In this thesis I present a geophysical study that aims to define the structure and petrological nature of the main geological domains in the Central Tyrrhenian basin, and to investigate the mechanisms involved in their formation. The geophysical data used in this thesis was acquired during the MEDOC (2010) survey within the framework of the MEDOC project, which was designed to improve our understanding of the origin and evolution of rifted margins. The MEDOC survey was focused on the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin, an extraordinary natural laboratory to investigate the structure and evolution of back-arc basins, and hence rifted margins, since 1) extension evolves from north to south [Kastens and Mascle, 1990], 2) the original structure is preserved, and 3) it is small enough to be investigated with a single marine survey. The present work is based on the analysis, processing, modeling, and interpretation of coincident Wide-Angle Seismic (WAS), Multichannel Seismic (MCS), and gravity data corresponding to the two longest transects acquired during the MEDOC survey in the Central Tyrrhenian basin, the southern Line GH/MEDOC-6 (~450 km) and the northern Line EF/MEDOC-4 (~400 km). Both lines run across the Central Tyrrhenian basin from Sardinia to the Campania margin. [...]

The author of this thesis benefits from a four-year Jae Pre-Doc fellowship from CSIC between 2009 and 2013. The author was also granted within the framework of the Jae Pre-Doc with the following stays: 2 months at the Istituto di Scienze Marine (IMSAR) of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) in Bologna (Italy), and 3 months at the Department of Geodynamics of the University of Granada (Spain). The Jae Pre-Doc was supported by the MEDOC project and the Complementary Action OSMART, which were funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, with reference CTM2007-66179-C02-01/MAR and CTM2007-66179-C02-02/MAR, and CTM2009-07772-E/MAR, respectively. The data used in this work was acquired within the MEDOC project onboard of the R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa and R/V Urania. This work was also supported by project CO-DOS funded by Repsol, the Grup de Recerca de la Generalitat de Catalunya (2009SGR146), and by the International Correlation Programme (IGCP) Project 559

Memoria de tesis doctoral presentada por Manuel Prada Dacasa para optar al grado de Doctor en ciencias de la tierra por la Universitat de Barcelona (UB), realizada bajo la dirección del Dr. Valentí Sallarès Casas y del Dr. César Rodríguez Ranero del Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC).-- 278 pages

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