Descending lithosphere slab beneath the Northwest Dinarides from teleseismic tomography

Abstract

The area of study covers the marginal zone between the Adriatic microplate (African plate) and the Pannonian segment (Eurasian plate). We present a tomography model for this area, with special emphasis on the northwest Dinarides. A dense distribution of temporary seismic stations in the area of the Northern Dinarides along with permanent seismic stations located in the area, allowed us to construct this P-wave tomographic model. We assembled our travel-time dataset based on 26 seismic stations were used to collect the dataset. Teleseismic events were recorded for a period of 18 months and a set of 76 distant earthquakes were used to calculate the P-wave travel-time residuals. We calculated relative rather than absolute arrival-time residuals in the inversion to obtain depths of 0–400km.We imaged a pronounced fast velocity anomaly below the NW Dinarides which directly indicates a lithosphere slab downgoing beneath the Dinarides. This fast anomaly extends towards the NW direction to at least 250km depth, and we interpreted it as a descending lithosphere slab. The thrusting of the Adriatic microplate may be brought about by sub-lithosphere rising movement beneath the Pannonian region, along with a push from African plate. In our interpretation, the Adriatic lower lithosphere has been detached from the crust, and steeply sinks beneath the Dinarides. A lithosphere model of the contact between the Adriatic microplate and Pannonian tectonic segment was constructed based on the tomographic velocity model and results of previous crustal studies.