UPPER MANTLE FLOW IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN

Abstract

Two cross-sections of the western Mediterranean Neogene-to-present back-arc basin are presented, in which geological and geophysical data of the TRANSMED Project are tied to a new shear-wave tomography. Major results are i) the presence of a well stratified upper mantle beneath the older African continent, with a marked low-velocity layer between 130–200 km of depth; ii) the dilution of this layer within the younger western Mediterranean back-arc basin to the north, and iii) the easterly raising of a shallower low-velocity layer from about 140 km to about 30 km in the Tyrrhenian active part of the back-arc basin. These findings suggest upper mantle circulation in the western Mediterranean back-arc basin, mostly easterly-directed and affecting the boundary between upper asthenosphere (LVZ) and lower asthenosphere, which undulates between about 180 km and 280 km.