Present-day geodynamics of the Mediterranean-Lesser Caucasus part of the Alpine-Indonesian Mobile Belt

Abstract

At present, the concept of plate tectonics is predominant in the Earth sciences. However, there are also other, less popular ideas concerning the geodynamics of the Earth’s crust/lithosphere. The highly accurate modern geodetic measurements such as GPS, SLR, and VLBI provide a new framework for assessing different standpoints. The results of global-scale geodetic measurements are in close agreement with the global plate tectonic reconstructions. However, the same measurements of regional networks in the Mediterranean part of the Alpine-Indonesian Mobile Belt yield results that disagree with the plate’s tectonic reconstructions for this region. These measurements show that the belt’s width in many areas of Eurasian and African lithospheric plates’ convergence is not decreasing at present, as follows from the plate reconstructions, but increasing. At the same time, the segments of the belt under consideration are in a state of stress characterized by near-horizontal compression oriented across the strike of the belt. This contradiction can only be explained if it is assumed that the formation of the tectonic structure of the mobile belt is related to the active growth of the volume of the bedded rocks of the belt, i.e., of the plate’s convergence zone. This growth is apparently due to the additional mineral material gained by the ascending mantle fluid flows. This implies that local, autonomous dynamic processes are required in addition to the lithospheric plate’s interactions to account for the tectonic deformations observed in the mobile belt.