Description: 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 Tau-P method outside the model domain and continuing the wavefronts 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 stucture 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 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. The data are fully described in Paffrath et al. (2021). The model is provided as tabular data with six columns (1) Longitude (deg), (2) Latitude (deg), (3) Depth (km), (4) vp (km/s), (5) dVp (%), (6) Resolution.
Global identifier:
Doi(
"10.5880/fidgeo.2021.032",
)
Origins: /Wissenschaft/Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft/GFZ
Tags: Geografische Koordinaten ? Seismik ? Geoelektrik ? Daten ? Erdkruste ? Alpen ? Datenbank ? Lithosphäre ? Rückstand ? 4D Mountain Building ? 4DMB ? EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > NATURAL HAZARDS > EARTHQUAKES ? EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > GEOMORPHIC LANDFORMS/PROCESSES > TECTONIC PROCESSES > SUBDUCTION ? EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > TECTONICS > EARTHQUAKES > SEISMIC PROFILE > SEISMIC BODY WAVES ? In Situ Land-based Platforms > GEOPHYSICAL STATIONS/NETWORKS > SEISMOLOGICAL STATIONS ? P-wave ? body waves ? elastic waves ? geological process > seismic activity > earthquake ? monitoring > seismic monitoring ? science > natural science > earth science > geophysics ? tomography ?
License: cc-by/4.0
Language: Englisch/English
Issued: 2021-01-01
Time ranges: 2021-01-01 - 2021-01-01
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