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In this work we present the application of the Global-Phase Seismic Interferometry (GloPSI) technique to a data-set recorded across the Eastern Alps with the EASI temporary seismic network (Eastern Alpine Seismic Investigation). 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 (i.e. in the northern part of the profile, from the Bohemian massif to beneath the Northern Calcareous Alps). Below the higher crests of the Alpine chain, and the Tauern Window in particular, we cannot find evidence for a typical boundary between crust and mantle. The GloPSI results indicate the absence of an Adriatic crust made of laterally continuous layers smoothly descending southwards. On the contrary, our results confirm the observations of previous studies suggesting a structurally complex Moho topography and faulted internal Alpine crustal structure.

The crustal structure of the Eastern Alps and adjacent tectonic units investigated in this work sheds new light on the relationship of surface geology to geodynamic processes operating at depth. Of particular interest are the nature of a previously proposed Moho gap south and east of the Tauern Window, the plate tectonic affinity of the steeply dipping Eastern Alpine slab, and the relationship of the Alps to the Neogene sedimentary basins and the Bohemian Massif. To address these questions, we use various seismological approaches based on converted waves from the temporary passive experiment EASI (Eastern Alpine Seismic Investigation), a complementary experiment of the AlpArray project. The EASI is a densely spaced, 540 km long seismic network along 13.3°E we operated for more than a year. The uppermost-crustal structures in and near the Alps exhibit dipping layers and/or tilted anisotropy that correlate well with surface geology observations. The Moho, despite its variable appearance, is clearly identified along most of the swath. The Variscan lithospheric blocks beneath the Bohemian Massif are imaged with sub-vertical boundaries. Beneath the Eastern Alps, the shape of the Moho is consistent with bi-vergent orogenic thickening, with a steeper and deeper-reaching Adriatic plate plunging northwards beneath the European plate in the north. At the junction of these plates at depth, around the previously proposed Moho gap, the root of the Eastern Alps is a broad trough characterized by a zone of low velocity-gradient that is up to 20 km thick, transitioning between crust and mantle. Our receiver-function results corroborate earlier lithosphere-upper mantle seismic tomography images, and highlight the Adriatic affinity of the Eastern Alpine slab. The zigzag deployment pattern of stations in the EASI experiment also allows distinction of short-wavelength variations perpendicular to the profile, both within the shallow and the deep crust. This underlines the importance of applying 3D imaging in complex geodynamic systems. ISSN:0040-1951 ISSN:1879-3266

We investigate the crustal seismic structure of the Adria plate using teleseismic receiver functions (RF) recorded at 12 broadband seismic stations in the Apulia region. Detailed models of the Apulian crust, e.g. the structure of the Apulian Multi-layer Platform (AMP), are crucial for assessing the presence of potential decollements at different depth levels that may play a role in the evolution of the Apenninic orogen. We reconstruct S-wave velocity profiles applying a trans-dimensional Monte Carlo method for the inversion of RF data. Using this method, the resolution at the different depth level is completely dictated by the data and we avoid introducing artifacts in the crustal structure. We focus our study on three different key-elements: the Moho depth, the lower crust S-velocity, and the fine-structure of the AMP. We find a well defined and relatively flat Moho discontinuity below the region at 28–32 km depth, possibly indicating that the original Moho is still preserved in the area. The lower crust appears as a generally low velocity layer (average Vs = 3.7 km/s in the 15–26 km depth interval), likely suggestive of a felsic composition, with no significant velocity discontinuities except for its upper and lower boundaries where we find layering. Finally, for the shallow structure, the comparison of RF results with deep well stratigraphic and sonic log data allowed us to constrain the structure of the AMP and the presence of underlying Permo–Triassic (P–T) sediments. We find that the AMP structure displays small-scale heterogeneities in the region, with a thickness of the carbonates layers varying between 4 and 12 km, and is underlain by a thin, discontinuous layer of P–T terrigenous sediments, that are lacking in some areas. This fact may be due to the roughness in the original topography of the continental margins or to heterogeneities in its shallow structure due to the rifting process.

Recordings of teleseismic earthquakes from a dense set of temporary and permanent broadband seismic stations reveal the lithospheric structure of the northern Apennines and support the scenario of a retreating detachment within the mid-crust. Lithospheric delamination appears crucial to the formation and evolution of the Apennines orogen. Receiver-function (RF) stacks outline a continuous west-dipping Ps converted phase from a positive velocity jump that we interpret as the top of the lower crust and mantle of the Adria continental lithosphere, which is descending into the shallow mantle. The correlation of seismicity with two RF profiles across the northern Apennines suggests distinct stages of lithospheric delamination. Active penetration of the detachment into the Adria lithosphere seems evident in the south/east, with induced shallow-mantle flow facilitated by slab dehydration. Penetration of the detachment in the north/west seems to have arrested, and is possibly marked by crustal underplating. This layer atop the Apennines slab is visible only down to 80 km depth and suspends above an oppositely-dipping paired positive/negative Ps converted phase in stacked receiver functions. The break in the west-dipping Adria lithosphere conflicts with a westward-subduction scenario continuous from the Oligocene. Lateral changes of deep structure and seismicity along the northern Apennines suggest that underplating of crustal material and delamination-retreat are distinct mechanisms active today in the western and eastern sectors, respectively, of the northern Apennines. Negative Ps-pulses at 100–120 km depth help to define a seismic lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB), but cross-cut a volume of high-velocity mantle rock, as inferred from tomographic models. We hypothesize that this seismic LAB is a rheological discontinuity that affects the frequency band of seismic body waves, but not the long-term viscous response that governs the evolution and eventual detachment of the continental slab.

