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The structure of the lithosphere is reflecting its evolution. The Moho of the European lithosphere has already been studied intensively. This is, however, not yet the case for the lower boundary of the lithosphere, that is the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB). We are using S-to-P converted seismic waves to study the structures of the Moho and the LAB beneath Europe including the greater Alpine Area with data from the AlpArray project and the European networks of permanent seismic stations. We use plain waveform stacking of converted waves without deconvolution and compare the results with stacking of deconvolved traces. We also compare Moho depths determinations using S-to-P converted waves with those obtained by other seismic methods. We present more detailed information about negative velocity gradients (NVG) below the Moho. Its lower bound may be interpreted as representing the LAB. We found that the thickness of the European mantle lithosphere is increasing from about 50°N towards the Alps along the entire east–west extension of the Alps. The NVG has also an east dipping component towards the Pannonian Basin and the Bohemian Massif. The Alps and their northern foreland north of about 50°N are surrounded in the east, west and north by a north dipping mantle lithosphere. Along 50°N, where the NVG is reversing its dip direction towards the north, is also the area along which the volcanoes of the European Cenozoic Rift System are located. Our results possibly indicate that the Alpine collision has deformed the entire lithosphere of the Alpine foreland as far north as about 50°N. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[1] The Sava Zone of the northern Dinarides is part of the Cenozoic Adria-Europe plate boundary. Here Late Cretaceous subduction of remnants of Meliata-Vardar oceanic lithosphere led to the formation of a suture, across which upper plate European-derived units of Tisza-Dacia were juxtaposed with Adria-derived units of the Dinarides. Late Cretaceous siliciclastic sediments, deposited on the Adriatic plate, were incorporated into an accretionary wedge that evolved during the initial stages of continent-continent collision. Structurally deeper parts of the exposed accretionary wedge underwent amphibolite-grade metamorphism. Grt-P1Ms-Bt thermobarometry and multiphase equilibria indicate temperatures between 550[degrees]C and 630[degrees]C and pressures between 5 and 7 kbar for this event. Peak metamorphic conditions were reached at around 65 Ma. Relatively slow cooling from peak metamorphic conditions throughout most of the Paleogene was possibly induced by hanging wall erosion in conjunction with southwest directed propagation of thrusting in the Dinarides. Accelerated cooling took place in Miocene times, when the Sava Zone underwent substantial extension that led to the exhumation of the metamorphosed units along a low-angle detachment. Footwall exhumation started under greenschist facies conditions and was associated with top-to-the-north tectonic transport, indicating exhumation from below European plate units. Extension postdates the emplacement of a 27 Ma old granitoid that underwent solid-state deformation under greenschist facies conditions. The [sup.40][Ar/.sup.39] Ar sericite and zircon and apatite fission track ages from the footwall allow bracketing this extensional unroofing between 25 and 14 Ma. This extension is hence linked to Miocene rift-related subsidence in the Pannonian basin, which represents a back-arc basin formed due to subduction rollback in the Carpathians. Citation: Ustaszewski, K., A. Kounov, S. M. Schmid, U. Schaltegger, E. Krenn, W. Frank, and B. Fugenschuh (2010), Evolution of the Adria-Europe plate boundary in the northern Dinarides: From continent-continent collision to back-arc extension, Tectonics, 29, TC6017, doi: 10.1029/2010TC002668.