geophysical geological transect and tectonic evolution of the swiss italian alps a complete alpine cross section integrates numerous seismic reflection and refraction profiles across and along strike with published and new field data the deepest parts of the profile are constrained by geophysical data only while structural features at intermediate levels are largely depicted according to the results of three dimensional models making use of seismic and field geological data the geometry of the highest structural levels is constrained by classical along strike projections of field data parallel to the pronounced easterly axial dip of all tectonic units because the transect is placed close to the western erosional margin of the austroalpine nappes of the eastern alps it contains all the major tectonic units of the alps a model for the tectonic evolution along the transect is proposed in the form of scaled and area balanced profile sketches shortening within the austroalpine nappes is testimony of a separate cretaceous age orogenic event west directed thrusting in these units is related to westward propagation of a thrust wedge resulting from continental collision along the meliata hallstatt ocean further to the east considerable amounts of oceanic and continental crustal material were subducted during tertiary orogeny which involved some 500 km of n s convergence between europe and apulia consequently only a very small percentage of this crustal material is preserved within the nappes depicted in the transect postcollisional shortening is characterized by the simultaneous activity of gently dipping north directed detachments and steeply inclined south directed detachments both detachments nucleating at the interface between lower and upper crust large scale wedging of the adriatic or apulian lower crust into a gap opening between the subduced european lower crust and the pile of thin upper crustal flakes alpine nappes indicates a relatively strong lower crust and detachment between upper and lower crust

palinspastic reconstruction and topographic evolution of the eastern alps during late tertiary tectonic extrusion this paper presents a new palinspastic restoration of the eastern alps for neogene time and an attempt to reconstruct the neogene palaeogeology palaeotopography and palaeohydrography in connection with the structural evolution the eastern alps underwent radical horizontal displacement during the neogene due to large strike slip systems and formation of structural windows our palinspastic reconstruction considers a the rearrangement of tectonic units dismembered during tectonic extrusion b the tectonic denudation driven by displacement of the crystalline blocks c geochronological arguments and d the sedimentary record of the syn extrusion basins the rearrangement of tectonic blocks results in a remarkably good fit of highly dismembered zones both in crystalline and sedimentary areas and shows the pre miocene unstretched pattern of the eastern alps reduced to 65 of its present day e w elongation using this structural frame and considering the sedimentary record a set of palaeogeologic and palaeotopographic sketch maps with the palaeo river systems is presented for three time slices pre syn and post extension situation in late oligocene and early miocene times the western eastern alps were already mountainous whereas the eastern part of the orogen formed lowlands or hilly areas enhanced block movement in the course of the extrusion process around the early middle miocene boundary led to the formation of intramontane sedimentary basins and a fault induced reorientation of the drainage pattern which forms the basis of the modern river system in the area east of the tauern window this region where pre miocene land surfaces are preserved probably became a mountainous area not before late miocene time and never reached the elevations of the areas further west

geodynamic models of crustal scale episodic tectonic accretion and underplating in subduction zones we investigate the dynamics of crustal scale episodic accretion at convergent margins using a finite element model of subduction the numerical model incorporates effects from flexure subduction loading and large scale variations in material properties the model is used to assess the influence of these parameters on the discrete transfer of units from the lower to the upper plate during subduction the primary controls investigated are spatial variations in density material strength and thickness of material layers these controls correspond to natural examples where episodic accretion results from the thermal structure of subducting lithosphere giving rise to areas of thermally activated ductile creep attempted subduction of small crustal blocks density frictional and or ductile strength variations interaction between well attached basement blocks and overlying detachable sediments and spatial changes in thickness of sediment and crust in the experiments accretion of small continental terranes within a model subduction zone can cause crustal scale fold nappes and shear zones to develop with accompanying tectonic underplating and or frontal accretion the model results may provide insight into real cases of episodic accretion for example the emplacement of the upper penninic nappe stack of the central alps

prestack waveform inversion of three dimensional seismic data an example from the rock springs uplift wyoming usa abstractapplying seismic inversion to estimate subsurface elastic earth properties for reservoir characterization is a challenge in exploration seismology in recent years waveform based seismic inversions have gained popularity but due to high computational costs their applications are limited and amplitude variation with offset angle inversion is still the current state of the art we have developed a genetic algorithm based prestack seismic waveform inversion methodology by parallelizing at multiple levels and assuming a locally 1d structure such that forward computation of wave equation synthetics is computationally efficient this method is capable of inverting 3d prestack seismic data on parallel computers applying this inversion to a real prestack seismic data volume from the rock springs uplift rsu located in wyoming usa we determined that our method is capable of inverting the data in a reasonable runtime and producing much higher quality results than amplitude variation with offset ang

