Experimental evidence for mantle drag in the Mediterranean

Abstract

What forces control active deformation in the Central Mediterranean? Slab-pull has long been debated, but no other hypothesis has been generally accepted. Here we analyze the role of shear basal tractions. By using a thin-shell modeling technique, we generated a large number of models that span different sets of boundary conditions from the literature; we then explored acceptable ranges of model parameters. We computed residuals between model predictions and several datasets of stress directions, GPS measurements and tectonic stress regimes that have been produced in recent studies, and then compared the best models obtained in the presence of tractions with those obtained in the absence of tractions. For all tested boundary conditions and all considered datasets, our results show that the only successful models are those with significant basal shear traction exerted by eastward mantle flow.