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.06.002 Byline: Mark R. Handy (a), Stefan M. Schmid (a)(c), Romain Bousquet (b), Eduard Kissling (c), Daniel Bernoulli (d) Keywords: Tethys; Alps; Mediterranean; plate motion; subduction Abstract: A new reconstruction of Alpine Tethys combines plate-kinematic modelling with a wealth of geological data and seismic tomography to shed light on its evolution, from sea-floor spreading through subduction to collision in the Alps. Unlike previous models, which relate the fate of Alpine Tethys solely to relative motions of Africa, Iberia and Europe during opening of the Atlantic, our reconstruction additionally invokes independent microplates whose motions are constrained primarily by the geological record. The motions of these microplates (Adria, Iberia, Alcapia, Alkapecia, and Tiszia) relative to both Africa and Europe during Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic time involved the subduction of remnant Tethyan basins during the following three stages that are characterized by contrasting plate motions and driving forces: (1) 131-84Ma intra-oceanic subduction of the Ligurian part of Alpine Tethys attached to Iberia coincided with Eo-alpine orogenesis in the Alcapia microplate, north of Africa. These events were triggered primarily by foundering of the older (170-131Ma) Neotethyan subduction slab along the NE margin of the composite African-Adriatic plate; subduction was linked by a sinistral transform system to E-W opening of the Valais part of Alpine Tethys; (2) 84-35Ma subduction of primarily the Piemont and Valais parts of Alpine Tethys which were then attached to the European plate beneath the overriding African and later Adriatic plates. NW translation of Adria with respect to Africa was accommodated primarily by slow widening of the Ionian Sea; (3) 35Ma-Recent rollback subduction of the Ligurian part of Alpine Tethys coincided with Western Alpine orogenesis and involved the formation of the Gibraltar and Calabrian arcs. Rapid subduction and arc formation were driven primarily by the pull of the gravitationally unstable, retreating Adriatic and African slabs during slow convergence of Africa and Europe. The upper European-Iberian plate stretched to accommodate this slab retreat in a very mobile fashion, while the continental core of the Adriatic microplate acted as a rigid indenter within the Alpine collisional zone. The subducted lithosphere in this reconstruction can be correlated with slab material imaged by seismic tomography beneath the Alps and Apennines, as well as beneath parts of the Pannonian Basin, the Adriatic Sea, the Ligurian Sea, and the Western Mediterranean. The predicted amount of subducted lithosphere exceeds the estimated volume of slab material residing at depth by some 10-30%, indicating that parts of slabs may be superposed within the mantle transition zone and/or that some of this subducted lithosphere became seismically transparent. Author Affiliation: (a) Institut fur Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universitat Berlin, Malteserstrasse 74-100, D-12249 Berlin, Germany (b) Institut fur Geowissenschaften, Universitat Potsdam, Postfach 601553, D-14415 Potsdam, Germany (c) Institut fur Geophysik, ETH-Zentrum, Sonneggstrasse 5, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland (d) Geologisch-Palaontologisches Institut, Universitat Basel, Bernoullistrasse 32, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland Article History: Received 23 November 2008; Accepted 1 June 2010

The investigated HP/LT metasedimentary units of the Valaisan and adjacent European domains occupy a key position in the Alpine belt for understanding the transition from early subduction-related HP/LT metamorphism to collision-related Barrovian overprint and the evolution of mountain belts in general. The timing of high-pressure metamorphism, subsequent retrogression and following Barrow-type overprint was studied by [sup.40]Ar/[sup.39]Ar dating of biotite and several white mica generations that are well characterized in terms of mineral chemistry, texture and associated mineral assemblages. Four distinct age populations of white mica record peak pressure conditions (42-40 Ma) and several stages of subsequent retrograde metamorphic evolution (36-25 Ma). Biotite isotopic analyses yield consistent apparent ages that cluster around 18-16 Ma for the Barrow-type thermal overprint. The recorded isotopic data reveal a significant time gap in the order of some 20 Ma between subduction-related HP/LT metamorphism and collision-related Barrovian overprint, supporting the notion of a polymetamorphic evolution associated with a bimodal P-T path. Citation: Wiederkehr, M., M. Sudo, R. Bousquet, A. Berger, and S. M. Schmid (2009), Alpine orogenic evolution from subduction to collisional thermal overprint: The 40Ar/39Ar age constraints from the Valaisan Ocean, central Alps, Tectonics, 28, TC6009, doi: 10.1029/2009TC002496.

