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Article Dans Une Revue Geology Année : 2015

First Seismic Evidence for Continental Subduction beneath the Western Alps

Liang Zhao
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Anne Paul
Stéphane Guillot
Stefano Solarino
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Tianyu Zheng
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Thierry Dumont
Stéphane Schwartz
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Rixiang Zhu
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Résumé

The first discovery of ultrahigh-pressure coesite in the European Alps 30 years ago led to the inference that a positively buoyant continental crust can be subducted to mantle depth; this had been considered impossible since the advent of the plate tectonics concepts. Although continental subduction is now widely accepted, there remains debate because there is little direct (geophysical) evidence of a link between exhumed coesite at the surface and subducted continental crust at depth. Here we provide the first seismic evidence for continental crust at 75 km depth that is clearly connected with the European crust exactly along the transect where coesite was found at the surface. Our data also provide evidence for a thick suture zone with downward-decreasing seismic velocities, demonstrating that the European lower crust underthrusts the Adriatic mantle. These findings, from one of the best-preserved and long-studied ultrahigh-pressure orogens worldwide, shed decisive new light on geodynamic processes along convergent continental margins.
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Dates et versions

hal-02157741 , version 1 (18-06-2019)

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Liang Zhao, Anne Paul, Stéphane Guillot, Stefano Solarino, Marco Malusà, et al.. First Seismic Evidence for Continental Subduction beneath the Western Alps. Geology, 2015, 43 (9), pp.815-818. ⟨10.1130/G36833.1⟩. ⟨hal-02157741⟩
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