The recent tectonic evolution of the western Mediterranean region is enigmatic. The causes for the closure of the Moroccan marine gateway prior to the Messinian salinity crisis, for the ongoing shortening of the Moroccan Rif and for the origin of the seismogenic Trans-Alboran shear zone and eastern Betics extension are unclear. These puzzling tectonic features cannot be fully explained by subduction of the east-dipping Gibraltar slab in the context of the regional relative plate motion frame. Here we use a combination of geological and geodetic data, as well as three-dimensional numerical modelling of subduction, to show that these unusual tectonic features could be the consequence of slab dragging—the north to north-eastward dragging of the Gibraltar slab by the absolute motion of the African Plate. Comparison of our model results to patterns of deformation in the western Mediterranean constrained by geological and geodetic data confirm that slab dragging provides a plausible mechanism for the observed deformation. Our results imply that the impact of absolute plate motion on subduction is identifiable from crustal observations. Identifying such signatures elsewhere may improve the mantle reference frame and provide insights on subduction evolution and associated crustal deformation.

地中海西部地区最近的构造演化是神秘的。尚不清楚在墨西尼盐度危机之前关闭摩洛哥海洋通道的原因，持续缩短的摩洛哥里夫河以及引起地震的跨阿尔伯兰剪切带和东部贝蒂斯山脉扩展的成因。这些令人费解的构造特征无法通过在区域相对板块运动框架的背景下俯冲向东倾斜的直布罗陀板块来充分解释。在这里，我们结合使用了地质和大地测量数据以及俯冲的三维数值模型，来表明这些异常的构造特征可能是板块拖曳的结果，即直布罗陀板块向北向北拖曳。非洲板块的绝对运动。将我们的模型结果与受地质和大地测量数据约束的地中海西部地区的变形模式进行比较，证实了平板拖曳为观测到的变形提供了合理的机制。我们的结果表明，绝对板块运动对俯冲的影响可以从地壳观测中识别出来。识别其他地方的此类特征可能会改善地幔参考框架，并提供有关俯冲演化和相关地壳变形的见解。