Buoyancy-driven deformation and contemporary tectonic stress in the lithosphere beneath Central Italy

We studied the continental deformation and modelled the contemporary flow and stress distribution in the lithosphere beneath Central Italy. We made use of a revisited crust and uppermost mantle Earth structure that supports delamination processes. The model behaviour is primarily determined by the thick high density lithospheric root to the east and the low- viscosity shallow mantle wedge to the west. The rate of the modeled crustal motion is in agreement with GPS data and the pattern of lithospheric flow explains the heat flux, the regional geology and provides a new background for the genesis and age of the recent Tuscan magmatism. The modelled stress in the lithosphere is spatially correlated with the prevailing stress field and the gravitational potential energy patterns and shows that buoyancy forces, solely, can explain the coexisting regional contraction and extension and the unusual sub-crustal seismicity.