Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published September 30, 2015 | public
Journal Article

The geological signature of a slab tear below the Aegean

Abstract

In this paper we explore the geology of the Aegean region in the Miocene to identify the geological signature of a first-order slab tear observed in all tomographic models. From 15 to 8 Ma, the tear is associated, spatially and timely, with a fast clockwise rotation of the External Hellenides, alkaline volcanism, high-temperature metamorphic domes with a predominance of north-dipping detachments, and south-westward migration of granitoid intrusions. These features suggest a warmer geodynamic environment during the rotation and the impact of a hot mantle flow associated with the tear. The ~ 8 Ma duration between the first high-temperature metamorphic domes in the centre of the archipelago and the beginning of the fast rotation may correspond to the time needed for the slab to bend, stretch and finally tear.

Additional Information

© 2015 Elsevier. Received 27 November 2014; Received in revised form 4 August 2015; Accepted 6 August 2015; Available online 19 August 2015. The authors wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers whose insightful reports were helpful for preparing a better manuscript. Thanks are due also to Jean-Pierre Sucwho kindly re-examined the list of fossils published in Angelier et al. (1978) for us. This work has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the seventh Framework Programme of the European Union (ERC Advanced Grant, grant agreement No 290864), from the Institut Universitaire de France and from Labex VOLTAIRE.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023