This study investigates spatial and temporal interactions of thin- and thick-skinned tectonics in a classical foreland setting located at the front of the Jura fold-and-thrust belt in eastern France. The working area coincides with the intracontinental Rhine-Bresse Transfer Zone and represents the most external front of the deformed Alpine foreland. The investigation combines analyses of largely unpublished and newly available subsurface information with our own structural data, including an exhaustive paleostress analysis and geomorphologic observations. Results are provided in the form of a new tectonic map and a series of regional cross sections through the study area. The Besancon Zone, forming the most external part of the thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belt, encroached onto the Eo-Oligocene Rhine-Bresse Transfer Fault System until early Pliocene times. Thrust propagation was largely controlled by the Late Paleozoic to Paleogene preexisting fault pattern that characterizes the Rhine-Bresse Transfer Zone. Thick-skinned deformation, dominant throughout the Avant-Monts Zone located farther to the west, was associated with compressional to transpressional reactivation of such faults. Overprinting and crosscutting criteria of fault slip data allow distinguishing between systematically fanning maximum horizontal stress axes that define the front of the thin-skinned Jura fold-and-thrust belt and consistently NW--SE directed maximum horizontal stress axes that characterize deformation of the autochthonous cover of the foreland, which is affected by thick-skinned tectonics. Tectonic and geomorphic analyses indicate that thick-skinned tectonics started at a very late stage of foreland deformation (post-early Pliocene). Geomorphic observations imply that deformation between Mesozoic cover and basement is locally still decoupled. However, overprinting relationships and recent seismicity suggest that present-day tectonic activity is thick skinned, which probably reflects ongoing tectonic underplating in the Alpine foreland.

[1] This study investigates the formation of the northernmost anticlines of the late Miocene to early Pliocene thin-skinned Jura fold-and-thrust belt and provides evidence that a transition to thick-skinned tectonics did occur in this particular area during the late Pliocene. The northernmost anticlines of the Jura fold-and-thrust belt are characterized by pronounced along-strike asymmetries that were predetermined by a fault pattern inherited from Paleogene Upper Rhine Graben rifting. This fault pattern had disrupted the Triassic basal decollement of the Jura Mountains and controlled the nucleation of thrusts and folds, as well as transfer zones during the generally (N)NW directed transport of the detached sedimentary cover. Sinistral, transpressive oblique ramps nucleated along Paleogene, NNE trending basement normal faults and led to a northward protrusion of the Jura front, encroaching onto the southernmost Upper Rhine Graben. Shortening across the frontal anticlines is greatest along the oblique ramps and decreases along strike toward the east, necessitating a gentle clockwise rotation of the detached sediments. Despite the fact that the stress field in the sedimentary cover remained unchanged, thin-skinned folding and thrusting came to a halt in the early Pliocene, giving way to thick-skinned tectonics, very probably governing neotectonic activity in the area. This transition might represent a geodynamic reorganization of the northwestern Alpine foreland. Citation: Ustaszewski, K., and S. M. Schmid (2006), Control of preexisting faults on geometry and kinematics in the northernmost part of the Jura fold-and-thrust belt, Tectonics, 25, TC5003, doi: 10.1029/2005TC001915.

The Neogene Simplon fault zone is commonly either considered as a transfer zone for dextral strike-slip movements during oblique convergence or as a core complex-type normal fault leading to orogen-parallel extension in the Alps. There is, however, evidence that the Simplon fault zone lacks a southeastward continuation. On the basis of new structural and fission-track data, we propose a model of oblique indentation of a bent Adriatic indenter leading to the formation of a curved continuous wedge of backfolds in the south, not including a southern continuation of the Simplon fault zone. Updoming related to backfolding, followed by erosion, assisted exhumation of amphibolite facies rocks. In the north, indentation led to differential shortening in the footwall and hanging wall. Keywords: Simplon fault zone, indentation tectonics, backfolding, metamorphic domes.