a geodynamic framework for interpreting crustal scale seismic reflectivity patterns in compressional orogens summary 2 d plane strain finite element models are used to calculate crustal deformation patterns within model compressional orogens and the results are compared with natural examples the fundamental driving mechanism for model deformation is provided by asymmetric detachment and underthrusting of mantle lithosphere with deformation being rooted at the stress singularity where the mantle detaches deformation steps up into the overlying crust and spreads laterally according to the rhcological properties assumed for the crust the crust is modelled using plastic frictional and viscous rheologies and incorporates the effects of compositional layering and variable geothermal gradients overall deformation is determined by balancing the internal strength of the crust against the sum of applied boundary stresses plus the gravitational stress induced by mass redistribution within the deforming orogen the amount of convergence in the models is limited to 150 km or less and so the results are not strictly comparable with larger orogens involving greater convergence nevertheless larger orogens seem to evolve through stages that may be understood in terms of the models provided that consideration is confined to smaller scale components that are limited in time and space the continuum deformation calculated by the finite element models is qualitatively converted to equivalent pattcrns of discrete faults and shear zones by associating these discrete features with the areas of highest cumulative strain using the results of sandbox experiments as guides significant styles of deformation include 1 coupling between step up shears and subhorizontal detachments at one or more levels 2 localization of upper crustal deformation by subduction of the lower crust and 3 pinning of deformation by surface denudation a partial catalogue of such model styles is presented in which the strength of basal coupling between crust and mantle the number of rhcological layers within the crust the thickness of subducted lower crust and the extent of surface denudation are varied systematically compressional orogens with a wide range of ages are characterized by crustal scale seismic reflectivity similar to patterns of fault shear zones represented in this catalogue of styles this similarity suggests that crustalscale seismic reflection data can be used to constrain the dynamic processes involved in compressional orogcnesis

complex images of moho and variation of vp vs across the himalaya and south tibet from a joint receiver function and wide angle reflection approach 1 teleseismic receiver functions rf allow us to image the spatial variation of the crust mantle boundary moho along a tight array spanning from south of the himalayas to the centre of the tibetan plateau this approach is crosstested with wide angle reflection imaging warr highlighted by each of the two independent methods a complex architecture of the moho with dipping and overlapping segments indicating lithospheric imbrication is confirmed the joint use of the two methods reveals an increase of the average crustal p to s wave velocity ratio from south to the centre of the lhasa block this may be due to lowered s wave velocity confined in specific layers that may be interpreted as partial melt this accounts for half of the relative increase in the delay of direct teleseismic s wave arrivals with respect to p wave arrivals from south to north suggesting a similar anomaly in the shallower mantle index terms 0935 exploration geophysics seismic methods 3025 7218 seismology lithosphere and upper mantle 9320 information related to geographic region asia citation galve a m sapin a hirn j diaz j c

scaling relations for composite earthquake models we establish relations between seismic scaling parameters for gen eral distributions of subevents in a composite multiple event model of faulting the radiation from the main seismic event is presumed to be produced by a multitude of smaller earthquakes subevents with a range of source sizes under the composite earthquake hypothesis the seismic moment scaling the depen dence of the seismic moment on the event s size is the same for the large earthquake and all its components if at lowest frequencies the subevent spectra add coherently and at higher frequencies above the corner frequency of the smallest subevent the spectra add incoherently then y 6 2 and a 1 where y is the high frequency spectral fall off 6 determines the scaling of seismic moment m0 with source size r such that mor is constant and o is the frac tion of the total rupture area occupied by subevents in each particular case these relations can be used to verify whether the studied large earthquake is a composite of smaller earthquakes the goal of this article is to establish relations be tween seismic scaling parameters for general distribu tions of subevents in a composite multiple event model of faulting joyner and boore 1986 boatwright 1988 the radiation from the main seismic event is presumed to be produced by a multitude of smaller earthquakes subevents with a range of source sizes under the com posite earthquake hypothesis the seismic moment scal ing the dependence of the seismic moment on the event s size is the same for the large earthquake and all its

