Browsing by Author "Thurner, S."

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    Finite-frequency Rayleigh wave tomography of the western Mediterranean: Mapping its lithospheric structure
    (American Geophysical Union, 2014) Palomeras, I.; Thurner, S.; Levander, A.; Liu, K.; Villasenor, A.; Carbonell, R.; Harnafi, M.
    [1] We present a 3-D P wave velocity model of the crust and shallowest mantle under the Italian region, that includes a revised Moho depth map, obtained by regional seismic travel time tomography. We invert 191,850 Pn and Pg wave arrival times from 6850 earthquakes that occurred within the region from 1988 to 2007, recorded by 264 permanent seismic stations. We adopt a high-resolution linear B-spline model representation, with 0.1° horizontal and 2 km vertical grid spacing, and an accurate finite-difference forward calculation scheme. Our nonlinear iterative inversion process uses the recent European reference 3-D crustal model EPcrust as a priori information. Our resulting model shows two arcs of relatively low velocity in the crust running along both the Alps and the Apennines, underlying the collision belts between plates. Beneath the Western Alps we detect the presence of the Ivrea body, denoted by a strong high P wave velocity anomaly. We also map the Moho discontinuity resulting from the inversion, imaged as the relatively sharp transition between crust and mantle, where P wave velocity steps up to values larger than 8 km/s. This simple condition yields an image quite in agreement with previous studies that use explicit representations for the discontinuity. We find a complex lithospheric structure characterized by shallower Moho close by the Tyrrhenian Sea, intermediate depth along the Adriatic coast, and deepest Moho under the two mountain belts.
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    Lithospheric structure of Iberia and Morocco using finite-frequency Rayleigh wave tomography from earthquakes and seismic ambient noise
    (Wiley, 2017) Palomeras, I.; Villaseñor, A.; Thurner, S.; Levander, A.; Gallart, J.; Harnafi, M.
    We present a new 3-D shear velocity model of the western Mediterranean from the Pyrenees, Spain, to the Atlas Mountains, Morocco, and the estimated crustal and lithospheric thickness. The velocity model shows different crustal and lithospheric velocities for the Variscan provinces, those which have been affected by Alpine deformation, and those which are actively deforming. The Iberian Massif has detectable differences in crustal thickness that can be related to the evolution of the Variscan orogen in Iberia. Areas affected by Alpine deformation have generally lower velocities in the upper and lower crust than the Iberian Massif. Beneath the Gibraltar Strait and surrounding areas, the crustal thickness is greater than 50 km, below which a high-velocity anomaly (>4.5 km/s) is mapped to depths greater than 200 km. We identify this as a subducted remnant of the NeoTethys plate referred to as the Alboran and western Mediterranean slab. Beneath the adjacent Betic and Rif Mountains, the Alboran slab is still attached to the base of the crust, depressing it, and ultimately delaminating the lower crust and mantle lithosphere as the slab sinks. Under the adjacent continents, the Alboran slab is surrounded by low upper mantle shear wave velocities (Vs < 4.3) that we interpret as asthenosphere that has replaced the continental margin lithosphere which was viscously removed by Alboran plate subduction. The southernmost part of the model features an anomalously thin lithosphere beneath the Atlas Mountains that could be related to lateral flow induced by the Alboran slab.