Accuracy of hypocenter location, in particular focal depth, is a precondition for high‐resolution seismotectonic analysis of natural and induced seismicity. For instance, linking seismicity with mapped fault segments requires hypocenter accuracy at the sub‐kilometer scale. In this study, we demonstrate that inaccurate velocity models and improper phase selection can bias absolute hypocenter locations and location uncertainties, resulting in errors larger than the targeted accuracy. To avoid such bias in densely instrumented seismic networks, we propose a coupled hypocenter‐velocity inversion procedure restricted to direct, first‐arriving, mainly upper‐crustal Pg and Sg phases. On the basis of synthetic tests and selected ground‐truth events we demonstrate that a sub‐kilometer hypocenter accuracy can be achieved by regional‐scale, three‐dimensional Pg and Sg velocity models combined with dynamic phase selection and a non‐linear location algorithm. The tomographic inversion uses about 60,000 Pg and 30,000 Sg quality‐checked phases of local earthquakes in the Central Alps region. The derived models image the VP and VS structure of the Central Alps upper crust at unprecedented resolution, including small‐scale anomalies such as those caused by Subalpine Molasse units below the Alpine front. The relocation procedure is applied to more than 18,000 earthquakes and the relocated hypocenters reveal previously unrecognized seismogenic structures, for instance in the Swiss Molasse basin south of Bern. The ML 4.6 Urnerboden earthquake of 2017 is used as an example to demonstrate how the derived 3D velocity structure and relocated hypocenters can be jointly interpreted to constrain the lithology hosting upper‐crustal seismicity in the Central Alps. Plain Language Summary: To better understand how mountain belts like the European Alps presently deform and what are the plate‐tectonic forces driving this deformation requires accurate knowledge of the location of earthquakes within these continental collision zones. In this study, we achieve an accuracy of less than a kilometer for earthquake locations in Switzerland, based on detailed knowledge of the subsurface structure of the Earth's crust. We use three‐dimensional tomographic imaging methods to improve subsurface structural models of the Central Alps. These models also provide new insights into the geological structure of this mountain range and in combination with the improved earthquake locations allow for detailed studies of present‐day tectonic processes. Key Points: Sub‐kilometer hypocenter accuracy is achieved with dynamically selected Pg and Sg phases, in combination with 3D crustal velocity modelsNew 3D VP and VS models image the upper crust of the Central Alps region at unprecedented resolutionJoint interpretation of relocated hypocenters and seismic velocities can constrain lithologies hosting seismicity in the Central Alps [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on recent results of AlpArray, we propose a new model of Alpine collision that involves subduction and detachment of thick (∼ 180 km) European lithosphere. Our approach combines teleseismic P-wave tomography and existing local earthquake tomography (LET), allowing us to image the Alpine slabs and their connections with the overlying orogenic lithosphere at an unprecedented resolution. The images call into question the conventional notion that downward-moving lithosphere and slabs comprise only seismically fast lithosphere. We propose that the European lithosphere is heterogeneous, locally containing layered positive and negative Vp anomalies of up to 5 %–6 %. We attribute this layered heterogeneity to seismic anisotropy and/or compositional differences inherited from the Variscan and pre-Variscan orogenic cycles rather than to thermal anomalies. The lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) of the European Plate therefore lies below the conventionally defined seismological LAB. In contrast, the lithosphere of the Adriatic Plate is thinner and has a lower boundary approximately at the base of strong positive Vp anomalies at 100–120 km. Horizontal and vertical tomographic slices reveal that beneath the central and western Alps, the European slab dips steeply to the south and southeast and is only locally still attached to the Alpine lithosphere. However, in the eastern Alps and Carpathians, this slab is completely detached from the orogenic crust and dips steeply to the north to northeast. This along-strike change in attachment coincides with an abrupt decrease in Moho depth below the Tauern Window, the Moho being underlain by a pronounced negative Vp anomaly that reaches eastward into the Pannonian Basin area. This negative Vp anomaly is interpreted as representing hot upwelling asthenosphere that heated the overlying crust, allowing it to accommodate Neogene orogen-parallel lateral extrusion and thinning of the ALCAPA tectonic unit (upper plate crustal edifice of Alps and Carpathians) to the east. A European origin of the northward-dipping, detached slab segment beneath the eastern Alps is likely since its down-dip length matches estimated Tertiary shortening in the eastern Alps accommodated by originally south-dipping subduction of European lithosphere. A slab anomaly beneath the Dinarides is of Adriatic origin and dips to the northeast. There is no evidence that this slab dips beneath the Alps. The slab anomaly beneath the Northern Apennines, also of Adriatic origin, hangs subvertically and is detached from the Apenninic orogenic crust and foreland. Except for its northernmost segment where it locally overlies the southern end of the European slab of the Alps, this slab is clearly separated from the latter by a broad zone of low Vp velocities located south of the Alpine slab beneath the Po Basin. Considered as a whole, the slabs of the Alpine chain are interpreted as highly attenuated, largely detached sheets of continental margin and