The crustal velocity structure in a region of central Apennines of Italy at the hinge between the highly stretched portion of the Monte Argentario promontory and the magmatic province of the Tolfa Domes Complex (Northern Latium) is discussed in this study. S-wave velocities at depth have been constrained by the modeling of P-wave receiver functions (RF) from both temporary and permanent broadband seismic stations. The computer 3D Vs models show a thin crust (19–25 km) made of a shallow and thin sedimentary cover, a very high velocity and anisotropic layer related to a metamorphic basement, and a low Vs anisotropic layer in the middle-lower crust above a shallow Moho discontinuity modeled at about 20 km depth. The volcano-tectonic evolution of this portion of Tyrrhenian back-arc margin has been strongly influenced by its peculiar crustal architecture. The low-Vs layer acted as a shear zone in the middle-lower crust during the Tyrrhenian extension, also helping the development of Plio-Quaternary magmatism. Our findings potentially give new constraints on the evolution of the area and to the general comprehension of back-arc development in collisional regions.

We compute S-velocity profiles of the crust across the Messina strait (Italy), the tear zone at the southern end of the Ionian subduction zone. Separating Sicily from Calabria, the Messina Strait hosted some of the strongest earthquakes to ever occur in Italy. Here, the motion of the Ionian slab with respect to Sicily creates a complex tectonic setting characterized by lithospheric tearing. We show velocity models of the crust, computed from teleseismic receiver function inversion, outlining the differences between Sicily and Calabria. Strong deformation across the Messina Strait between 10-15 and 30 km depth is expressed by strong anisotropy (up to 10%), developed in a ductile shear zone of the crust. The top of these ductile, weaker layers could limit the depth-extent of future ruptures.

In complex tectonics regions, seismological, geophysical, and geodynamic modeling require accurate definition of the Moho geometry. Various active and passive seismic experiments performed in the central Mediterranean region revealed local information on the Moho depth, in some cases used to produce interpolated maps. In this paper, we present a new and original map of the 3-D Moho geometry obtained by integrating selected high-quality controlled source seismic and teleseismic receiver function data. The very small cell size makes the retrieved model suitable for detailed regional studies, crustal corrections in teleseismic tomography, advanced 3-D ray tracing in regional earthquake location, and local earthquake tomography. Our results show the geometry of three different Moho interfaces: the European, Adriatic-Ionian, and Tyrrhenian. The three distinct Moho are fashioned following the Alpine and Apennines subduction, collision, and back-arc spreading and show medium- to high-frequency topographic undulations reflecting the complexity of the geodynamic evolution.

[1] Receiver functions (RFs) analyzed at two permanent broadband seismic stations operating in the epicentral area of the Mw 6.3, 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (central Italy) yield insight on crustal structure along the fault rupture. The harmonic decomposition of RFs highlights a subsurface structure in which both isotropic and anisotropic features are present. We model the waveforms using recently developed Monte Carlo methods. The retrieved models display a common depth structure, between 10 and 40 km depth, consistent with the under-thrusting of the Adria lithosphere underneath the Apennines belt. Along the fault, in the uppermost crust, the S wave velocity structure is laterally heterogeneous. Right above the hypocenter, we find a 4–6 km thick, very high S wave velocity body (Vs as high as 4.2 km/s) that is absent in the SE portion of the fault, where the earthquake propagated. The high-Vs body is coincident with the area of fewer aftershocks and is anticorrelated with the maximum slip patches of the earthquake, as modeled by differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) and strong motion data. We interpret this high-Vs body as a high-strength barrier responsible for the high peak ground motion in the near field, observed in the L'Aquila city and surroundings, and for the complexity in the rupture evolution. The retrieved seismic S wave velocity of this body far exceeds common Vs values in the upper crust and it is more compatible with values observed in mafic basement rocks.

[1] The Colli Albani is a Quaternary quiescent volcano, located a few kilometers southeast of Rome (Italy). During the past decade, seismic swarms, ground deformation, and gas emissions occurred in the southwestern part of the volcano, where the last phreatomagmatic eruptions (27 ka) developed, building up several coalescent craters. In the frame of a Dipartimento Protezione Civile–Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologica project aimed at the definition and mitigation of volcanic hazard, a temporary array of seismic stations has been deployed on the volcano and surrounding areas. We present results obtained using receiver functions analysis for eight stations, located upon and around the volcanic edifice, and revealing how the built of the volcanic edifice influenced the prevolcanic structures. The stations show some common features: the Moho is almost flat and located at 23 km, in agreement with the thinning of the Thyrrenian crust. Also the presence of a shallow limestone layer is a stable feature under every station, with a variable thickness between 4 and 5 km. However, some features change from station to station, indicating a local complexity of the crustal structure: a shallow discontinuity dividing the Plio-Pleistocene sediments by the Meso-Cenozoic limestones, and a localized anisotropic layer, in the central part of the old structure, which points of the deformation of the limestones. Other two strongly anisotropic layers are detected under the stations in lower crust and upper mantle, with symmetry axis directions related to the evolution of the volcano complex.