present day stress field and deformation in eastern austria we analysed fault plane solutions and borehole breakouts in the eastern part of the eastern alps and found a heterogeneous stress field which we interpret as a transition zone of three different stress provinces the western european stress province with nw to nnw sh orientation and mainly strike slip faulting regime the adriatic stress province with a radial stress pattern and thrust faulting to strike slip faulting regime and the dinaric pannonian stress province with ne sh orientation and strike slip faulting regime the western pannonian basin seems to be a part of the transition zone with wnw to nw sh orientation a stress regime stimulating strike slip faulting prevails in the eastern alps the south bohemian basement spur as a major tectonic structure with a high rheological contrast to surrounding units has a strong influence on the stress field and exhibits the highest seismicity at its tip due to stress concentration from a constructed vertical stress orientation profile we found stress decoupling of the northern calcareous alps from the underlying european foreland both the molasse and the flysch helvetic zone are considered as candidates for decoupling horizons due to stress orientation observations and due to their rheological behaviour from seismological and rheological data we suggest a horizontal stress decoupling across the eastern alps caused by a weakened central alpine lithosphere

seismic images of crust and upper mantle beneath tibet evidence for eurasian plate subduction seismic data from central tibet have been combined to image the subsurface structure and understand the evolution of the collision of india and eurasia the 410 and 660 kilometer mantle discontinuities are sharply defined implying a lack of a subducting slab beneath the plateau the discontinuities appear slightly deeper beneath northern tibet implying that the average temperature of the mantle above the transition zone is about 300 c hotter in the north than in the south there is a prominent south dipping converter in the uppermost mantle beneath northern tibet that might represent the top of the eurasian mantle lithosphere underthrusting the northern margin of the plateau

p wave tomography of the mantle under the alpine mediterranean area 1 we study the upper mantle p wave velocity structure below the euro mediterranean area down to 1000 km depth by seismic travel time tomography we invert summary residuals constructed with both regional and teleseismic first arrival data reported by the international seismological centre isc 1964 1995 introducing some alternative strategies in the travel time tomographic approach and a new scheme to correct teleseismic data for global mantle structure our high resolution model pm0 5 is parameterized with three dimensional 3 d linear splines on a grid of nodes with 0 5 spacing in both horizontal directions and 50 km vertical spacing we obtain about 26 root mean square rms reduction of residuals by inversion in addition to roughly 31 reduction after summary rays formation and selection sensitivity analyses are performed through several test inversions to explore the resolution characteristics of the model at different spatial scales the distribution of large scale fast anomalies suggests that two different stages of a convection process presently coexist in very close regions the mantle dynamics of western central europe is dominated by blockage of subducted slabs at the 660 km discontinuity and ponding of seismically fast material in the transition zone contrarily in the eastern mediterranean fast velocity material sinks into the lower mantle suggesting that the flow of the cold downwelling here is not blocked by the 660 km discontinuity on a smaller scale the existence of tears in the subducted slab lithospheric detachment all along both margins of the adriatic plate as proposed by some authors is not supported by our tomographic images

depth determination of north italian earthquakes using grafenberg data surface reflections such as pp and sp have long been used to determine the source depth of teleseismic events due to difficulties in identifying these phases at single narrow band stations they have rarely been used for regional events correlation over an array of stations and the possibility of applying different filters to broadband data allows such phases to be identified we describe a method to determine the source depth which uses such depth phases at regional distances complete theoretical seismograms are an important aid for the interpretation of these depth phases the method is demonstrated using small events from the lombardia region and large events from friuli northern italy good agreement is achieved with depth determinations by other authors for the friuli events relative source depths are determined very accurately since only time differences need to be compared

avo inversion theory and practice avo inversion is an area of research which attempts to go beyond the qualitative process of avo interpretation currently used to predict the presence of gas in a sand

three dimensional interface modelling with two dimensional seismic data the alpine crust mantle boundary summary we present a new approach to determine the 3 d topography and lateral continuity of seismic interfaces using 2 d derived controlled source seismic reflector data the aim of the approach is to give the simplest possible structure consistent with all reflector data and error estimates we define simplicity of seismic interfaces by the degree of interface continuity i e shortest length of ovsets and by the degree of interface roughness least surface roughness the method is applied to structural information of the crust mantle boundary moho obtained from over 250 controlled source seismic reflection and refraction profiles in the greater alpine region the reflected and refracted phases from the moho interface and their interpretation regarding crustal thickness are reviewed and their reliability weighted weights assigned to each reflector element are transformed to depth errors considering fresnel volumes the 2 d derived reflector elements are relocated in space 3 d migration and interpolation is performed between the observed reflector elements to obtain continuity of model parameters interface ovsets are introduced only where required according to the principle of simplicity the resulting 3 d model of the alpine crust mantle boundary shows two ovsets that divide the interface into a european an adriatic and a ligurian moho with the european moho subducting below the adriatic moho and with the adriatic moho underthrusting the ligurian moho each sub interface depicts the smoothest possible i e simplest surface fitting the reflector data within their assigned errors the results are consistent with previous studies for those regions with dense and reliable controlledsource seismic data the newly derived alpine moho interface however surpasses earlier studies by its lateral extent over an area of about 600 km by 600 km by quantifying reliability estimates along the interface and by obeying the principle of being consistently as simple as possible

