Thickness of the central and eastern European lithosphere as seen bySreceiver functions

Abstract

SUMMARY S receiver functions obtained from seismograms of teleseismic events recorded at 78 European permanent broad‐band stations are used to estimate the thickness of the European lithosphere. Our results provide new, independent information about the lithospheric thickness beneath the Precambrian platform of Eastern Europe and the Phanerozoic platform of central Europe. Detailed high‐resolution images of the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) reveal indications for a typical continental lithosphere of about 100 km thickness beneath a majority of stations within Central Europe, whereas in the vicinity of the Trans‐European Suture Zone (TESZ), the lithosphere thickens to about 130 km. A relatively thin lithosphere of 80 km was found beneath the Upper Rhine Graben region suggesting that the Cenozoic extension affects the whole lithosphere. No clear signal from the LAB was detected beneath the Alps and Carpathians. The LAB Sp phase might be disturbed by complicated structure due to ongoing collision/subduction in these regions, or the data are not yet sufficiently dense. A relatively thicker lithosphere of about 120 km was found beneath the SW part of the Bohemian Massif that was formed during the Variscan orogeny. We found an LAB depth of about 190 km near a single station located in the Vrancea area/Eastern Carpathians, which is characterized by the occurrence of intermediate deep earthquakes. Beneath the stations located in the Precambrian platform of Eastern Europe, the LAB deepens to approximately >200 km, even though the converted phase from the LAB is not as sharp as found beneath other stations located in Central Europe or even is missing.

Upper mantle structure around the Trans-European Suture Zone obtained by teleseismic tomography

“…Koulakov et al (2009) observed the positive P wave velocity anomaly beneath the EEC down to at least 300 km, which indicates even thicker lithosphere compared to . Legendre et al (2012) find no indications of a deep cratonic root below about 330 km for the EEC, while Geissler et al (2010) do not observe any clear indications of deep seismic LAB beneath the EEC either.…”

Seismic basement in Poland

“…The edge of the EEC in Poland, the Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone (TTZ), continues in SW Scandinavia as the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone (STZ). This boundary between Baltica and Phanerozoic Europe is well visible in the basement, Moho depth, as well as in lithospheric thickness (e.g., Lassen and Thybo 2012;ScheckWenderoth and Maystrenko 2013;Grad et al 2009Grad et al , 2014Knapmeyer-Endrun et al 2014;Wilde-Piórko et al 2010;Puziewicz et al 2006;Gregersen et al 2002;Geissler et al 2010). The gravity modeling suggests a very small density value in the uppermost mantle 3.11 g/cm 3 below the younger area of WEP, while for the older area of EEC, it is 3.3 g/cm 3 (e.g., Krysiński et al 2009).…”

The 3D conductive thermal field of the North Alpine Foreland Basin: influence of the deep structure and the adjacent European Alps

“…Furthermore, a seismologically derived LithosphereAsthenosphere Boundary (Fig. 5) has been implemented integrating results of Tesauro (2009), Geissler et al (2010, Karousova et al (2013), Seiberlich et al (2013) and Bianchi et al (2014). The LAB is deepest (up to 150 km bsl) below the Alps, moderately deep (~130 km bsl) below the Bohemian Massif and the Molasse Basin and rises below the Eifel plume (~80 km bsl) in the northwest.…”