Late Paleocene (33.1 Ma) to Present. The Western Mediterranean oceanic basin
began to open inside the western part of the Eocene Alpine Orogen (Fig. 5.2d) in the
early Oligocene. The spreading of this basin caused the splitting of several continental fragments (the Alboran domain among them) around it. They collided with
the continental margins of southern Iberia, northern Africa, Sicily, and western
Apulia to form the Western Mediterranean Belt since the Miocene to the Present
Alpine orogenic phase. At this time, the plate boundary between Africa and Eurasia
is situated to the south of Iberia and Iberia is part of the Eurasian plate since 10 Ma
(Roest and Srivastava 1991).
5.3 Current Africa-Eurasia Tectonics
The relative movements of the current African and Eurasian plates could be
explained as an anti-clockwise rotation of Africa with respect to Eurasia around a
rotation pole that would be situated within the African plate, in the vicinity of the
Canary Islands (Buforn et al. 1988) or the Cape Verde Islands (Argus et al. 1989).
This tectonic frontier is characterized by progressively changing kinematics
(DeMets et al. 2015), implying a gradual transition from convergent areas eastward
to wrench zones and divergent areas westward. The plate boundary is framed to the
east by the Dead Sea Transform Fault (Weber et al. 2009), which bounds the African
and Arabian plates and connects northward with the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic
belt. To the west, this plate boundary ends in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the Azores
triple junction, which separates the plates of Africa and Eurasia from the North
American plate (Fig. 5.1). These tectonic characteristics allow the plate boundary to
be divided into three sectors as can be summarized from the literature (Serpelloni
et al. 2007; DeMets et al. 2010; Argus et al. 2011).
1. The Eastern Mediterranean Basin between the Dead Sea Transform Fault and the
Calabrian Arc. The relative movements between Africa and Eurasia are convergent, directed toward the north (DeMets et al. 1990, 2015), where a relict Tethyan
oceanic lithosphere is subducting under Eurasia (Hellenic and Cypriot arcs) and
Apulia (Calabrian Arc) (Makris et al. 1986; Jolivet and Faccenna 2000; Speranza
et al. 2012; Faccenna et al. 2004, 2014).
2. The Western Mediterranean/Gulf of Cadiz region extends between the Arc of
Calabria and the Horseshoe Abyssal Plain (Fig. 5.1). It includes the Western
Mediterranean basin, the Gibraltar Arc, the Gulf of Cadiz, and the submarine
highs around this abyssal plain (Vázquez and Vegas 2000). The convergence
direction between Africa and Eurasia progressively rotates from an NW trend in
the central Mediterranean to a WNW trend in the Gibraltar Arc and Gulf of Cadiz
areas (Dewey et al. 1989; Reilly et al. 1992).
The plate boundary in this area could be traced by southward subduction along
the Algerian continental margin (Aïdi et al. 2018; Hamai et al. 2018), continuing
to the west along the Yusuf-Habibas right-lateral transfer fault, the northern
116
J.-T. Vázquez et al.
began to open inside the western part of the Eocene Alpine Orogen (Fig. 5.2d) in the
early Oligocene. The spreading of this basin caused the splitting of several continental fragments (the Alboran domain among them) around it. They collided with
the continental margins of southern Iberia, northern Africa, Sicily, and western
Apulia to form the Western Mediterranean Belt since the Miocene to the Present
Alpine orogenic phase. At this time, the plate boundary between Africa and Eurasia
is situated to the south of Iberia and Iberia is part of the Eurasian plate since 10 Ma
(Roest and Srivastava 1991).
5.3 Current Africa-Eurasia Tectonics
The relative movements of the current African and Eurasian plates could be
explained as an anti-clockwise rotation of Africa with respect to Eurasia around a
rotation pole that would be situated within the African plate, in the vicinity of the
Canary Islands (Buforn et al. 1988) or the Cape Verde Islands (Argus et al. 1989).
This tectonic frontier is characterized by progressively changing kinematics
(DeMets et al. 2015), implying a gradual transition from convergent areas eastward
to wrench zones and divergent areas westward. The plate boundary is framed to the
east by the Dead Sea Transform Fault (Weber et al. 2009), which bounds the African
and Arabian plates and connects northward with the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic
belt. To the west, this plate boundary ends in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the Azores
triple junction, which separates the plates of Africa and Eurasia from the North
American plate (Fig. 5.1). These tectonic characteristics allow the plate boundary to
be divided into three sectors as can be summarized from the literature (Serpelloni
et al. 2007; DeMets et al. 2010; Argus et al. 2011).
1. The Eastern Mediterranean Basin between the Dead Sea Transform Fault and the
Calabrian Arc. The relative movements between Africa and Eurasia are convergent, directed toward the north (DeMets et al. 1990, 2015), where a relict Tethyan
oceanic lithosphere is subducting under Eurasia (Hellenic and Cypriot arcs) and
Apulia (Calabrian Arc) (Makris et al. 1986; Jolivet and Faccenna 2000; Speranza
et al. 2012; Faccenna et al. 2004, 2014).
2. The Western Mediterranean/Gulf of Cadiz region extends between the Arc of
Calabria and the Horseshoe Abyssal Plain (Fig. 5.1). It includes the Western
Mediterranean basin, the Gibraltar Arc, the Gulf of Cadiz, and the submarine
highs around this abyssal plain (Vázquez and Vegas 2000). The convergence
direction between Africa and Eurasia progressively rotates from an NW trend in
the central Mediterranean to a WNW trend in the Gibraltar Arc and Gulf of Cadiz
areas (Dewey et al. 1989; Reilly et al. 1992).
The plate boundary in this area could be traced by southward subduction along
the Algerian continental margin (Aïdi et al. 2018; Hamai et al. 2018), continuing
to the west along the Yusuf-Habibas right-lateral transfer fault, the northern
116
J.-T. Vázquez et al.