http://hdl.handle.net/2122/257 Search the Channel search http://www.earth-prints.org/simple-search http://hdl.handle.net/2122/4629 Title: Reply to the comment by G. Capponi et al. on ‘Subduction polarity reversal at the junction between the Western Alps and the Northern Apennines, Italy", by G. Vignaroli et al. (Tectonophysics, 2008, 450, 34-50) <br/> <br/>Authors: Vignaroli, G.; Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università Roma Tre, Roma, Italia; Faccenna, C.; Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università Roma Tre, Roma, Italia; Jolivet, L.; Laboratoire de Tectonique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Parigi, Francia; Piromallo, C.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia; Rossetti, F.; Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università Roma Tre, Roma, Italia <br/> <br/>Abstract: We first would like to thank Capponi et al. (2008) for their comments and criticisms on our paper, offering us the opportunity to discuss the data and the model presented in Vignaroli et al. (2008a) and clarify the geological rationale behind our manuscript. Vignaroli et al. (2008a) presented a large-scale reconstruction on the evolution of the Western Alpine-Northern Apennine junction, based on shallow geological information derived from the Northern Apennines, the Western and Ligurian Alps coupled with deep mantle structures from seismic tomography and tectonic reconstructions. The aim of this paper is then to give an alternative, though simplified, tectonic solution to the long-standing debate concerning the polarity of the subduction zone in the central Mediterranean and its linkage with the Alpine orogeny and the formation of the arcs belt. We condensed and simplified the huge wealth of geological information using cross-sections along the three orogenic segments. One of the main points of the paper is that the Voltri Massif of the Ligurian Alps is reinterpreted as an eclogitic-bearing domain exhumed by means of ductile-to-brittle extensional detachment tectonics with a top-to-the-W sense of shear. In this view, the orogenic architecture and evolution of the Ligurian Alps presents affinities (both for geometry and timing of deformation) with the widely accepted extensional structures recognized in the Western Alps, in the Northern Apennines and, in general, in Alpine-type orogenic belts of the Mediterranean. The detailed comment made by Capponi et al. (2008) is indeed centred on the tectonic structure of the Voltri Massif (probably this comment should have been addressed to our companion paper, Vignaroli et al., 2008b, focused on the Voltri Massif structures and available on-line on March 2008). The main point of the comment is that the exhumation of High-Pressure (HP) metamorphic units exposed in the Voltri Massif was produced by thrusts rather than by syn- orogenic extensional detachments. In this reply, we would first like to make some general considerations on the criteria/concepts adopted for the interpretation of the exhumation-related structures and we will then discuss point-by-point the criticism of Capponi et al. (2008). <br/> <br/>Description: Reply to comment http://hdl.handle.net/2122/4546 Title: SKS splitting in Southern Italy: anisotropy variations in a fragmented subduction zone. <br/> <br/>Authors: Baccheschi, P.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione CNT, Roma, Italia; Margheriti, L.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione CNT, Roma, Italia; Steckler, M. S.; Lamont-Doherty Observatory, Palisades, NY (USA) <br/> <br/>Abstract: In this paper we present a collection of good quality shear wave splitting measurements in Southern Italy. In addition to a large amount of previous splitting measurements, we present new data from 15 teleseisms recorded from 2003 to 2006 at the 40 stations of the CAT/SCAN temporary network. These new measurements provide additional constraints on the anisotropic behaviour of the study region and better define the fast directions in the southern part of the Apulian Platform. For our analysis we have selected wellrecorded SKS phases and we have used the method of Silver and Chan to obtain the splitting parameters: the azimuth of the fast polarized shear wave (φ) and delay time (δt). Shear wave splitting results reveal the presence of a strong seismic anisotropy in the subduction system below the region. Three different geological and geodynamic regions are characterized by different anisotropic parameters. The Calabrian Arc domain has fast directions oriented NNE–SSW and the Southern Apennines domain has fast directions oriented NNW–SSE. This rotation of fast axes, following the arcuate shape of the slab, is marked by a lack of resolved measurements which occurs at the transition zone between those two domains. The third domain is identified in the Apulian Platform: here fast directions are oriented almost N–S in the northern part and NNE–SSW to ENE–WSW in the southern one. The large number of splitting parameters evaluated for events coming from different back-azimuth allows us to hypothesize the presence of a