footwall uplift in an orogenic wedge the tauern window in the eastern alps of europe abstract in the tauern window tw the deepest structural units of the eastern alps are exposed in a 30 160 km antiform european basement and cover occur under nappes of oceanic penninic units and continental origin austroalpine nappes the tertiary structural history of the tw is related to a rapid uplift of 20 30 km since oligocene times structural mapping revealed 1 detachment and folding of the cover units and stacking of orthogneiss sheets 2 constrictional folding of the entire duplex with amplitudes and half wavelengths of several kilometres 3 backthrusting and backfolding along the northern margin of the tw and 4 displacement along steep dip divergent strike slip faults the strain history is complex and related to all these deformation phases the most uniform structural element is a stretching parallel to the long axis of the tw and its major fold axes strain did not contribute to tw uplift because ductile n s shortening was compensated by e w extension restoration of the tw shows that the exposed structures are not sufficient to explain the tw uplift by analogy with the engadine window and the western alps where seismic data are available a deep seated duplex is suspected the tw uplift is best explained in a dextral transpressive regime

deep structure and kinematics of the northern calcareous alps transalp profile the northern calcareous alps nca of southern bavaria and northern tyrol constitute a carbonate dominated polyphase fold thrust wedge together with its grauwacken zone basement it is the northernmost part of the far travelled upper austroalpine thrust complex of the eastern alps the present geometry developed in several kinematic stages jurassic extensional faults that affected large parts of the nca and their basement originated when the main part of the nca was still located southeast of the central alpine otztal silvretta complex these faults and related facies transitions influenced the later style of detachment of the nca thrust sheets mid to late cretaceous detachment thrust sheet stacking and motion over the central alpine complex are registered in clastic deposits of syntectonic basins the latest cretaceous to cenozoic nne to n directed motion of the nca towards europe in front of the central alpine complex created another set of significant contraction structures which at depth overprinted all previous structures during cretaceous to cenozoic deformation the nca experienced about 80 km of shortening i e about 73 along the transalp profile the european basement and autochthonous mesozoic cover beneath the allochthonous nca thrust sheets and flysch complexes seem to have remained relatively undeformed

determination of the principal directions of azimuthal anisotropy from p wave seismic data in an azimuthally anisotropic medium the principal directions of azimuthal anisotropy are the directions along which the quasi p and the quasi s waves propagate as pure p and s modes when azimuthal anisotropy is induced by oriented vertical fractures imposed on an azimuthally isotropic background two of these principal directions correspond to the directions parallel and perpendicular to the fractures s waves propagating through an azimuthally anisotropic medium are sensitive to the direction of their propagation with respect to the principal directions as a result primary or mode converted multicomponent s wave data are used to obtain the principal directions apart from high acquisition cost processing and interpretation of multicomponent data require a technology that the seismic industry has not fully developed anisotropy detection from conventional p wave data on the other hand has been limited to a few qualitative studies of the amplitude variation with offset avo for different azimutha

a simple approximation to the p wave reflection coefficient and its implication in the inversion of amplitude variation with offset data i derive an approximate formula for the plane p wave reflection coefficient as a function of ray parameter the approximation shows that the behavior of the p wave reflection coefficient at nonnormal angles of incidence is mainly controlled by two parameters 1 rf the fluid fluid reflection coefficient i e the reflection coefficient when the s wave velocities in both media are set to zero and 2 the ratio of the contrast in shear moduli to the average bulk density i also show that the other formulas for the p wave reflection coefficient given by r bortfeld and r shuey can be approximately derived from my formula i give numerical examples to demonstrate the accuracy of the formula using a least squares inversion of theoretical values for the reflection coefficients i demonstrate that in a linear inversion of amplitude versus offset data is better estimated than the contrast in poisson s ratio finally comparing the exact reflection coefficient with shuey s approximation for

