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High-MgO ultrapotassic rocks are found in four different areas of the Western Mediterranean basin associated in space and time with shoshonitic and calc-alkaline rocks. They represent different magmatic events at the active continental plate margin from Oligocene to Pleistocene. These rocks are found within the Western Alps (Northern Italy), in Corsica (France), in Murcia-Almeria (South-Eastern Spain), and in Southern Tuscany (Central Italy). Ultrapotassic terms are mostly lamprophyres, but olivine latitic lavas with a clear lamproitic affinity are also found. Lamproite-like rocks range from slightly silica under-saturated to silica over-saturated, and they are characterised by low Al 2 O 3 , CaO, and Na 2 O contents. They are plagioclase-free rocks, but K-feldspar is abundant beside other K-bearing phases. Shoshonitic and calc-alkaline rocks are invariably space associated to lamproites, and they either precede or follow them. High-Mg ultrapotassic rocks are characterised by strong enrichment of incompatible elements, which prevent further enrichment due to shallow level crustal contamination. K 2 O and incompatible element contents decrease passing from high-Mg ultrapotassic to high-Mg shoshonitic and calc-alkaline rocks suggesting that K and incompatible trace elements enrichments are a primary characteristic. Ultrapotassic to calc-alkaline rocks from Western Mediterranean regions, in spite of their different age of emplacement, are characterised by similar incompatible trace elements distribution. Depletion of High Field Strength elements with respect to Large Ion Lithophile elements is observed. Positive spikes at Th, U, and Pb, with negative spikes at Ba, Nb, Ta, Sr, P, and Ti, are common characteristics of ultrapotassic (lamproitic) to high-K calc-alkaline rocks. Ultrapotassic rocks are extremely enriched in radiogenic Sr and unradiogenic Nd with respect to the associated shoshonitic and calc-alkaline rocks. Different isotopic values are distinctive of the different magmatic provinces irrespective of magmatic affinities. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr i ranges between 0.71645 and 0.71759 for Western Alps lamproites, between 0.71226 and 0.71230 for Corsica lamproite, between 0.71642 and 0.72259 for Murcia-Almeria lamproites, and between 0.71578 and 0.71672 for Tuscany lamproites. Radiogenic Sr decreases along with K 2 O through shoshonitic to calc-alkaline rocks. Conversely 143 Nd/ 144 Nd i values increase with decreasing K 2 O, with the highest value of 0.51243 found for the one samples from Murcia-Almeria. Contrasting trends are observed among initial values of lead isotopes, but all falling well within the field of upper crustal rocks. Different trends of 207 Pb/ 204 Pb i and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb i vs. 206 Pb/ 204 Pb i for samples from the different provinces are observed. Several evidences indicate that most of the magmas of the different provinces have been generated in a depleted upper mantle (i.e., lithospheric) modified by metasomatism, but an asthenospheric component is also recognised in Corsica. At least two different s...

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The E-W-opening Tyrrhenian Sea developed after the Cretaceous-Palaeogene Alpine collision, nearly perpendicular to the motion of the African plate, as a back-arc of the Adria-Ionian westward subduction. Three driving mechanisms have been proposed to explain the dynamic evolution of the Tyrrhenian-Apennine system: ( 1 ) the northward indentation of the African plate; (2) the retreating subduction of the Adria-Ionian lithosphere; and (3) the gravitational collapse of the Alpine post-collisional wedge. In order to define the relative contribution of each of these mechanisms in the Neogene dynamic of the Tyrrhenian-Apennine system, we performed 3-D laboratory experiments, in which we simulated a retreating subduction process in a compressional regime oriented perpendicularly to the direction of subduction; in this framework we also tested the influence of the gravitational collapse of the overriding plate. Experiments were constructed using dry sand and silicone putties to simulate brittle upper crust and ductile lower crust/upper mantle, respectively; these layers floated on a highdensity, low-viscosity glucose syrup which simulated the asthenosphere. The main conclusion of our experiments is that large-scale continental extension, similar to that observed in the Tyrrhenian area, could be reproduced perpendicular to the shortening direction induced by the indentation of the African plate; in this framework, extensional processes are indeed possible if the trench retreat velocity is higher than the rate of shortening induced by the advancing African plate. Our experimental results indicate that this high trench retreat velocity could be explained by the coexistence of the gravitational collapse of the post-Alpine wedge with a slab-pull process, linked to the retreating subduction of the Adria-Ionian plate. While the first mechanism is predominant in the Northern Tyrrhenian area, the second one seems to be important in the latest stage of extension and oceanic accretion of the Southern Tyrrhenian area.

In the Central Mediterranean two back‐arc basins, the Liguro‐Provençal (LPb) and the Tyrrhenian basin (Tb), opened progressively and consecutively from the late Eocene–Oligocene to the present. Evolution in space and time of rifting and drifting processes, along three different transects across these basins, shows differences in the style of extension: LPb opened with the formation of a narrow, single rift, while in the Tb deformation and magmatism is spread over a wide area. Moreover at the Northern end of the Tb the locus of extension progressively migrated towards the east whereas in the Southern Tb the locus of extension and magmatism migrated inside the basin, inducing continental break‐up and drifting of the previously formed older conjugate basins. We propose that these different styles of back‐arc extension depend upon internal conditions, such as prerift rheology linked with its geological heritage, and external conditions, e.g. the style of subduction.