depth-dependent anisotropic structure which should be more complicated than a simple 2 layer model below the Southern Apennines and the Calabrian Arc domains and to constrain at 50 km depth the upper limit of the anisotropic layer, at least at the edge of Southern Apennines and Apulian Platform. We interpret the variability in fast directions as related to the fragmented subduction system in the mantle of this region. The trench-parallel φ observed in Calabrian Arc and in Southern Apennines has its main source in the asthenospheric flow below the slab likely due to the pressure induced by the retrograde motion of the slab itself. The pattern of φ in the Apulian Platform does not appear to be the direct result of the rollback motion of the slab, whose influence is limited to about 100 km from the slab. The anisotropy in the Apulian Platform may be related to an asthenospheric flow deflected by the complicated structure of the Adriatic microplate or may also be explained as frozen-in lithospheric anisotropy. http://hdl.handle.net/2122/4299 Title: Kinematics of slab tear faults during subduction segmentation and implications for Italian magmatism <br/> <br/>Authors: Rosenbaum, G.; School of Physical Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.; Gasparon, M.; School of Physical Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.; Lucente, F. P.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione CNT, Roma, Italia; Peccerillo, A.; Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita` degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy.; Miller, M. S.; Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA. <br/> <br/>Abstract: Tectonic activity in convergent plate boundaries commonly involves backward migration (rollback) of narrow subducting slabs and segmentation of subduction zones through slab tearing. Here we investigate this process in the Italian region by integrating seismic tomography data with spatiotemporal analysis of magmatic rocks and kinematic reconstructions. Seismic tomography results show gaps within the subducting lithosphere,which are interpreted as deep (100–500 km) subvertical tear faults. The development of such tear faults is consistent with proposed kinematic reconstructions, inwhich different rates of subduction rollback affected different parts of the subduction zone. We further suggest a possible link between the development of tear faults and the occurrence of regional magmatic activity with transitional geochemical signatures between arc type and OIB type, associated with slab tearing and slab breakoff.We conclude that lithospheric-scale tear faults play a fundamental role in the destruction of subduction zones. As such, they should be incorporated into reconstructions of ancient convergent margins, where tear faults are possibly represented by continental lineaments linked with magmatism and mineralization. http://hdl.handle.net/2122/3876 Title: The southern Tyrrhenian subduction zone: Deep geometry, magmatism and Plio-Pleistocene evolution <br/> <br/>Authors: Chiarabba, C.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione CNT, Roma, Italia; De Gori, P.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione CNT, Roma, Italia; Speranza, F.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia <br/> <br/>Abstract: We report on a high-resolution Vp, Vp/Vs and Qp model of the southern Tyrrhenian subduction zone, obtained by the inversion of P- and S wave arrival times and t* values from intraslab seismicity. The arcuate shape of the southern Apennines–Calabrian arc-Sicilian Maghrebides is perfectly mirrored by two rather continuous low and high Vp bands lying beneath the belt system at ca. 25 and 100 km, respectively. Between 100 and 300 km, two independent high Vp slabs lie beneath the Neapolitan region and the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, separated by unperturbed mantle. We suggest that the ca. 150 km-wide slab window beneath the southern Apennines opened after a tear occurring within a composite subduction system, formed by the Apulian continental lithosphere and the Ionian oceanic slab. The abrupt slab rupture induced ultrafast southeastward retreat of the Ionian slab, and the 19 cm/yr spreading of the back-arc oceanic Marsili basin between ca. 2.1 and 1.6 Ma ago. The 25 km low Vp zone beneath the arc denotes continental upper crustal rocks below the chain. Its striking continuity requires a unique orogenic wedge at 25 km depth below the southern Apennines, the Calabrian arc, and the Sicilian Maghrebides. The alternative explanation would imply the ubiquitous occurrence of autochthonous lower plate rocks at 25 km depth, i.e. a puzzling autochthonous continental Calabria. The Ionian slab beneath Calabria shows high Vp, high Qp and low Vp/Vs anomalies, typical of old oceanic lithosphere. Intermediate depth seismicity is concentrated within its thin oceanic crust, suggesting the occurrence of vigorous metamorphism. The slab dehydration promotes the melting of the overlying mantle, as testified by high Vp/Vs and low Qp anomalies between the slab and the Aeolian magmatic arc.