A Crustal Model for the Eastern Alps Region and a New Moho Map in Southeastern Europe

Abstract

In the last two decades, south-central Europe and the Eastern Alps have been widely explored by many seismic refraction experiments (e.g., CELEBRATION 2000, ALP 2002, SUDETES 2003). Although quite detailed images are available along linear profiles, a comprehensive, three-dimensional crustal model of the region is still missing. This limitation makes this region a weak spot in continental-wide comprehensive representations of crustal structure. To improve on this situation, we select and collect 37 published active-source seismic lines in this region. After geo-referencing each line, we sample them along vertical profiles—every 50 km or less along the line—and derive P-wave velocities in a stack of homogeneous layers (separated by discontinuities: depth of crystalline basement, top of lower crust, and Moho). We finally merge the information using geostatistical methods, and infer S-wave velocity and density using empirical scaling relations. We present here the resulting crustal model for a region encompassing the Eastern Alps, Dinarides, Pannonian basin, Western Carpathians and Bohemian Massif, covering the region within \(45^{\circ}\text{--}51^{\circ}\hbox{N}\) and \(11^{\circ} \text{--} 22^{\circ}\hbox{E}\) with a resolution of \(0.2^{\circ} \times 0.2^{\circ}.\) We are also able to extend and update the map of Moho depth in a wider region within \(35^{\circ}\text{--}51^{\circ}\hbox{N}\) and \(12^{\circ}\text{--}45^{\circ}\hbox{E},\) gathering Moho values from the collected seismic lines, other published dataset and using the European plate reference EPcrust as a background. All the digitized profiles and the resulting model are available online.