ALBERT

Description: The geodynamic evolution of the Western Mediterranean for the past 35 My is a matter of debate. Present-day structure and composition of the lithosphere and sublithospheric mantle may help in constraining the geodynamic evolution of the region. We use an integrated geophysical-petrological modeling to derive and compare the present-day thermal, density and compositional structure of the lithosphere and sublithospheric mantle along two NNW-SSE oriented transects crossing the back-arc Alboran and Algerian basins, from onshore Iberia to the northern Africa margin. The crust is constrained using available seismic data and geological cross-sections, whereas seismic tomography and mantle xenoliths constrain the upper mantle structure and composition. Results show a thick crust (37 and 30 km) and a relative deep LAB (130 and 150 km) underneath the HP/LT metamorphic units of the Internal Betics and Greater Kabylies, respectively, which contrast with the 16 km thick magmatic crust of the Alboran Basin and the 10 km thick oceanic crust of the Algerian Basin. The sharp change in lithosphere thickness, from the orogenic wedge to the back-arc basins, contrasts with the gentler lithosphere thickening toward the respective opposed margins. Our results confirm the presence of detached slabs ∼400 °C colder than upper mantle and a fertile composition than the continental lithospheric mantle beneath the External Betics and Saharan Atlas. Presence of detached quasi-vertical sublithospheric slabs dipping toward the SSE in the Betics and toward the NNW in the Kabylies and the opposed symmetric lithospheric structure support an opposite dipping subduction and retreat of two adjacent segments of the Jurassic Ligurian-Tethys realm.

Description: The immense advances in computer power achieved in the last decades have had a significant impact in Earth science, providing valuable research outputs that allow the simulation of complex natural processes and systems, and generating improved forecasts. The development and implementation of innovative geoscientific software is currently evolving towards a sustainable and efficient development by integrating models of different aspects of the Earth system. This will set the foundation for a future digital twin of the Earth. The codification and update of this software require great effort from research groups and therefore, it needs to be preserved for its reuse by future generations of geoscientists. Here, we report on Geo-Soft-CoRe, a Geoscientific Software & Code Repository, hosted at the archive DIGITAL.CSIC. This is an open source, multidisciplinary and multiscale collection of software and code developed to analyze different aspects of the Earth system, encompassing tools to: 1) analyze climate variability; 2) assess hazards, and 3) characterize the structure and dynamics of the solid Earth. Due to the broad range of applications of these software packages, this collection is useful not only for basic research in Earth science, but also for applied research and educational purposes, reducing the gap between the geosciences and the society. By providing each software and code with a permanent identifier (DOI), we ensure its self-sustainability and accomplish the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles. Therefore, we aim for a more transparent science, transferring knowledge in an easier way to the geoscience community, and encouraging an integrated use of computational infrastructure.

Description: The dynamics of the Alps and surrounding regions is still not completely understood, partly because of a non-unique interpretation of its upper-mantle architecture. In particular, it is unclear if interpreted slabs are consistent with the observed surface deformation and topography. We derive three end-member scenarios of lithospheric thickness and slab geometries by clustering available shear-wave tomography models into a statistical ensemble. We use these scenarios as input for geodynamic simulations and compare modelled topography, surface velocities and mantle flow to observations. We found that a slab detached beneath the Alps, but attached beneath the Northern Apennines captures first-order patterns in topography and vertical surface velocities and can provide a causative explanation for the observed seismicity.