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Subduction Beneath Southern Italy Close the Ending: Results from Seismic Tomography

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	INTRODUCTION

 
The western Mediterranean area located in the contact belt between the slowly convergent African and Eurasian plates (Calais et al. 2003; Nocquet and Calais 2004; Serpelloni et al. 2007) has been the site of a continental-scale lithospheric subduction process, the evolution of which in the last 30 million years is marked by the eastward migration of the retreating subduction hinge shown in Figure 1 (Wortel and Spakman 2000). In this framework, the Tyrrhenian Sea formed as an extensional back arc basin that opened during the last 10 million years due to the roll-back of the Ionian portion of the subducting lithosphere (Malinverno and Ryan 1986; Faccenna et al. 2005). The widely shared model shown in the partial, 3D sketch view of Figure 1 indicates that most of the subduction system has already undergone detachment of the subducting lithosphere with the exception of the central, most arcuate portion of the system, the Calabrian arc in southern Italy, where the state of subduction is doubtful and needs further exploration (larger question mark in the same sketch view).

The distribution of intermediate and deep seismicity in the Calabrian arc region (Anderson and Jackson 1987; Giardini and Velonà 1991; Selvaggi and Chiarabba 1995; Chiarabba et al. 2005) evidenced a narrow (200 km) and steep (70°) Wadati-Benioff plane striking NE-SW and dipping northwest down to 500 km depth. Hypocenter locations and high-velocity anomalies (HVAs) revealed by tomographic investigations (Piromallo and Morelli 2003; Spakman and Wortel 2004; Cimini and Marchetti 2006; Montuori et al. 2007) have furnished overall pictures of the subducting structure, but an accurate knowledge of its geometry and eventual in-depth continuity is still lacking.

Beneath the southern Apennines (Figure 1) . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra
Università di Messina
Salita Sperone 31
98166 Messina Italy
geoforum@unime.it
(G. N.)