1 Nubia-Eurasia kinematics: an alternative interpretation from Mediterranean and North Atlantic evidence

• Main Authors: Enzo Mantovani, Marcello Viti, Daniele Babbucci, Dario Albarello
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Key words; Nubia-Eurasia kinematics- Mediterranean region – Plio-Quaternary deformation; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.563.1981; http://www.earth-prints.org/bitstream/2122/2071/1/Nubia Eurasia_Mantovani.pdf

It is argued that the Plio-Quaternary deformation pattern in the Mediterranean region is compatible with a SSW-NNE convergence between Africa (Nubia) and Eurasia and that the significant difference between this kinematics and the one provided by global models (SSE-NNW convergence, e.g., the NUVEL-1) may be due to the fact that those models interpret North Atlantic data by adopting an oversimplified two-plate configuration, which cannot account for the occurrence of significant seismotectonic activity inside the presumed Nubia and Eurasia blocks. It is shown that the adoption of a new plate configuration involving the Iberia and Morocco microplates, strongly suggested by geological and seismotectonic evidence, makes it possible to identify a kinematic model compatible within errors with the constraints recognized in the Mediterranean region and with the NUVEL-1 North Atlantic data set. Some considerations are made about the reason why the present-day Nubia-Eurasia kinematic models inferred from geodetic observations are significantly different from long-term models, such as model NUVEL-1 and the one proposed in this work.