present day lithospheric strength of the eastern alps and its relationship to neotectonics 1 we calculate the present day lithospheric strength of the eastern alps along the new reflection seismic profile transalp to examine vertical and lateral strength variations and their implications on neotectonic activity of the eastern alps the large scale geometry of the eastern alps and the spatial distribution of upper and lower crustal layers and the lithospheric mantle is constrained by the deep seismic line two rheological models coupled to a kinematic thermal model that accounts for the thermal evolution of the eastern alps for the last 30 myr are investigated for the present day lithospheric configuration in the eastern alps models with strong model a and weak model b crustal rheologies predict the european and the adriatic plates to be stronger than the central zone of the orogen comprising the region between the inntal fault and the periadriatic fault model a is characterized by a brittle ductile boundary between 14 and 9 km depth and strong coupling of the mechanically strong lower crust to the upper mantle whereas model b suggests the presence of a thick decoupling zone between the upper crust and the upper mantle and a shallower brittle ductile boundary 7 10 km of these end member scenarios model a is in better agreement with neotectonic data including seismicity down to the upper lower crust boundary within the adriatic plate uplift of the central zone of the eastern alps and the southern alps and eastward escape of fault bound blocks such deformation pattern is best explained by lateral extrusion upon north south compression supporting a strong weak strong configuration of tectonic units along the transalp line

collision tectonics in the swiss alps insight from geodynamic modeling this paper compares results from two dimensional finite element dynamic modeling with the kinematic evolution of the swiss alps during the collision phase in particular we investigate the role of inherited lateral strength heterogeneities on orogenesis a number of first order characteristics are directly comparable at crustal scales in the models the entry of continental crust into the convergent margin marks the end of near perfect subduction accretion of material of the subducting plate to the upper plate creates an orogenic wedge on the incoming pro side and initiates a retroshear zone or model backthrust the addition of material to the upper plate builds a bivergent orogen heterogeneities in the pro crust focus shear and lead to the development of nappe structures the combined action of pro shear nappe stacking and retroshear backthrusting uplifts a plug between the two shear zones subsequent focusing of shear along the retroshear zone results in rotation of the plug and overlying units leading to crustal scale backfolds as observed in the swiss alps the model experiments predict features relevant to alpine dynamics including 1 similar crustal thicknesses and exhumation patterns to those observed in the swiss alps today for erosion rates comparable to natural ones 1 mm yr 1 2 continued accretion and subduction of upper crustal fragments allowing high pressure metamorphic conditions 3 tilting and exhumation of lower crust when a midcrustal weak zone is present and 4 shunting of material across the strong lower crustal wedge of the upper plate

receiver function arrays a reflection seismic approach summary the receiver function method rfm is a commonly used technique to study the crustal and upper mantle velocity structure early receiver function rf investigations were performed mostly at individual permanent stations they were focused on crustal structures and later on upper mantle velocity discontinuities 410 km and 660 km discontinuities only recently has research been directed towards the study of the lateral 2 and 3 d variability of major velocity boundaries in the crust and upper mantle by receiver function arrays using temporary and permanent three component short period and broad band seismic stations to improve the signal to noise ratio receiver functions are calculated for individual earthquakes and are then binned moveout corrected and stacked we show that this processing sequence is similar to that applied routinely in exploration seismology therefore existing tools from the near vertical data processing can be adopted for receiver functions velocity analysis tools solutions for static and residual static problems coherence enhancement of seismic phases migration etc the high spatial density of seismic stations of recent and future receiver function experiments provides the opportunity and obligation to use the more sophisticated migration methods full wavefield migration commonly and successfully used in exploration seismics parasynthetics calculated by the finite difference method for simple 2 d crustal models are employed here to test our processing approach and to show the potentials and limitations of stacking and migrating rf data we show that binning normal move out nmo corrections stacking and post stack migration of the synthetic data can reconstruct the models reliably with a high spatial resolution

major crustal features between the harz mountains and the baltic shield derived from receiver functions major crustal features between the harz mountains and the baltic shield derived from receiver functions

