The formation of Mount Etna as the consequence of slab rollback

Gvirtzman, Zohar; Nur, Amos

doi:10.1038/44555

Cited by 348 publications

(259 citation statements)

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“…It has also been demonstrated that steepening slabs minimize their attachment to the overriding plates and allow the overriding plates to rebound [Gvirtzman, 2002;Gvirtzman and Nur, 1999a, 1999b. Consistent with this approach we suggest that a similar process takes place here at the southernmost edge of the Mariana subduction zone, where the subducting Pacific plate steepens where sideways mantle flow is possible.…”

Section: What Has Triggered Rapid Slab Steepening In the Southernmostsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…Note that this uncertainty is quite small at the upper 50 km, where we measure slab dip for further analysis (in Figure 6). The base of the overriding plate is inferred from topographic analysis [Gvirtzman, 2002;Gvirtzman and Nur, 1999a, 1999b as illustrated in and explained in Appendix A. The idea is that considering the buoyancy of a given crust, the thickness of the mantle lithosphere can be calculated in a way that matches the total buoyancy of the lithosphere with the observed surface elevation.…”

Section: Down-pulled Zone Versus Free Floating Zonementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The top of this wedge is inferred by mapping the base of the overriding plate using a topography-buoyancy analysis that is described in Appendix A. This analysis considers the buoyancy of a known or estimated thickness of crust and calculates the thickness of the underlying mantle lithosphere to match the total buoyancy of the lithosphere needed to produce the observed surface elevation [Gvirtzman, 2002;Gvirtzman and Nur, 1999a, 1999b]. The calculation is based on the assumption of isostatic equilibrium, which holds only in the zone of a free floating lithosphere, that is, west of the eastern slopes of the Mariana Ridge (see discussion).…”

Section: Shape Of the Asthenospheric Wedge Between Subducting And Ovementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure A1. A detailed application of the topography analysis [Gvirtzman, 2002;Gvirtzman and Nur, 1999a, 1999b] along section 7 (details in Appendix A). This analysis infers plate thickness assuming that if isostatic equilibrium is maintained, the observed topography, e, is actually the sum of the contribution from the buoyancy of the crust (H c ) and a contribution from the buoyancy of the mantle lithosphere (H ml ).…”

Section: Appendix A: Crustal Versus Mantle Contributions To Topographymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bathymetry of Mariana trench‐arc system and formation of the Challenger Deep as a consequence of weak plate coupling

Gvirtzman

Stern

2004

Tectonics

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The Challenger Deep in the southernmost Mariana Trench (western Pacific Ocean) is the deepest point on the Earth's surface (10,920 m below sea level). Its location within a subduction trench, where one plate bends and descends below another, is not surprising. However, why is it located in the southernmost Mariana Trench and not at its central part, where the rate of subduction is higher, where the lithosphere is the oldest (and densest) on the Earth, and where the subducted lithosphere pulling down is the longest in the Earth (∼1000 km or more according to seismic tomography)? We suggest that although subduction rate and slab age generally control trench depth, the width of the plate‐coupling zone is more important. Beneath the central Marianas the subducted slab is attached to the upper plate along a 150‐km‐wide surface that holds the shallow portion of the subducted plate nearly horizontal, in spite of its great load and, thus, counters trench deepening. In contrast, along the south Mariana Trench the subducted length of the lithosphere is much shorter, but its attachment to the upper plate is only along a relatively narrow, 50‐km‐wide, surface. In addition, a tear in the slab beneath this region helps it to sink rapidly through the mantle, and this combination of circumstances allows the slab to steepen and form the deepest trench on the Earth. In a wider perspective, the interrelations shown here between trench deepening, ridge shallowing, slab steepening, and forearc narrowing may shed light on other subduction zones located near edges of rapidly steepening slabs.

