of the subcrustallithosphere? Tectonics 14 (4), 804–818.

Doglioni, C., 1991. A proposal of kinematic modelling forW-dipping subductions — possible applications to theTyrrhenian–Apennines system. Terra Nova 3, 423–434.

Doglioni, C., Mongelli, F., Pieri, P., 1994. The Puglia uplift (SEItaly): an anomaly in the foreland of the Apenninic subductiondue to buckling of a thick continental lithosphere. Tectonics13, 1309–1321.

Doglioni, C., Gueguen, E., Sabat, F., Fernandez, M., 1997a.The western Mediterranean extensional basins and the Alpineorogen. 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 applica-tions to the western Mediterranean. In: Durand, B., Jolivet, L.,Horvath, F., Seranne, M. (Eds.), The Mediterranean Basins:Tertiary Extension within the Alpine Orogen. Geol. Soc. Lon-don, Spec. Publ., in press.

Egger, A., Demartin, M., Ansorge, J., Banda, E., Maistrello,M., 1988. The gross structure of the crust under Corsica andSardinia. Tectonophysics 150, 363–389.

Fernandez, M., Foucher, J.P., Jurado, M.J., 1995. Evidence forthe multi-stage formation of the southwestern Valencia trough.Mar. Pet. Geol. 12, 101–109.

Galdeano, G., Rossignol, J.C., 1977. Assemblage a alti-tude constante des cartes d’anomalies magnetiques couvrantl’ensemble du bassin occidental de la Mediterranee. Bull. Soc.Geol. Fr. 7, 19 (3), 461–468.

Gelabert, B., Sabat, F., Rodriguez-Perea, A., 1992. A structuraloutline of the Serra de Tramuntana of Mallorca (BalearicIslands). Tectonophysics 203, 167–183.

Gueguen, E., 1995. Le Bassin Liguro–Provencal: un veritableocean. Exemple de segmentation des marges et de hiatuscinematiques. Implications sur les processus d’amincissementcrustal. Ph.D. Thesis, Brest Univ., 315 pp.

Gueguen, E., Olivet, J.-L., Rehault, J.-R., 1993. Kinematic modelin the Western Mediterranean: new constraints. Terra Abstr.,EUG Mtg., Strasbourg.

Gueguen, E., Doglioni, C., Fernandez, M., 1997. Lithosphericboudinage in the western Mediterranean back-arc basins. TerraNova 9 (4), 184–187.

Helman, M., Mazzoli, S., 1994. Neogene patterns of relativeplate motion for Africa–Europe: some implications for recentcentral Mediterranean tectonics. Geol. Rundsch. 83, 464–468.

Hernandez, J., de Larouziere, F.D., Bolze, J., Bordet, R.,1987. Le magmatisme neogene betico–rifain et le couloir dedecrochement trans-Alboran. Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr. 3, 257–267.

Kastens, K., Mascle, J., Auroux, C., et al., 1988. ODP Leg 107 inthe Tyrrhenian Sea: insights into passive margin and back-arcbasin evolution. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 100, 1140–1156.

Maldonado, A., Campillo, A.C., Mauffret, A., Alonso, B., Wood-side, J., Campos, J., 1992. Alboran Sea late Cenozoic tectonicand stratigraphic evolution. Geo-Mar. Lett. 12, 179–186.

Malinverno, A., Ryan, W.B.F., 1986. Extension in the Tyrrhe-nian Sea and shortening in the Apennines as a result of arcmigration driven by sinking of the lithosphere. Tectonics 5,227–245.

Martı, J., Mitjavila, J., Roca, E., Aparicio, A., 1992. Ceno-zoic magmatism of the Valencia trough (western Mediter-ranean): relationship between structural evolution and volcan-ism. Tectonophysics 203, 145–165.

Mattauer, M., Seguret, M., 1971. Les relations entre la chaınepyreneenne et le golfe de Gascogne. In: Histoire Structuraledu Golfe de Gascogne. Technip, Paris, pp. IV.4-1–IV.4-24.

Moussat, E., Rehault, J.-R., Fabbri, A., Mascle, G., 1985. Evo-lution geologique de la Mer Tyrrhenienne. C. R. Acad. Sci.Paris 301 (7), 491–495.

E. Gueguen et al. / Tectonophysics 298 (1998) 259–269 269

Rehault, J.P., Mascle, J., Boillot, G., 1984. Evolution geody-namique de la Mediterranee depuis l’Oligocene. Mem. Soc.Geol. Ital. 27, 85–96.

Rehault, J.P., Tisseau, C., Brunet, M.F., Louden, K., 1990. Sub-sidence analysis on the Sardinian margin and the centralTyrrhenian 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 LateTertiary–recent tectonic and palaeo-environmental develop-ment of the Mediterranean region. Terra Nova 7, 114–127.

Roca, E., 1994. La evolucion geodinamica de la CuencaCatalano–Balear y areas adyacentes desde el Mesozoico hastala actualidad. Acta Geol. Hisp. 29, 3–25.

Roca, E., Desegaulx, P., 1992. Analysis of the geological evo-lution and vertical movements in the Valencia trough area,western Mediterranean. Mar. Pet. Geol. 9, 167–185.

Roca, E., Guimera, J., 1992. The Neogene structure of theeastern Iberian margin: structural constraints on the crustalevolution of the Valencia trough (western Mediterranean).Tectonophysics 203, 203–218.

Royden, L., Patacca, E., Scandone, P., 1987. Segmentation andconfiguration of subducted lithosphere in Italy: an importantcontrol on thrust-belt and foredeep-basin evolution. Geology15, 714–717.

Sabat, F., Roca, E., Munoz, J.A., Verges, J., Santanach, P., Sans,M., Masana, E., Estevez, A., Santisteban, C., 1997. Role ofextension and compression in the evolution of the easternmargin of Iberia: the ESCI-Valencia trough seismic profile.

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 onshoreareas 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 Apen-nines. EUG 9, Terra Nova, Abstr. Suppl. 1, p. 109.

Smith, D.E., Kolenkiewicz, R., Nerem, R.S., Dunn, P.J., Tor-rence, M.H., Robbins, J.W., Klosko, S.M., Williamson, R.G.,Pavlis, E.C., 1994. Contemporary global horizontal crustalmotion. Geophys. J. Int. 119, 511–520.

Tapponnier, P., 1977. Evolution tectonique du systeme alpin enMediterranee: poinconnement et ecrasement rigide–plastique.Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr. 19 (3), 437–460.

Viallard, P., 1978. Tectogenese de la chaıne iberique: relationssubstratum–couverture dans une tectonique polyphasee. C. R.Acad. Sci. Paris 287D, 1103–1106.

Viallard, P., 1979. La chaıne iberique: zone de cisaillementintracontinentale pendant la tectogenese alpine. C. R. Acad.Sci. Paris 289D, 65–68.

Vila, J.M., 1980. La chaıne alpine d’Algerie orientale et desconfins algero-tunisiens. PhD Thesis, Univ. Paris VI, 663 pp.

Ward, S.N., 1994. Constraints on the seismotectonics of the cen-tral Mediterranean from Very Long Baseline Interferometry.Geophys. J. Int. 117, 441–452.

Watts, A.B., Platt, J.P., Bulh, P., 1993. Tectonic evolution of theAlboran Sea Basin. Basin Res. 5, 153–177.