The aim of this work is to make a synthesis at regional scale focused on the geophysical characterization submarine faults around Iberian margin identify active structures and analyze their development in framework present plate organization. Most these show seabed morphological expressions mapped with high-resolution swath bathymetry data, parametric sub-bottom profiles multichannel seismic pr...

[1] The net influx of water into the deep mantle by plate tectonics has been poorly constrained because it is difficult to quantify how efficiently subducting slabs are devolatilized on a global scale. The significance of deep water cycle in the Earth history is similarly ambiguous because it depends critically on when plate tectonics started and how it evolved through time. Here I show that, u...

Following the last glacial maximum (LGM), the demise of continental ice sheets induced crustal rebound in tectonically stable regions of North America and Scandinavia that is still ongoing. Unlike the ice sheets, the Alpine ice cap developed in an orogen where the measured uplift is potentially attributed to tectonic shortening, lithospheric delamination and unloading due to deglaciation and er...

We use 1-D thermal history models and 3-D numerical experiments to study the impact of dynamic thermal disequilibrium and large temporal variations of normal and shear stresses on the initiation of plate tectonics. Previous models that explored plate tectonics initiation from a steady state, single plate mode of convection concluded that normal stresses govern the initiation of plate tectonics,...

The Messina Strait, that separates peninsular Italy from Sicily, is one of the most seismically active areas of the Mediterranean. The structure and seismotectonic setting of the region are poorly understood, although the area is highly populated and important infrastructures are planned there. New seismic reflection data have identified a number of faults, as well as a crustal scale NE-trendin...

A moderate (M ~5) earthquake struck the northeastern United Arab Emirates (UAE) and northern Oman on March 11, 2002. The event was felt over a wide area of the northern Emirates and was accompanied by smaller (felt) events before and after the March 11 main shock. The event was large enough to be detected and located by global networks at teleseismic distances. We estimated focal mechanism and ...