Mantle diapirism and the formation of newly formed basins and surrounding centrifugally vergence orogens in the Mediterranean and Caribbean regions

Abstract

Mantle diapirism contributes considerably to the formation of newly formed basins and surrounding centrifugally vergence fold-thrust belts in the Mediterranean and Caribbean regions. Mantle diapirism results from density inversion in the geosphere of astenosphere+lithosphere geosystem. Such inversion has become a driving force in the background of increasing heat flow caused by the heat-resistant convergence of Africa and Eurasia (in the case of the Mediterranean region) and North and South Americas (Caribbean region) in the Cenozoic. Mantle diapirism is caused by unstable gravity in the periods of tectonomagmatic activations. The analytical solution of the problem yields the critical parameters coupling the mantle flow dynamics and surface relief evolution. The difference between the structures and evolutions for Mediterranean and Caribbean regions is the following. In the Mediterranean region, the mantle diapirism produces newly formed basins of intercontinental seas at the final stage of Africa–Eurasia convergence (in the Cenozoic). In the Caribbean region, intensive mantle diapirism first disjoined the North and South Americas in the Mesozoic, and then played the same role as in the Mediterranean for the convergence of these continents in the Cenozoic.