crustal structures in the central eastern alpine sector a revision of the available dss data abstract in the alpine sector east of the giudicarie line the investigation of crustal structure is less developed than in the western and central sectors because seismic near vertical reflection nvr profiles are not yet available however it is felt that a revision by a complete homogeneous reinterpretation of several refraction wide angle reflection profiles or deep seismic soundings dss recorded during different phases of the early exploration will help in defining a model of the deep crust and of the moho boundary in the whole area from the central to the eastern alps six interpretative cross sections are proposed as the final output of the seismic modelling as well as a map of the crust mantle boundary the main results of this investigation are the following the lower crust and the moho beneath the northern alps show a fairly homogeneous structure the seismic velocity of the european lower crust is anomalously low while in the north the southward dip of the bottom of the european crust is of about 12 in the center of the investigated area its dip is reduced to about 6 in this zone of flatter moho a complex crust mantle transition is observed the northern strip of the adriatic crust appears highly fragmented into small blocks each block dipping in different directions n ne nw as far as the relationship between the surface tectonic features and the deep crustal structure is concerned it is found that while the edge of the adriatic moho is fairly coincident with the periadriatic lineament in its western sector tonale line it appears to be strongly displaced in the eastern one pustertal line also in the eastern alps in agreement with the interpretation of the european geotraverse crossing eastern swiss alps and lombardian southern alps a wedge of the adriatic lower crust overrides the more ductile european crust protruding northwards beyond the edge of the adriatic moho these results can help to better investigate the complex interactions between the european and adriatic plates as well as to study the relationships between deep and surface structures

a natural and controlled source seismic profile through the eastern alps transalp abstract the combined passive and active seismic transalp experiment produced an unprecedented high resolution crustal image of the eastern alps between munich and venice the european and adriatic mohos em and am respectively are clearly imaged with different seismic techniques near vertical incidence reflections and receiver functions rfs the european moho dips gently southward from 35 km beneath the northern foreland to a maximum depth of 55 km beneath the central part of the eastern alps whereas the adriatic moho is imaged primarily by receiver functions at a relatively constant depth of about 40 km in both data sets we have also detected first order alpine shear zones such as the helvetic detachment inntal fault and sub tauern ramp in the north apart from the valsugana thrust receiver functions in the southern part of the eastern alps have also observed a north dipping interface which may penetrate the entire adriatic crust adriatic crust interface aci deep crustal seismicity may be related to the aci we interpret the aci as the currently active retroshear zone in the doubly vergent alpine collisional belt

upper mantle structure beneath the alpine orogen from high resolution teleseismic tomography 1 to understand the evolution of the alpine orogen knowledge of the actual structure of the lithosphere asthenosphere system is important we perform high resolution teleseismic tomography with manually picked p wave arrival times from seismograms recorded in the greater alpine region the resulting data set consists of 4199 relative p wave arrivals and 499 absolute p wave arrivals from 76 teleseismic events corrected for the contribution of the alpine crust to the travel times the three dimensional 3 d crustal model established from controlled source seismology data for that purpose represents the large scale alpine crustal structure absolute p wave arrival times are used to compute an initial reference model for the inversion tests with synthetic data document that the combination of nonlinear inversion high quality teleseismic data and usage of an a priori 3 d crustal model allows a reliable resolution of cells at 50 km 50 km 30 km hence structures as small as two cells can be resolved in the upper mantle our tomographic images illuminate the structure of the uppermost mantle to depth of 400 km along strike of the alps the inversion reveals a high velocity structure that dips toward the se beneath the adriatic microplate in the western and central alps in the eastern alps we observe a northeastward dipping feature subducting beneath the european plate we interpret this feature in the western and central alps as subducted mainly continental european lower lithosphere for the east we propose that parts of the vardar oceanic basin were subducted toward the ne forcing continental adriatic lower lithosphere to subduct northeastward beneath the european plate

