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Calabrian forearc uplift paced by slab–mantle interactions during subduction retreat

Nature Geoscience volume 16, pages 513–520 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Evidence from landscape evolution may provide critical constraints for past geodynamic processes, but has been limited by the large uncertainties of topographic reconstructions. Here we present continuous 30-million-year rock uplift histories for three catchments in the Calabrian forearc of southern Italy, using a data-driven inversion of tectonic geomorphology measurements. We find that rock uplift rates were high (>1 mm yr−1) from about 30 to 25 million years ago (Ma) and progressively declined to <0.4 mm yr−1 by ~15 Ma, then remained low before abruptly increasing around 1.5–1.0 Ma. These uplift rates do not match the forearc’s subduction velocity record, implying that uplift was not dominated by crustal thickening due to subduction-driven sediment influx. Through comparisons with slab descent reconstructions, we instead argue that the forearc uplift history primarily reflects the progressive establishment and abrupt destruction of an upper-mantle convection cell with strong negative buoyancy. We suggest that the convection cell vigour increased as the slab-induced mantle flow field began to interact with the 660-km mantle transition zone, causing uplift rates to decline from 25 to 15 Ma. Then, once the slab encountered the transition zone, the fully established convection cell subdued uplift rates, before being disrupted by slab fragmentation in the Quaternary, driving rapid forearc uplift.

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Fig. 1: Subduction history and regional setting.
Fig. 2: Topography, geomorphology and geology of the Calabrian forearc.
Fig. 3: Best-fit models of the tectonic geomorphology data.
Fig. 4: Rock uplift, subduction rate and slab descent histories of the Calabrian subduction system.
Fig. 5: Interpretive model for the impact of slab–mantle interactions on the upper plate.

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Data availability

Additional data used in this paper can be found in the publications and sources cited in the main text and Methods and the Extended Data and Source Data tables provided. The apatite fission track and apatite (U-Th/He) data generated and analysed in this study are archived in the following publicly available figshare data repositories: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22305889.v1 (apatite fission track) and https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22305907.v1 (apatite (U-Th/He)). Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

Modified versions of the codes used in this study are available at https://github.com/sfgallen/RICoTTa and archived as a Zenodo repository at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7671209.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Colorado State University startup funds and NSF award EAR-2041910 to S.F.G. and NSF PF award EAR-1952764 to N.M.S. We thank R. Chatterjee and D. Patterson (UT Chron facilities) for analytical support, J. Eidmann and E. Marder for field assistance, and D. Hill, M. Windingstad, N. Weaver and R. Forrey for laboratory assistance. We also thank L. Husson for insightful, constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Sean F. Gallen

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Nikki M. Seymour

  3. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Nikki M. Seymour

  4. Department of Geology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Nikki M. Seymour

  5. Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Christoph Glotzbach

  6. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Daniel F. Stockli

  7. GeoSep Services, Moscow, ID, USA

    Paul O’Sullivan

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Contributions

S.F.G. and N.M.S. conceived of the study and collected the thermochronometry samples presented. P.O. conducted the mineral separations and fission track analyses, and D.F.S. performed the noble gas thermochronometry measurements. C.G. provided the original inversion code. S.F.G. revised the codes and led the analysis with additional support from C.G. and N.M.S. S.F.G. drafted the figures and wrote the paper with input and feedback from all authors throughout the process.

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Correspondence to Sean F. Gallen.

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Nature Geoscience thanks Laurent Husson, Magdalena Curry, Jean Braun and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Louise Hawkins, in collaboration with the Nature Geoscience team.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Matrix plot of the posterior probability distributions from the inversion of the catchment in the Sila massif.

The probability density plots show the marginal posteriors and bivariate plots show the locations sampled during the inversion colored by their relative probability. The dashed red line in the marginal posterior plots and gray dot in the bivariate plots show the location of the maximum a posteriori (MAP) solution. Note that the points in the bivariate plots are transparent such that areas sampled more frequently appear more opaque. Time 1 – transition from first to the second phase of uplift, Time 2 – transition from the second to the third phase of uplift, Time 3 – transition from the third to the fourth phase of uplift, U1 – initial uplift rate, U2 – second phase uplift rate, U3 – third phase uplift rate, U4 – final phase uplift rate, K – stream power erodibility constant, n stream power slope exponent, m/n – stream power m to n ratio.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Matrix plot of the posterior probability distributions from the inversion of the catchment in the Serre massif.

Same as in Extended Data Fig. 1, except the results are for the catchment in the Serre massif.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Matrix plot of the posterior probability distributions from the inversion of the catchment in the Aspromonte massif.

Same as in Extended Data Fig. 1, except the results are for the catchment in the Aspromonte massif.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Empirical calibration of the stream power model.

Plot showing the relationship between 10Be-derived basin average erosion rates and basin average normalized steepness index, ksn, for all basins in Calabria with published data. The inset shows all data and the main figure shows the dataset excluding one outlier. The solid black line and dashed black lines show the best-fit power-law regression through data using a total least-squares regression and the one standard deviation uncertainties, respectively, from a Monte Carlo error propagation routine. The equation, best-fit parameters and associated one standard deviation uncertainties are shown along with the r2 value. The gray shaded region bound by the dashed gray line shows the range of stream power parameters searched in the inversion.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Uplift, erosion, and elevation histories of catchments.

The left column shows the mean rock uplift rate from the model ensemble from Fig. 4 and the mean erosion rate and the mean catchment elevation determined using the mean uplift rate history and the best-fit stream power parameters from the inversion. The right column shows the mean surface uplift rate from each catchment, determined as the difference between the rock uplift rate and the mean erosion rate from the left panel. The right column also shows the rock uplift rate partitioned into isostatic and geodynamic components assuming Airy isostasy and typical crustal and mantle densities of 2700 kg m−3 and 3400 kg m−3, respectively. Note that the assumption of Airy isostasy is likely to overestimate the true contribution of erosion to rock uplift and underestimate the geodynamic component to rock uplift because it ignores lithospheric rigidity, which at the scales considered is non-negligible.

Extended Data Table 1 List of Parameters Solved for in the Inverse Model with Range of Priors and Explanations
Full size table

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Tables 1–3.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 2c

AFT data.

Source Data Fig. 2d

Apatite (U-Th/He) data.

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Gallen, S.F., Seymour, N.M., Glotzbach, C. et al. Calabrian forearc uplift paced by slab–mantle interactions during subduction retreat. Nat. Geosci. 16, 513–520 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01185-4

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