EPcrust: a reference crustal model for the European Plate

Abstract

We present a new crustal model for the European Plate, derived from collection and critical integration of information selected from the literature. The model covers the whole European Plate from North Africa to the North Pole (20°N–90°N) and from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the Urals (40°W–70°E). The chosen parametrization represents the crust in three layers (sediments, upper crust and lower crust), and describes the 3-D geometry of the interfaces and seismologically relevant parameters—isotropic P- and S-wave velocity, plus density—with a resolution of 0.5°× 0.5° on a geographical latitude–longitude grid. We selected global and local models, derived from geological assumptions, active seismic experiments, surface wave studies, noise correlation, receiver functions. Model EPcrust presents significant advantages with respect to previous models: it covers the whole European Plate; it is a complete and internally-consistent model (with all the parameters provided, also for the sedimentary layer); it is reproducible; it is easy to update in the future by adding new contributions; and it is available in a convenient digital format. EPcrust could be used to account for crustal structure in seismic wave propagation modelling at continental scale or to compute linearized crustal corrections in continental scale seismic tomography, gravity studies, dynamic topography and other applications that require a reliable crustal structure. Because of its resolution, our model is not suited for local-scale studies, such as the computation of earthquake scenarios, where more detailed knowledge of the structure is required. We plan to update the model as new data will become available, and possibly improve its resolution for selected areas in the future.