the arc of the western alps in the light of geophysical data on deep crustal structure recently two international deep seismic campaigns in the western and central alps etude continentale et oceanique par reflexion et refraction sismique progetto strategico crosta profonda ecors crop roure et al 1996b and national research program 20 nrp 20 pfiffner et al 1997 have been completed here we present a synoptic interpretation of the wealth of geophysical data about deep crustal structure of the alps collected during the past 40 years including the two above mentioned geophysical projects the tectonic reinterpretation of the ecors crop high resolution seismic transect is based on an evaluation of the deep crustal structure by integrating new and literature data on surface geology combined with previously published interpretations regarding the central alps schmid et al 1996 this study reveals substantial differences in geometry and kinematics between transects across the western and central alps respectively at depth the transition between the central and western alps is marked by the western limits of an adriatic lower crustal wedge shaped structure and the northeastern limits of a similar structure made of european lower crustal material at the surface it coincides with a corridor of dextral strike slip along the tonale and simplon lines in addition the thickness of the seismogenic zone shows a remarkable variation from over 40 km beneath the penninic realm of the western alps to less than 20 km in the central alps the formation of the western alpine arc was initiated during convergence and collision before 35 myr ago when the adriatic micro plate moving northward with respect to the european foreland caused sinistral transpression in the western alps while the central and eastern alps underwent head on convergence and collision during the post collisional stage i e after 35 myr ago the arcuate shape of the western alps was accentuated by wnw directed movement and anticlockwise rotation of the adriatic microplate decoupled from the central and eastern alps along the tonale simplon dextral shear zone this led to wedging of lower crustal slices both in the western alps and in the central alps the new tectonic interpretation of the ecors crop transect allows a kinematic model to be established for crustal shortening in the western alps during the past 35 myr the ivrea mantle plays the role of a backstop in our tectonic model we distinguish three episodes of post collisional crustal shortening along the ecors crop transect from 35 to 30 ma the brianconnais basement was back thrusted over the gran paradiso units leading to 30 km of crustal shortening first episode in the early miocene movements concentrated mainly along the penninic frontal thrust and resulted in about 60 km shortening second episode post 12 ma shortening within the external massifs is associated with folding in the jura mountains when the crust was shortened by an additional 30 km third episode

present state of tectonic stress of the friuli area eastern southern alps stress orientations are determined for the friuli area from focal mechanisms using the inversion technique of gephart and forsyth 1984 the data consist of 244 fault plane solutions selected for the period 1988 1995 where the data coverage was poor this period was extended to 1978 1996 local magnitude ranges from 2 0 to 4 3 and the depths extend from 4 to 16 km the friuli area is subdivided into five seismotectonic zones on the basis of tectonic characteristics seismic activity and focal mechanisms and for each zone a stress tensor is determined the results show that the active tectonic stress in the friuli area is heterogeneous and conditioned by the complex structural pattern which is characterized by two indented tectonic wedges the western and central parts of the area are mainly affected by a compressional state of stress while in the eastern part a strike slip state of stress prevails the orientation of the principal stresses varies from the western to the eastern part of the area and differences are also noticeable with depth in the central part of the friuli area the maximum compressional stress is n s trending at shallow depths 10 km changing to nw se at deeper levels the maximum compressional stress is nw se oriented in the western part while in the eastern part it is n s oriented

high resolution teleseismic tomography of upper mantle structure using an a priori three dimensional crustal model summary the effect of an a priori known 3 d crustal model in teleseismic tomography of upper mantle structure is investigated we developed a 3 d crustal p wave velocity model for the greater alpine region encompassing the central and western alps and the northern apennines to estimate the crustal contribution to teleseismic traveltimes the model is constructed by comparative use of published information from active and passive seismic surveys the model components are chosen to represent the present large scale alpine crustal structure and for their significant effect on the propagation of seismic wavefields they are first order structures such as the crust mantle boundary sedimentary basins and the high velocity ivrea body teleseismic traveltime residuals are calculated for a realistic distribution of azimuths and distances by coupling a finite difference technique to the iasp91 traveltime tables residuals are produced for a synthetic upper mantle model featuring two slab structures and the 3 d crustal model on top of it the crustal model produces traveltime residuals in the range between 0 7 and 1 5 s that vary strongly as a function of backazimuth and epicentral distance we find that the non linear inversion of the synthetic residuals without correcting for the 3 d crustal structure erroneously maps the crustal anomalies into the upper mantle correction of the residuals for crustal structure before inversion properly recovers the synthetic slab structures placed in the upper mantle we conclude that with the increasing amount of high quality seismic traveltime data correction for near surface structure is essential for increasing resolution in tomographic images of upper mantle structure

transalp cross line recording during the seismic reflection transect in the eastern alps abstract cross line recording formed a companion experiment of the transalp seismic reflection transect through the eastern alps conducted by partner institutions from austria germany and italy in three field campaigns in the period fall 1998 to fall 1999 besides of the originally expected three dimensional control for the north south running main transect additional information on seismic anisotropy and alternative images of crucial parts of the main transect could be gained conventionally processed sections along n s running common midpoint cmp binning lines confirm and strengthen the predominance of midcrustal reflective structures of the sub tauern ramp beneath and south of the tauern window velocity analysis of the first arrivals exhibit about 10 higher velocities in east west propagating p waves compatible with texture dominated rock anisotropy recorded on cross lines at the tauern window pre stack depth migration of cross line recordings shows dominant south dip of the sub tauern ramp with easterly dip components and a sub horizontal root zone of the sub dolomites ramp

