Geodynamics of Azores-Tunisia

The Azores-Tunisia region is formed by the western part of the plate boundary between Eurasia and Africa. This plate boundary presents a complex nature due to its proximity to the pole of rotation of the African plate. This condition produces crustal extensions and normal faulting at the Azores archipelago, transcurrent motion with strike slip faulting at the center part of the Azores-Gibraltar fault and at the eastern end, from the Gulf of Cadiz to Tunisia, plate convergence with reverse faulting. In this last part, the collision of Iberia with northern Morocco produces complex phenomena with intermediate depth and deep earthquakes and an extensional regime at the Alboran sea. Recently, new evidence has been gathered in this region based on observations from geology, geodesy, mainly through GPS measurements, seismology, especially with the installation of broad-band stations, and other fields of geophysics, such as paleomagnetism and gravimetry. This volume presents a collection of papers dealing with the geological and tectonic structure and evolution of the region and parts thereof, its seismicity and seismotectonic implications and geodetic and paleomagnetic observations which offer new understanding of the complex geodynamics of this region.

New analysis of recent geological, seismological, geodetic and paleomagnetic observations of the region from the Azores Islands to Tunisia New models for the complex geodynamics of the Azores-Tunisia region

Inhalt
473 Introduction.- 477 Rapid Exhumation in the Alpine Belt of the Betic-Rif (W Mediterranean): Tectonic Extrusion.- 489 The Alpine Rif Belt (Morocco): A Case of Mountain Building in a SubductionSubduction-Transform Fault Triple Junction.- 521 Recent Tectonic Deformations and Stresses in the Frontal Part of the Rif Cordillera and the Saïss Basin (Fes and Rabat Regions, Morocco).- 541 Recent Tectonic Structures in a Transect of the Central Betic Cordillera.- 565 Neogene Through Quaternary Tectonic Reactivation of SW Iberian Passive Margin.- 589 GEOALGAR Project: First Results on Seismicity and Fault-plane Solutions.- 607 The Ain Temouchent (Algeria) Earthquake of December 22nd, 1999.- 623 Seismic Sources on the Iberia-African Plate Boundary and their Tectonic Implications.- 647 Calibration of Local Magnitude ML in the Azores Archipelago Based on Recent Digital Recordings.- 661 Geodetic Measurements of Crustal Deformation in the Western Mediterranean and Europe.- 683 Recent Geodetic Results in the Azores Triple Junction Region.- 701 New Palaeomagnetic Data from the Betic Cordillera: Constraints on the Timing and the Geographical Distribution of Tectonic Rotations in Southern Spain.