Moho topography beneath the European Eastern Alps by global-phase seismic interferometry

Author(s)
Irene Bianchi, Elmer Ruigrok, Anne Obermann, Edi Kissling
Abstract

In this work we present the application of the global-phase seismic interferometry (GloPSI) technique to a dataset recorded across the Eastern Alps with the EASI (Eastern Alpine Seismic Investigation) temporary seismic network. GloPSI aims at rendering an image of the lithosphere from the waves that travel across the core before reaching the seismic stations (i.e. PKP, PKiKP, PKIKP). The technique is based on the principle that a stack of autocorrelations of transmission responses mimics the reflection response of a medium and is used here to retrieve information about the crust-mantle boundary, such as its depth and topography. We produce images of the upper lithosphere using 64 teleseismic events. We notice that with GloPSI, we can well image the topography of the Moho in regions where it shows a nearly planar behaviour and corresponds to a strong velocity contrast (i.e. in the northern part of the profile, from the Bohemian Massif to the Northern Calcareous Alps). Below the higher crests of the Alpine chain, and the Tauern Window in particular, we cannot find evidence of the boundary between crust and mantle. The GloPSI results indicate the absence of an Adriatic crust made of laterally continuous layers smoothly descending southwards and confirm the observations of previous studies suggesting a structurally complex and faulted internal Alpine crustal structure.

Organisation(s)
Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
External organisation(s)
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
Journal
Solid earth
Volume
12
Pages
1185–1196
No. of pages
12
ISSN
1869-9510
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1185-2021
Publication date
05-2021
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
105122 Seismic
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Earth-Surface Processes, Geochemistry and Petrology, Geology, Geophysics, Soil Science, Palaeontology, Stratigraphy
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/8ac3b6f1-2947-4e17-bbf3-360f7e0b53ba