Plate Tectonics Model for the Evolution of the Western Mediterranean

A Plate Tectonics model for the geodynamic development of the Western Mediterranean area since the Cretaceous is proposed. Two main series of contraction are distinguished: (1) the Cretaceous-Eocene phase, and (2) the Miocene and post-Miocene one. During the Cretaceous-Eocene phases the arc-trench systems, located along the palaeo-African continental margin, migrated northward ("Alpine" polarity) up to their collision with the European continent (arc-continent collision type). At the end of this event the Mesozoic oceanic crust, originally interposed between the European and African continents, was almost completely destroyed by the subduction processes, while new litosphere had been created in the Cretaceous-Eocene back-arc marginal basins. During the Miocene and post-Miocene phases new arc-trench systems with reversed southsoutheast polarity formed and migrated, consuming the previous marginal basin crust. The shifting of these reversed arcs was accompanied by the development of new back-arc marginal basins (present Western Mediterranean basins) and by the formation of remnant arcs (Sardinia and Corsica). The subduction is still active along the Calabrian arc.