first deep seismic reflection images of the eastern alps reveal giant crustal wedges and transcrustal ramps 1 the alps are considered as a classical example for an orogen created by continental plate collision in this study we present new images obtained from deep seismic reflection profiling in the eastern alps between munich and venice which give rise to examine and revise existing concepts the seismic sections exhibit a prominent bi verging reflection pattern at crustal scale a major ramp like structure outcropping at the inn valley fault can be traced southward over 80 km into the mountain root where relics of the subducted penninic ocean are expected new models of the evolution of the eastern alps show an upper lower crustal decoupling along transcrustal thrust faults with opposite thrust directions of both the european and the adriatic african continents

dynamics of sediment subduction accretion at convergent margins short term modes long term deformation and tectonic implications a conceptual model is proposed for the short term operation of subduction accretion systems at convergent margins the operation is described in terms of the mass fluxes among the four system components namely the accretionary or prowedge wedge p an uplifted plug u a retrowedge r and the subduction zone the latter consists of a conduit c of slowly moving and deforming material and an underlying subduction channel where material moves and deforms more rapidly a broad range of convergent margin types can be accommodated within the conceptual model framework with differing short term modes that depend on which of the p u r c components that are active finite element geodynamical model experiments are used to investigate whether these modes are dynamically feasible these experiments determine excitation of modes under controls that include model entry and exit mass fluxes flexural loading by accreted material and slab pull forces boundary velocities corresponding to subduction and subduction zone advance retreat distribution thickness and density of accreted sediment and internal frictional properties of the coulomb sediments that all modes with the exception of p in which only a prowedge is created are seen in the models provides support for the concepts and allows conditions that favor particular modes to be recognized in addition the finite deformation predicted by the models is used to infer the long term tectonic styles associated with both single mode evolutions and those that exhibit mode switching a steady state mass balance can occur for modes 0 pure subduction p c i e where components p and c are active or other modes when the surface mass denudation plus the subduction flux balances accretion plus tectonic underplating the p c mode is favored by subduction zone retreat and or an increasing subduction load and creates an apparent landward dipping backstop p u c is predicted to be the most common mode and it creates an apparent seaward dipping backstop p u r c is an inefficient mode but is favored by easily detached retrocrust or sediment and or a decreasing subduction load

balancing cross sections with kinematic constraints the dolomites northern italy balancing of structural cross sections is often hindered by a limited database or tectonic complications in such cases kinematic constraints may help to better constrain the construction of a cross section and its extrapolation to depth the kinematic implications of a known structure generally at the surface have to be considered for the unknown structure and for the internal consistency of a cross section a key point is the quantification of shortening of the known structure the extrapolation of this parameter allows balancing in an approximate way emphasizing major structures while minor structures are either neglected or treated in a simplified way with this approach a quick overview can be achieved on how much leeway for interpretation exists critical points for testing various working hypotheses become more evident and the trial and error effort during the construction of a balanced section is considerably shortened still the implications the observed structures have on the deeper crustal levels can be assessed this concept is applied to a section across the italian dolomites a brittle fold and thrust belt lacking reflection seismic data so far and thus with a poorly known deep structure still active south vergent alpine thrusting is oriented approximately perpendicular to previous dinaric thrusting the ramp flat style is dominant due to rheological constrasts within the stratigraphic sequence thanks to kinematic balancing based on surface data three alpine thrust systems could be identified each defining a thrust sheet with its particular basement unit and its sedimentary part superposition of the two more external basement units led to the presently observed high elevation of the triassic sequence in the dolomites shortening since late miocene times amounts to more than 50 km retrodeformation of alpine thrusting is a key for better understanding the previous dinaric structures and kinematics

amplitude versus offset variations in gas sands seismic reflections from gas sands exhibit a wide range of amplitude versus offset avo characteristics the two factors that most strongly determine the avo behavior of a gas sand reflection are the normal incidence reflection coefficient r0 and the contrast in poisson s ratio at the reflector of these two factors r0 is the least constrained based on their avo characteristics gas sand reflectors can be grouped into three classes defined in terms of r0 at the top of the gas sand class 1 gas sands have higher impedance than the encasing shale with relatively large positive values for r0 class 2 gas sands have nearly the same impedance as the encasing shale and are characterized by values of r0 near zero class 3 sands have lower impedance than the encasing shale with negative large magnitude values for r0 each of these sand classes has a distinct avo characteristic an example of a gas sand from each of the three classes is presented in the paper the class 1 example involves a hartshorn channel s