2:00 PM - 2:15 PM
[S21-1-02] The depth of the LAB across Cenozoic Europe from seismological studies
In this contribution we shall review the seismological experiments carried out over the last 3 decades across the Cenozoic regions of Central and Western Europe. In particular we will focus on the studies dedicated to ECRIS and the Variscan orogeny, the two most important tectonic features across these active domains.
In order to be able to draw some conclusions on the geodynamic behaviour the complementary methods of seismic tomography, receiver function and SKS-studies are used.
Since more than three decades, detailed seismic studies have been carried out across the Hercynian massives (i.e. the Armorican Massif, the Massif Central, the Vosges-Black Forest mountains, the Eifel region and the Bohemian Massif) and the adjacent graben systems of Cenozoic ages (Limagne graben, the Rhine graben and the Eger graben). These studies suggest that while the depth of the Moho and crustal structures across the grabens are only slightly thinner than the general crustal structure across central Europe, do the Upper mantle structures differ quite strongly. While the Massif Central and the Eifel region are underlain by so-called “Baby plumes", shows the Bohemian Massif a rather broad uplift of the asthenosphere and the southern Rhine graben – once thought as a “classical plume" – a rather negligible “plume" influence. The lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary seems to be rather flat at around 100km depths with a narrow but marked upwarping in some of the regions affected by tertiary volcanism, namely the Massif Central and the Eifel area, where the heat influx and the regional stress pattern seem to be the crucial element.
We shall compare the different regions in the light of the different studies and their geodynamic context.
In order to be able to draw some conclusions on the geodynamic behaviour the complementary methods of seismic tomography, receiver function and SKS-studies are used.
Since more than three decades, detailed seismic studies have been carried out across the Hercynian massives (i.e. the Armorican Massif, the Massif Central, the Vosges-Black Forest mountains, the Eifel region and the Bohemian Massif) and the adjacent graben systems of Cenozoic ages (Limagne graben, the Rhine graben and the Eger graben). These studies suggest that while the depth of the Moho and crustal structures across the grabens are only slightly thinner than the general crustal structure across central Europe, do the Upper mantle structures differ quite strongly. While the Massif Central and the Eifel region are underlain by so-called “Baby plumes", shows the Bohemian Massif a rather broad uplift of the asthenosphere and the southern Rhine graben – once thought as a “classical plume" – a rather negligible “plume" influence. The lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary seems to be rather flat at around 100km depths with a narrow but marked upwarping in some of the regions affected by tertiary volcanism, namely the Massif Central and the Eifel area, where the heat influx and the regional stress pattern seem to be the crucial element.
We shall compare the different regions in the light of the different studies and their geodynamic context.