The effect of plate stresses and shallow mantle temperatures on tectonics of northwestern Europe

Abstract

Northwestern Europe is tectonically more active, in terms of seismicity, vertical motions and volcanism, than would be expected from its location far from any plate boundaries. In the context of the Netherlands Earth System Dynamics Initiative, we investigated the implications of two recent modeling efforts, of Eurasian plate forces and European mantle structure, for our understanding of the dynamics of these intraplate tectonics. We find that: (1) a simple balance between ridge push and collision forces along the southern European boundary does not seem sufficient to explain the observed direction of maximum horizontal compression in northwestern Europe. Our stress model, which imposes dynamical equilibrium on the full Eurasian plate, predicts that collision forces along the African–European boundary are relatively weak and have only a minor effect on the stress field in northwestern Europe; (2) seismic velocity anomalies in the shallow mantle imply 100–300°C variations in temperature under northwestern Europe. This regional mantle structure probably plays a significant role in the high level of intraplate tectonic activity and the regional variations in stress and tectonic style. For most tectonically active areas in Europe, observed surface heat flow anomalies coincide with anomalies in mantle velocity. Low velocity anomalies under northwestern Europe coincide with areas of recent volcanism and uplift, but are offset from the regions of maximum surface heat flow. This suggests that the thermal regime of the central European lithosphere is not in a steady state, probably due to changing mantle conditions. The effect of strong variations in lithospheric strength, predicted from the modeled thermal gradients in the shallow mantle, and of dynamic stresses induced by proposed active mantle upwellings may account for (some of) the differences between the observed and modeled stress field and will be investigated in future stress models.