Europe's Lithosphere – Seismic Structure

Blundell, D. J.; Freeman, R.; Mueller, St.

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511608261.005

Cited by 68 publications

(41 citation statements)

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“…The present crustal and lithospheric configuration of the ECRIS area bears no relationship to the major structural units of the Variscan Orogen but shows affinities with the graben systems and arches that developed during Cenozoic times (Ansorge et al 1992;Mengel 1992;Ziegler and De`zes 2005). Yet, development of the Variscan Orogen did involve major crustal shortening and subduction of substantial amounts of supra-crustal rocks, continental and oceanic crust and mantle-lithosphere (Ziegler et al 1995.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Evolution of the lithosphere in the area of the Rhine Rift System

Ziegler

Dèzes

2005

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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The Rhine Rift System (RRS) forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS) and transects the Variscan Orogen, Permo-Carboniferous troughs and Late Permian to Mesozoic thermal sag basins. Crustal and lithospheric thicknesses range in the RRS area between 24-36 km and 50-120 km, respectively. We discuss processes controlling the transformation of the orogenically destabilised Variscan lithosphere into an end-Mesozoic stabilised cratonic lithosphere, as well as its renewed destabilisation during the Cenozoic development of ECRIS. By end-Westphalian times, the major sutures of the Variscan Orogen were associated with 45-60 km deep crustal roots. During the Stephanian-Early Permian, regional exhumation of the Variscides was controlled by their wrench deformation, detachment of subducted lithospheric slabs, asthenospheric upwelling and thermal thinning of the mantlelithosphere. By late Early Permian times, when asthenospheric temperatures returned to ambient levels, lithospheric thicknesses ranged between 40 km and 80 km, whilst the thickness of the crust was reduced to 28-35 km in response to its regional erosional and local tectonic unroofing and the interaction of mantle-derived melts with its basal parts. Re-equilibration of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system governed the subsidence of Late Permian-Mesozoic thermal sag basins that covered much of the RRS area. By end-Cretaceous times, lithospheric thicknesses had increased to 100-120 km. Paleocene mantle plumes caused renewed thermal weakening of the lithosphere. Starting in the late Eocene, ECRIS evolved in the Pyrenean and Alpine foreland by passive rifting under a collision-related north-directed compressional stress field. Following endOligocene consolidation of the Pyrenees, west-and northwest-directed stresses originating in the Alps controlled further development of ECRIS. The RRS remained active until the Present, whilst the southern branch of ECRIS aborted in the early Miocene. Extensional strain across ECRIS amounts to some 7 km. Plume-related thermal thinning of the lithosphere underlies uplift of the Rhenish Massif and Massif Central. Lithospheric folding controlled uplift of the VosgesBlack Forest Arch.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Evolution of the lithosphere in the area of the Rhine Rift System

Ziegler

Dèzes

2005

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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“…Thus, it was suggested that the anomalous 'lower crust' was delimited by the deep trace of the Trans-European Fault (EUGENO-S Working Group, 1988). Ansorge, Blundell & Mueller (1992), however, have suggested that the area around the CK shotpoint (same location as the SP1 shotpoint) corresponds to the Caledonian Deformation Front.…”

Section: C Geophysical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

The Trans-European Fault: a critical reassessment

McCann

Krawczyk

2001

Geol. Mag.

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-New deep seismic profiles in the southern Baltic region have failed to image the TransEuropean Fault. Evidence for this structure, of suggested pre-Cadomian age, is critically re-examined. Localized geophysical anomalies are present, but these cannot be correlated with known structural features of the region. Based on the inconclusive evidence for this structure, we would therefore propose that the term 'Trans-European Fault' should not be used in the future, and that, to avoid confusion, authors use local names for local structures.

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“…Different lithosphere thicknesses and Moho depths characterize these domains. The lithosphere thickness is about 70 km in the Sicily mainland (i.e., Apenninic domain) and reduces to about 30 km in the central Tyrrhenian Sea where an oceanic lithosphere occurs [Ansorge et al, 1992]. The Moho is about 25-30 km deep along the northern coast of Sicily (i.e., continental domain) and shallows to 9 -12 km toward the north at the continent-ocean transition (Figure 2) [Nicolich, 1989;Pepe et al, 2000].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonics and seismicity of the Tindari Fault System, southern Italy: Crustal deformations at the transition between ongoing contractional and extensional domains located above the edge of a subducting slab

et al. 2006

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The Tindari Fault System (southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) is a regional zone of brittle deformation located at the transition between ongoing contractional and extensional crustal compartments and lying above the western edge of a narrow subducting slab. Onshore structural data, an offshore seismic reflection profile, and earthquake data are analyzed to constrain the present geometry of the Tindari Fault System and its tectonic evolution since Neogene, including the present seismicity. Results show that this zone of deformation consists of a broad NNW trending system of faults including sets of right‐lateral, left‐lateral, and extensional faults as well as early strike‐slip faults reworked under late extension. Earthquakes and other neotectonic data provide evidence that the Tindari Fault System is still active in the central and northern sectors and mostly accommodates extensional or right‐lateral transtensional displacements on a diffuse array of faults. From these data, a multiphase tectonic history is inferred, including an early phase as a right‐lateral strike‐slip fault and a late extensional reworking under the influence of the subduction‐related processes, which have led to the formation of the Tyrrhenian back‐arc basin. Within the present, regional, geodynamic context, the Tindari Fault System is interpreted as an ongoing accommodation zone between the adjacent contractional and extensional crustal compartments, these tectonic compartments relating to the complex processes of plate convergence occurring in the region. The Tindari Fault System might also be included in an incipient, oblique‐extensional, transfer zone linking the ongoing contractional belts in the Calabrian‐Ionian and southern Tyrrhenian compartments.

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Europe's Lithosphere – Seismic Structure

Cited by 68 publications

References 0 publications

Evolution of the lithosphere in the area of the Rhine Rift System

Evolution of the lithosphere in the area of the Rhine Rift System

The Trans-European Fault: a critical reassessment

Tectonics and seismicity of the Tindari Fault System, southern Italy: Crustal deformations at the transition between ongoing contractional and extensional domains located above the edge of a subducting slab

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