Convergence vs. retreat in Southern Tyrrhenian Sea: Insights from kinematics

Abstract

The Tyrrhenian Sea is an extensional basin opened by trench retreat and back-arc extension during subduction of the Calabrian slab in the last 10–12 My. Subduction is still active beneath the SEmost part of the Tyrrhenian Sea, as testified by seismicity down to 500 km depth. By analyzing seismicity and geodetic data, together with recent tomographic images, we define the present-day situation. An evident N-S compressional regime prevails in the Tyrrhenian region west of the Aeolian archipelago, while east of them a NNW-SSE extension is documented by focal mechanisms and GPS data, with a much smaller strain rate with respect to the past. The transition between these two domains is accommodated by a N-S discontinuity zone which runs from Aeolian Islands to Mt. Etna with an extensional to strike-slip deformation.