Alpine Tethyan oceanic lithosphere that locally reach down to a slab graveyard in the mantle transition zone (MTZ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the frame of the AlpArray project we analyse teleseismic data from permanent and temporary stations of the Alpine region to study seismic discontinuities down to about 140 km depth. We average broadband teleseismic S-waveform data to retrieve S-to-P converted signals from below the seismic stations. In order to avoid processing artefacts, no deconvolution or filtering is applied, and S arrival times are used as reference for stacking. We show a number of north–south and east-west profiles through the Alpine area. The Moho signals are always seen very clearly, and negative velocity gradients below the Moho depth are also visible in a number of profiles. A Moho depression is visible along larger parts of the Alpine chain. It reaches its largest depth of 60 km beneath the Tauern Window. However, the Moho depression ends abruptly near about 13 ∘ E below the eastern Tauern Window. This Moho depression may represent the crustal trench, where the Eurasian lithosphere is subducted below the Adriatic lithosphere. East of 13 ∘ E an important along-strike change occurs; the image of the Moho changes completely. No Moho deepening is found in this easterly region; instead the Moho bends up along the contact between the European and the Adriatic lithosphere all the way to the Pannonian Basin. An important along-strike change was also detected in the upper mantle structure at about 14 ∘ E. There, the lateral disappearance of a zone of negative velocity gradient in the uppermost mantle indicates that the S-dipping European slab laterally terminates east of the Tauern Window in the axial zone of the Alps. The area east of about 13 ∘ E is known to have been affected by severe late-stage modifications of the structure of crust and uppermost mantle during the Miocene when the ALCAPA (Alpine, Carpathian, Pannonian) block was subject to E-directed lateral extrusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform a teleseismic P-wave travel-time tomography to examine the geometry and structure of subducted lithosphere in the upper mantle beneath the Alpine orogen. The tomography is based on waveforms recorded at over 600 temporary and permanent broadband stations of the dense AlpArray Seismic Network deployed by 24 different European institutions in the greater Alpine region, reaching from the Massif Central to the Pannonian Basin and from the Po Plain to the river Main. Teleseismic travel times and travel-time residuals of direct teleseismic P waves from 331 teleseismic events of magnitude 5.5 and higher recorded between 2015 and 2019 by the AlpArray Seismic Network are extracted from the recorded waveforms using a combination of automatic picking, beamforming and cross-correlation. The resulting database contains over 162 000 highly accurate absolute P-wave travel times and travel-time residuals. For tomographic inversion, we define a model domain encompassing the entire Alpine region down to a depth of 600 km. Predictions of travel times are computed in a hybrid way applying a fast TauP method outside the model domain and continuing the wave fronts into the model domain using a fast marching method. We iteratively invert demeaned travel-time residuals for P-wave velocities in the model domain using a regular discretization with an average lateral spacing of about 25 km and a vertical spacing of 15 km. The inversion is regularized towards an initial model constructed from a 3D a priori model of the crust and uppermost mantle and a 1D standard earth model beneath. The resulting model provides a detailed image of slab configuration beneath the Alpine and Apenninic orogens. Major features are a partly overturned Adriatic slab beneath the Apennines reaching down to 400 km depth still attached in its northern part to the crust but exhibiting detachment towards the southeast. A fast anomaly beneath the western Alps indicates a short western Alpine slab whose easternmost end is located at about 100 km depth beneath the Penninic front. Further to the east and following the arcuate shape of the western Periadriatic Fault System, a deep-reaching coherent fast anomaly with complex internal structure generally dipping to the SE down to about 400 km suggests a slab of European origin limited to the east by the Giudicarie fault in the upper 200 km but extending beyond this fault at greater depths. In its eastern part it is detached from overlying lithosphere. Further to the east, well-separated in the upper 200 km from the slab beneath the central Alps but merging with it below, another deep-reaching, nearly vertically dipping high-velocity anomaly suggests the existence of a slab beneath the eastern Alps of presumably the same origin which is completely detached from the orogenic root. Our image of this slab does not require a polarity switch because of its nearly vertical dip and full detachment from the overlying lithosphere. Fast anomalies beneath the Dinarides are weak and concentrated to the northernmost part and shallow depths. Low-velocity regions surrounding the fast anomalies beneath the Alps to the west and northwest follow the same dipping trend as the overlying fast ones, indicating a kinematically coherent thick subducting lithosphere in this region. Alternatively, these regions may signify the presence of seismic anisotropy with a horizontal fast axis parallel to the Alpine belt due to asthenospheric flow around the Alpine slabs. In contrast, low-velocity anomalies to the east suggest asthenospheric upwelling presumably driven by retreat of the Carpathian slab and extrusion of eastern Alpine lithosphere towards the east while low velocities to the south are presumably evidence of asthenospheric upwelling and mantle hydration due to their position above the European slab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]