Lithospheric cross sections of the European Cenozoic rift system

Prodehl, C.; Mueller, St.; Glahn, A.; Gutscher, Marc‐André; Haak, V.

doi:10.1016/0040-1951(92)90339-8

Cited by 53 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…2) underneath the Rhine Graben with a Moho depth as shallow as 24 km beneath the Kaiserstuhl area (Edel et al 1975). (For a comprehensive review of geophysical results of the entire Rhine Graben-Rhenish Massif area see Prodehl et al 1992). As a general trend, the Moho dips steeper to the west below the Vosges Mountains and the Lorraine Basin than to the east below the Black Forest and the Swabian Jura.…”

Section: Previous Geophysical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Southern Rhine Graben: small-wavelength tomographic study and implications for the dynamic evolution of the graben

Glahn

Granet

1993

Geophysical Journal International

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Inversion of P-wave traveltime residuals of teleseismic events recorded by a dense network of short-period stations yielded a detailed image of the 3-D velocity structure of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system beneath the southern Rhine Graben area. The upper part of the lithosphere, marked by velocity anomalies orientated along the graben strike, can be related to the development of the graben. These upper 50 km display stronger lateral heterogeneities than the weak anomalies observed at deeper levels which show roughtly an E-W orientation. The teleseismic inversion models yield no indications for significantly reduced seismic velocities in the upper mantle as could be expected from an actively upwelling mantle diapir located beneath the southern Rhine Graben area. The observation of generally weak velocity variations at greater depth indicates a rather smooth transition from the lower lithosphere to the upper asthenosphere. Deeper parts of the lithosphere were probably altered by metasomatic processes as a consequence of the intrusion of melts during middle and late Miocene times. These melts cooled and solidified from the end of the Miocene when rifting and thermal doming ceased in the southern Rhine Graben area.

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Section: Previous Geophysical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Southern Rhine Graben: small-wavelength tomographic study and implications for the dynamic evolution of the graben

Glahn

Granet

1993

Geophysical Journal International

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“…the Variscan belt of Europe); these typically have higher heat flow and thinner lithosphere than the surrounding cratons (e.g. Baltic Shield) (Prodehl et al, 1992). A number are located on uplifted basement massifs (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

Tertiary-Quaternary intra-plate magmatism in Europe and its relationship to mantle dynamics

Wilson

Downes

2006

Memoirs

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Anorogenic intra-plate magmatism was widespread in Europe from early Tertiary to Recent times, extending west to east from Spain to Bulgaria, and south to north from Sicily to northern Germany. Magmatism is spatially and temporally associated with Alpine-Pyrenean collisional tectonics, the development of an extensive lithospheric rift system in the northern foreland of the Alps, and, locally, with uplift of Variscan basement massifs (Massif Central, Rhenish Massif, Bohemian Massif). The volcanic regions vary in volume from large central volcanoes (e.g. Cantal, Massif Central;Vogelsberg, northern Germany), to small isolated plugs (e.g. Urach and Hegau provinces in southern Germany). Within the Mediterranean region, the Dinarides, the Pannonian Basin and Bulgaria, anorogenic volcanism locally postdates an earlier phase of subduction-related magmatism.The major and trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb isotope characteristics of the most primitive mafic magmatic rocks (MgO > 6 wt %) provide important constraints on the nature of the mantle source and the conditions of partial melting.. These are predominantly sodic (melilitites, nephelinites, basanites and alkali olivine basalts); however, locally, potassic magma types (olivine leucitites, leucite nephelinites) also occur. In several localities (e.g., Sicily; Vogelsberg and the Rhine Graben, Germany; Calatrava, central Spain) olivine-and quartz-tholeiites form a significant component of the magmatism. The sodic magmas were derived by variable degrees of partial melting (~ 0.5 -5 %) within a transitional zone between garnet-peridotite and spinel-peridotite mantle facies, close to the base of the lithosphere; the potassic magma types are interpreted as partial melts of enriched domains within the lithospheric mantle. Mantle partial melting was induced by adiabatic decompression of the asthenosphere, locally in small-scale, plume-like, diapirs which appear to upwell from ~ 400 km depth. 2Tertiary and Quaternary volcanic activity within Europe occurs in two principal geotectonic settings: referred to as orogenic and anorogenic by Wilson & Bianchini (1999). Occurrences of calc-alkaline volcanism (orogenic) in the Alpine chain, the Carpathians and the Mediterranean region (Harangi et al., this volume) can be explained geodynamically in terms of contemporaneous subduction, and will not be considered further in this review. Here emphasis is placed on the extensive anorogenic, dominantly alkaline, volcanic province to the north of the Alpine collision zone, including the Massif Central of France, the Rhenish Massif of northern Germany, the Rhine Graben, and the Eger Graben within the northern part of the Bohemian Massif in the Czech Republic (Figs. 1 & 2). Further to the east mafic alkaline volcanism (anorogenic) post-dates a major phase of subduction-related volcanism in the Pannonian Basin, the Dinarides (Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, N. Bosnia), Bulgaria and western Turkey. Further south,within the Mediterranean region, anorogenic volcanism occurs in Sicily, Sardinia, Monte V...

