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TS6.1 The Alpine convergence zone and the Mediterranean Sea (including Stephan Mueller Medal lecture by Leigh H. Royden) |
| Co-Conveners: Mark Handy , Laetitia Le Pourhiet , Douwe J. J. van Hinsbergen , Aral Okay , György Hetényi |
The Mediterranean area provides a record of prolonged convergence between the African/Arabian and the Eurasian plates, as well as of quasi-independent motion of several microplates that rifted from these major plates and were trapped in the convergence zone. Convergence was preceded by the formation of passive margins related to the opening of both the Neotethys and Alpine Tethys oceans. The Miocene to present kinematics are primarily controlled by the subduction of remnant oceanic basins, giving rise to rollback subduction, back-arc extension and lateral orogenic escape. The Mediterranean area is hence an exceptional natural laboratory for studying various stages of plate margin evolution, including the formation of rifted margins, intraoceanic and continental subduction, ophiolite emplacement, continental collision, exhumation of high-pressure units, as well as the formation of flexural foreland and back-arc basins. A rapidly emerging topic is the possible transition from a passive to an active margin in the Western Mediterranean.
This interdisciplinary session will provide an effective vehicle to present and discuss research of the entire Mediterranean convergent zone, including the north African margins, the Gulf of Cadiz, the Alboran, the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, Apennines, Dinarides, Hellenides, Anatolides, Pontides and the Levant. We also welcome contributions on innovative research initiatives, for example AlpArray which will deploy a dense network of broad-band seismometers in the Alpine area.
Talks and posters will be organized into regional sub-sessions with minimal overlap. The program begins in the Western Mediterranean and works its way eastwards through the Eastern Mediterranean to Turkey and the Levant. We invite contributions from all disciplines that contribute to our understanding of the geodynamic evolution of this region.
Invited speakers:
- Leigh H. Royden, MIT, Stephan Mueller Medalist 2013
- Marc-Andre Gutscher, CNRS & Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest
- Gideon Rosenbaum, University of Queensland, Brisbane