Thermal evolution and geometry of the descending lithosphere beneath the SE-Carpathians: An insight from the past

Abstract

Mantle heterogeneities imaged by seismic tomography in the SE-Carpathians contain information on the present thermal state of the mantle. Based on P-wave seismic velocity anomalies we develop a model of the present mantle temperature beneath the region and combine the model with a model of crustal temperature constrained by heat flow data. The modeled temperatures are assimilated into the geological past using the information on the regional movement in the Early and Middle Miocene. Prominent thermal states of the lithospheric slab descending in the region are restored from its diffuse present state. In Miocene times the slab geometry clearly shows two portions of the sinking body. The northwest–southeast oriented portion of the body is located in the vicinity of the boundary between the East European and Scythian platforms, and this portion of the sinking body may be a relic of cold lithosphere that has traveled eastward. Another portion has a northeast–southwest orientation and is related to the present descending slab. Above a depth of 60 km the slab had a concave thermal shape, confirming the curvature of the Carpathian arc, and a convex surface below that depth. The slab maintained its convex shape until it split into two parts at a depth of about 220 km. We propose that this change in the slab geometry, which is likely to be preserved until the present, can cause stress localization due to the slab bending and subsequent stress release resulting in large mantle earthquakes in the region. Also we hypothesize that either the processes of dehydration and partial melting of the descending lithospheric slab or dragging down of hotter rocks from the adjacent uppermost mantle by the slab are possible causes of the reduction in seismic velocities beneath the Transylvanian Basin.