Attached or not attached—evidence from crustal stress observations for a weak coupling of the Vrancea slab in Romania

Müller, Birgit; Heidbach, Oliver; Negut, Mihaela; Sperner, Blanka; Buchmann, T.

doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2009.08.022

Cited by 24 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Typically, a regional‐scale model similar to the one presented in this study is not able to capture small‐scale variations in SHmax orientations. For this reason, our model does not reproduce the complex patterns of stress axis orientation, such as the pattern in the southeastern Carpathians [ Müller et al ., ].…”

Section: Preferred Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neotectonics and long‐term seismicity in Europe and the Mediterranean region

2015

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We present a neotectonic model of ongoing lithosphere deformation and a corresponding estimate of long-term shallow seismicity across the Africa-Eurasia plate boundary, including the eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean region, and continental Europe. GPS and stress data are absent or inadequate for the part of the study area covered by water. Thus, we opt for a dynamic model based on the stress equilibrium equation; this approach allows us to estimate the long-term behavior of the lithosphere (given certain assumptions about its structure and physics) for both land and sea areas. We first update the existing plate model by adding five quasirigid plates (the Ionian Sea, Adria, Northern Greece, Central Greece, and Marmara) to constrain the deformation pattern of the study area. We use the most recent data sets to estimate the lithospheric structure. The models are evaluated in comparison with updated data sets of geodetic velocities and the most compressive horizontal principal stress azimuths. We find that the side and basal strengths drive the present-day motion of the Adria and Aegean Sea plates, whereas lithostatic pressure plays a key role in driving Anatolia. These findings provide new insights into the neotectonics of the greater Mediterranean region. Finally, the preferred model is used to estimate long-term shallow seismicity, which we retrospectively test against historical seismicity. As an alternative to reliance on incomplete geologic data or historical seismic catalogs, these neotectonic models help to forecast long-term seismicity, although requiring additional tuning before seismicity rates are used for seismic hazard purposes.

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Section: Preferred Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neotectonics and long‐term seismicity in Europe and the Mediterranean region

2015

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“…9b and d). On the other hand, the crustal stress pattern in Romania is heterogeneous, prevalently controlled by local stress sources (Müller et al, 2010). Mantle anisotropy parallel to the strike of the orogen (Ivan et al, 2008;Russo and Mocanu, 2009), inferred from tomography studies (e.g.…”

Section: The Carpathiansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ductile crustal flow in Europe's lithosphere

Tesauro

Burov

Kaban

et al. 2011

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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“…Roth and Fleckenstein, 2001;Röckel and Lempp, 2003;Cornet and Röckel, 2012) or man-made activities in the underground (e.g. Martínez-Garzón et al, 2013;Müller et al, 2018).…”

Section: Concept Of Stress Rotationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress rotation – impact and interaction of rock stiffness and faults

Reiter

2021

Solid Earth

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Abstract. It has been assumed that the orientation of the maximum horizontal compressive stress (SHmax) in the upper crust is governed on a regional scale by the same forces that drive plate motion. However, several regions are identified where stress orientation deviates from the expected orientation due to plate boundary forces (first-order stress sources), or the plate wide pattern. In some of these regions, a gradual rotation of the SHmax orientation has been observed. Several second- and third-order stress sources have been identified in the past, which may explain stress rotation in the upper crust. For example, lateral heterogeneities in the crust, such as density and petrophysical properties, and discontinuities, such as faults, are identified as potential candidates to cause lateral stress rotations. To investigate several of these candidates, generic geomechanical numerical models are set up with up to five different units, oriented by an angle of 60∘ to the direction of shortening. These units have variable (elastic) material properties, such as Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and density. In addition, the units can be separated by contact surfaces that allow them to slide along these vertical faults, depending on a chosen coefficient of friction. The model results indicate that a density contrast or the variation of Poisson's ratio alone hardly rotates the horizontal stress (≦17∘). Conversely, a contrast of Young's modulus allows significant stress rotations of up to 78∘, even beyond the vicinity of the material transition (>10 km). Stress rotation clearly decreases for the same stiffness contrast, when the units are separated by low-friction discontinuities (only 19∘ in contrast to 78∘). Low-friction discontinuities in homogeneous models do not change the stress pattern at all away from the fault (>10 km); the stress pattern is nearly identical to a model without any active faults. This indicates that material contrasts are capable of producing significant stress rotation for larger areas in the crust. Active faults that separate such material contrasts have the opposite effect – they tend to compensate for stress rotations.

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Attached or not attached—evidence from crustal stress observations for a weak coupling of the Vrancea slab in Romania

Cited by 24 publications

References 66 publications

Neotectonics and long‐term seismicity in Europe and the Mediterranean region

Neotectonics and long‐term seismicity in Europe and the Mediterranean region

Ductile crustal flow in Europe's lithosphere

Stress rotation – impact and interaction of rock stiffness and faults

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