The Ionian and Alfeo–Etna fault zones: New segments of an evolving plate boundary in the central Mediterranean Sea?

Africa-Eurasia plate convergence and the retreat of the subducting slab led to the consumption of the Tethys ocean lithosphere, which has now mostly disappeared below or accreted/exhumed within the Alps/Apennines. Slab tearing plays a major role in plate boundary evolution, asthenospheric upwelling, dynamic topography and magmatism. However, the role played by structural inheritance on the Africa plate is not well constrained. Based on seismological, geodetic and marine geophysical data, we analyse the pattern of crustal deformation in the Calabrian Arc and Sicily Channel, two key regions to unravel the complex Africa/Eurasia plate interaction in the central Mediterranean Sea.The Calabrian Arc subduction-rollback system accommodates Africa/Eurasia plate convergence along thrust faults developing both in the frontal and inner domains of the accretionary wedge. However, the most intriguing and tectonically active features are represented by arc-orthogonal faults deforming the subduction system along a complex strike-slip/transtensional pattern that may have been the source of major earthquakes in the Calabrian Arc. Deformation along the lithospheric transtensional faults is punctuated by buried sub-circular magnetized bodies aligned with Mt. Etna, that were interpreted as serpentinite/mud diapirs intruding the subduction system from the lower plate mantle. These faults are part of the overall dextral shear deformation, resulting from differences in Africa-Eurasia motion between the western and eastern sectors of the Tyrrhenian margin of northern Sicily, and accommodating diverging motions in the adjacent compartments of the Calabrian Arc. To the West, the Sicily Channel is part of the Pelagian block and experienced a lithospheric-scale continental rifting starting from the late Miocene with the development of NW-SE-trending tectonic depressions, bordered by crustal normal faults with variable throws. Our geophysical data, however, show that the most active tectonic feature in the area is a N-S trending and ~220-km-long lithospheric fault system characterized by volcanism, high heat flow and seismic activity. The NW-SE elongated rifting pattern, considered the first order structure in this region, appears currently inactive and sealed by undeformed Pleistocene deposits suggesting a recent change in structural development.Seismological data show that the lithospheric boundaries present in the Calabrian Arc and Sicily Channel correlate well with spatial changes in the depth distribution of earthquakes and separate regions with different Moho depths and thickness of the seismogenic layer. We propose that these boundaries may represent long-lived inherited Mesozoic discontinuities controlling plate boundary evolution and neotectonics.

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Predictive distribution models of European hake in the south-central Mediterranean Sea

Hydrobiologia ◽

10.1007/s10750-017-3338-5 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 821 (1) ◽

pp. 153-172 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

G. Garofalo ◽

S. Fezzani ◽

F. Gargano ◽

G. Milisenda ◽

O. Ben Abdallah ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Predictive Distribution ◽

The South ◽

Distribution Models ◽

Central Mediterranean ◽

South Central ◽

Central Mediterranean Sea ◽

European Hake

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Ecological status assessment and non-indigenous species in industrial and fishing harbours of the Gulf of Gabès (central Mediterranean Sea)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research ◽

10.1007/s11356-021-14729-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nawfel Mosbahi ◽

Jean-Philippe Pezy ◽

Lassad Neifar ◽

Jean-Claude Dauvin

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Ecological Status ◽

Indigenous Species ◽

Central Mediterranean ◽

Gulf Of Gabes ◽

Gulf Of Gabès ◽

Central Mediterranean Sea ◽

Ecological Status Assessment ◽

Status Assessment ◽

Non Indigenous Species

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Correction to: Assessment of cetacean–fishery interactions in the marine food web of the Gulf of Taranto (Northern Ionian Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea)

Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries ◽

10.1007/s11160-020-09630-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Roberto Carlucci ◽

Francesca Capezzuto ◽

Giulia Cipriano ◽

Gianfranco D’Onghia ◽

Carmelo Fanizza ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Web ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Ionian Sea ◽

Central Mediterranean ◽

Marine Food Web ◽

Central Mediterranean Sea ◽

Marine Food ◽

Fishery Interactions

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Air–Sea Interaction in the Central Mediterranean Sea: Assessment of Reanalysis and Satellite Observations

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13112188 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 2188

Author(s):

Salvatore Marullo ◽

Jaime Pitarch ◽

Marco Bellacicco ◽

Alcide Giorgio di Sarra ◽

Daniela Meloni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heat Flux ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Seasonal Cycle ◽

Heat Fluxes ◽

Meteorological Variables ◽

Central Mediterranean ◽

High Quality ◽

Central Mediterranean Sea ◽

In Situ Observations

Air–sea heat fluxes are essential climate variables, required for understanding air–sea interactions, local, regional and global climate, the hydrological cycle and atmospheric and oceanic circulation. In situ measurements of fluxes over the ocean are sparse and model reanalysis and satellite data can provide estimates at different scales. The accuracy of such estimates is therefore essential to obtain a reliable description of the occurring phenomena and changes. In this work, air–sea radiative fluxes derived from the SEVIRI sensor onboard the MSG satellite and from ERA5 reanalysis have been compared to direct high quality measurements performed over a complete annual cycle at the ENEA oceanographic observatory, near the island of Lampedusa in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Our analysis reveals that satellite derived products overestimate in situ direct observations of the downwelling short-wave (bias of 6.1 W/m2) and longwave (bias of 6.6 W/m2) irradiances. ERA5 reanalysis data show a negligible positive bias (+1.0 W/m2) for the shortwave irradiance and a large negative bias (−17 W/m2) for the longwave irradiance with respect to in situ observations. ERA5 meteorological variables, which are needed to calculate the air–sea heat flux using bulk formulae, have been compared with in situ measurements made at the oceanographic observatory. The two meteorological datasets show a very good agreement, with some underestimate of the wind speed by ERA5 for high wind conditions. We investigated the impact of different determinations of heat fluxes on the near surface sea temperature (1 m depth), as determined by calculations with a one-dimensional numerical model, the General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM). The sensitivity of the model to the different forcing was measured in terms of differences with respect to in situ temperature measurements made during the period under investigation. All simulations reproduced the true seasonal cycle and all high frequency variabilities. The best results on the overall seasonal cycle were obtained when using meteorological variables in the bulk formulae formulations used by the model itself. The derived overall annual net heat flux values were between +1.6 and 40.4 W/m2, depending on the used dataset. The large variability obtained with different datasets suggests that current determinations of the heat flux components and, in particular, of the longwave irradiance, need to be improved. The ENEA oceanographic observatory provides a complete, long-term, high resolution time series of high quality in situ observations. In the future, more similar sites worldwide will be needed for model and satellite validations and to improve the determination of the air–sea exchange and the understanding of related processes.

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