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“…and has been confirmed by 2-D gravity modelling (Plaumann et al 1986;Gutscher 1991b;Prodehl et al 1992;Rousset et al 1993). Particularly prominent is the sharp dropoff (30-40 mGal) from the Saxothuringian Terrane to the Moldanubian Terrane, best displayed at the southern edge of the so-called Kraichgau maximum (at the Baden-Baden Zone).…”

Section: Crustal S T R U C T U R E a N D Composition A N D The M O L mentioning

confidence: 69%

“…The Moho topography used is shown in Fig. 5 and is a modified form of pre-existing maps (Zeiss, Gasewski & Prodehl 1990;Prodehl et al 1992), with the inclusion of near-vertical seismic reflection data from the ECORS-DEKORP Rhine Graben profiles , the DEKORP 1-C line (Meissner & Bortfeld 1990), the DEKORP 2-S line (DEKORP Research Group 1985), the Schwarzwald profiles (Liischen et af. 1987) and the Urach profiles (Bartelsen et al 1982).…”

Section: Model Geometry and Densitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crustal structure and dynamics in the Rhine Graben and the Alpine foreland

Gutscher

1995

Geophysical Journal International

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S U M M A R YThe Rhine Graben rift stretches for 300 km from Basel to Frankfurt. The axis of maximum subsidence switches from west in the southern graben, to east in the northern graben. Subsidence in the south began in the upper Eocene and was interrupted in the mid-Miocene by a broad uplift of 1-1.5 km in the VosgesSchwarzwald (Black Forest) region, whereas subsidence in the north proceeded continuously from the lower Oligocene to the present.A combined geophysical and-geological interpretation of the Rhine Graben is presented in the form of a 3-D gravity model and 2-D flexural plate modelling from the Alps across the Alpine foreland to the Rhenish Massif. Modelling is based on crustal structure revealed by geologic, gravity and seismic data, including ECORS, DEKORP and EGT profiles.The 3-D gravity modelling supports a modest density contrast of 0.3 g cm-3 at the crust-mantle boundary. Since there is no evidence of a large-scale upper-mantle anomaly, a dense lower crust (2.9-3.0g~m-~) is proposed as the cause of this modest density contrast. The presence of a dense, mafic, lower crust in south-west Germany is corroborated by lower-crustal xenoliths, elevated P-wave velocities (6.7-7.2 km s-') and high Poisson's ratios (0.26-0.29).Residual gravity and magnetic data reveal strong crustal heterogeneities, particularly from the dense, magnetic Saxothuringian Terrane to the light, non-magnetic Moldanubian Terrane. The polarity of the asymmetric Rhine Graben reverses at this Variscan tectonic boundary. Light graben fill can account for nearly the entire 20-40 mGal, short-wavelength gravity minimum, but the presence of intrusive bodies ranging from granitic to mafic composition can also strongly influence the local gravity field.2-D modelling of the flexure of the European lithosphere along seven 1000 km long profiles indicates a flexural bulge of 1-1.5 km in the Alpine foreland of Southern Germany, which corresponds to an ENE-trending Moho uplift of the same magnitude and to a band of free-air gravity highs. Longer flexural wavelengths in the east indicate increasing lithospheric rigidity and increasing elastic thickness towards the Bohemian Massif. The Vosges-Schwarzwald dome is interpreted as the intersection of the Oligocene Rhine Graben rift and associated rift flank uplift with the mid-Miocene flexural bulge.

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Lithospheric cross sections of the European Cenozoic rift system

Cited by 53 publications

References 31 publications

Southern Rhine Graben: small-wavelength tomographic study and implications for the dynamic evolution of the graben

Southern Rhine Graben: small-wavelength tomographic study and implications for the dynamic evolution of the graben

Tertiary-Quaternary intra-plate magmatism in Europe and its relationship to mantle dynamics

Crustal structure and dynamics in the Rhine Graben and the Alpine foreland

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