Crustal and upper mantle 3D Vs structure of the Pannonian region from joint earthquake and ambient noise Rayleigh wave tomography

Abstract

Summary The Pannonian Basin, situated in Central Europe, is surrounded by the Alpine, Carpathian, and Dinaric orogens. To understand its tectonic characteristics and evolution, we determine a shear wave velocity model of its crust, mantle lithosphere, and asthenosphere consistently by jointly inverting Rayleigh wave phase velocities measured consistently from earthquake (EQ) and ambient noise (AN) data. For the AN data, continuous waveform data were collected from 1,254 stations, covering an area within 9 degrees from the center of the Pannonian Basin during the time period from 2006 to 2018. This dataset enabled the extraction of over 164,464 inter-station Rayleigh phase-velocity curves, after applying a strict quality control workflow. For the EQ dataset more than 2000 seismic events and about 1350 seismic stations were used in the broader Central and Eastern European region between the time-span of 1990 to 2015, allowing us to extract 139,987 quality controlled Rayleigh wave phase-velocity curve. Using the combined dataset, a small period- and distance-dependent bias between ambient noise and earthquake measurements, mostly below 1 per cent but becoming larger towards longer periods has been found. After applying a period and distance dependent correction, we generated phase-velocity maps, spanning periods from 5 seconds to 250 seconds. 33,981 local dispersion curves were extracted and a new approach is introduced to link their period-dependent roughness to the standard deviation. Using a non-linear stochastic particle swarm optimization, a consistent 3D shear wave velocity model (PanREA2023) encompassing the crust and upper mantle down to 300 km depth was obtained with a lateral resolution reaching about 50 km at the centre of the study area for shorter periods. The crust beneath the Carpathian orogen exhibits a distinct low-velocity anomaly extending down to the Moho. It is referred to as Peri-Carpathian anomaly. Similar anomalies were observed in the Northern Apennines, while the Eastern Alps and Dinarides, as collisional orogens, generally demonstrate higher velocities in the upper crust. High crustal shear wave velocities are also evident in the Bohemian Massif and the East European Craton. The brittle upper crust of the Pannonian Basin is characterized by alternating NE-SW trending high- and low-velocity anomalies: the western and central Pannonian low-velocity anomalies and the Transdanubian and Apuseni high-velocity anomalies related to Miocene sedimentary basins and intervening intervening inter-basinal highs exposing Pre-Cenozoic rocks including crystalline basement rocks. Beneath the Southeastern Carpathians, a NE-dipping slab was identified, extending to depths of at least 200 km, while a slab gap is evident beneath the Western Carpathians. A short south-dipping Eurasian slab was imaged beneath the Eastern Alps down to only 150-200 km depth. The Adriatic lithosphere is subducting near-vertically dipping beneath the Northern Apennines, and a slab gap was observed beneath the Central Apennines. In the Northern Dinarides, a short slab was evident, reaching depths of around 150 km. The Southern Dinarides featured a thinned but possibly incompletely detached slab.