A revision of the Westernmost Mediterranean: its crustal configuration, tectono-sedimentary structure and implications for seismic and tsunamigenic potential

The westernmost Mediterranean basins formed in a supra-subduction system during the Miocene. We have found that since the late Miocene, the previously extending region has been deformed by contractional and strike slip fault systems due to the Iberia – Africa tectonic plates convergence, producing the reorganization of the main tectonic structures. 
The westernmost Mediterranean realm is seismically active because it hosts the plate boundary between the European and African tectonic plates. This plate boundary has been traditionally considered a wide deformation zone, in which plate convergence is absorbed by minor to moderate-size tectonic structures, each absorbing a comparatively small part of the deformation. However, the understanding of the crustal configuration and the evolution of this basin was limited due to the limited penetration and resolution of the images of the subsurface.
We collected and processed >3.000 km of a modern seismic dataset to characterized for the first time 1) the deep structure and the crustal domains of the Alboran Basin, 2) the sedimentary infill and as a consequence, the basin evolution, and 3) the main active faults of the basin. Based on these results, we were able to identify the main fault systems and quantify the total slip accommodated by those prominent tectonic structures of the area, late Miocene - early Pliocene in age. 
Our results show that the estimated total slip accommodated by the main fault systems is similar (with error bounds) to the estimated plate convergence value since the Messinian time (~24 km). Thus, slip on those faults may have accommodated most of the Iberian – African plate convergence during the Plio-Quaternary, revealing that the contractive reorganization of the Alboran basin is focused on a few first-order structures that act as lithospheric boundaries, rather than widespread and diffuse along the entire basin. 
These results have implications not only for kinematic and geodynamic models, but also for seismic and tsunami hazard assessments. We performed a first appraisal of the seismogenic and tsunamigenic potential of the main fault systems offshore. Our simulations show that the seismogenic and tsunamigenic potential of the offshore structures of the Alboran Basin may be underestimated, and a further characterization of their associated hazard is needed.