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Convective removal and mantle delamination are geodynamical mechanisms proposed to explain the presence of extension in the Alboran Sea within a regional context of compression. Using a new thermomechanical algorithm, we present here a quantitative evaluation and comparison of conceptual models based on these geodynamical mechanisms. In contrast to the in situ convective removal process, the laterally propagating delamination mechanism is shown here to be consistent with first-order features of the Alboran Sea such as the thinning/thickening distribution, intermediate-depth seismicity and upper mantle structure imaged by seismic tomography. The lower crust is predicted to reach depths of 100-150 km in some areas, due to mechanicallydriven viscous drag of the downwelling mantle.

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