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Section: What Has Triggered Rapid Slab Steepening In the Southernmostsupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Down-pulled Zone Versus Free Floating Zonementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shape Of the Asthenospheric Wedge Between Subducting And Ovementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Appendix A: Crustal Versus Mantle Contributions To Topographymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bathymetry of Mariana trench‐arc system and formation of the Challenger Deep as a consequence of weak plate coupling

Gvirtzman

Stern

2004

Tectonics

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“…As part of the southern margin of the Tyrrhenian microplate (Gvirtzman and Nur, 1999), the north-eastern part of Sicily underwent a complicated geo-structural history (Figure 1.2). Most of this area belongs to the Peloritani domain, a thrust fold belt consisting of Hercynic basement covered by Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary deposits.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plio-Pleistocene Mediterranean bathyal echinoids: evidence of adaptation to psychrospheric conditions and affinities with Atlantic assemblages

Borghi¹,

Garilli²,

Bonomo

2014

Palaeontologia Electronica

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Borghi, Enrico, Garilli, Vittorio, and Bonomo, Sergio. 2014 ABSTRACTPalaeontological evidences of autochthonous deep-water echinoids are so rare that the well-preserved assemblage herein described from the Plio-Pleistocene of Capo Milazzo (NE Sicily) provide an important opportunity to investigate the biodiversity of the bathyal echinoids in the Mediterranean late Cenozoic. The low diversity fauna studied is dominated by Cidaris margaritifera, Histocidaris sicula and Stirechinus scillae, which are species closely related to Recent echinoids today confined to the western Atlantic deep bottoms. The echinoid assemblages of Capo Milazzo and of the Plio-Pleistocene Argille Azzurre Formation (Italy) share a number of species, most of which are known also from shallow water Plio-Pleistocene deposits and the presentday Mediterranean; C. margaritifera is the only strictly bathyal echinoid that occurs in both formations. The palaeoecological study of these echinoids indicates an epibenthic way of life on muddy bottoms, in deep waters with psychrospheric conditions. The following species from the Argille Azzurre are interpreted as strictly bathyal: Histocidaris rosaria, Schizaster braidensis and Schizaster ovatus (transferred into the genus Holanthus). The modern Mediterranean (impoverished) deep-water echinoid assemblage has north-eastern Atlantic affinities and, with the exception of Holanthus expergitus, all the Mediterranean species found at bathyal depth are eurybathic, as they live also in shelf settings. In contrast, the bathyal echinoids of Capo Milazzo show strongest affinities with strictly deep-water western Atlantic species, particularly those of the Caribbean area. They vanished from the Mediterranean during the Quaternary due to the loss of psychrospheric conditions. Based on the Punta Mazza section, dated by nannofossils and data from literature, their stratigraphic range at Capo Milazzo is late Piacenzian-Calabrian.

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The failed eruption of Mt. Etna in December 2005: Evidence from volcanic tremor analyses

Falsaperla

Barberi

Cocina

2013

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Strong changes in seismic radiation, comparable to those preceding and/or accompanying eruptive activity in recent years, were recorded at Mt. Etna volcano, Italy, from November 2005 to January 2006. The amplitude of volcanic tremor peaked in mid‐December 2005 after a continuous, slow increase from August 2005 onward, during which neither effusive nor paroxysmal activity was observed by volcanologists and alpine guides. During this time span, the centroid locations of volcanic tremor moved toward the surface, more and more clustered below the summit craters. The application of pattern classification analysis based on Self‐Organizing Maps and fuzzy clustering to volcanic tremor data highlighted variations in the frequency domain as well. These changes were temporally associated with ground deformation variations, as indicative of a mild inflation of the summit of the volcano, and with a conspicuous increase in the SO2 plume‐flux emission. Overall, we interpret this evidence as the result of recharging of the volcanic feeder at depth (>3 km below sea level) during which magma did not reach the shallow plumbing system.

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The formation of Mount Etna as the consequence of slab rollback

Cited by 348 publications

References 23 publications

Bathymetry of Mariana trench‐arc system and formation of the Challenger Deep as a consequence of weak plate coupling

Bathymetry of Mariana trench‐arc system and formation of the Challenger Deep as a consequence of weak plate coupling

Plio-Pleistocene Mediterranean bathyal echinoids: evidence of adaptation to psychrospheric conditions and affinities with Atlantic assemblages

The failed eruption of Mt. Etna in December 2005: Evidence from volcanic tremor analyses

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