Ziegler & Dèzes Crust Europe 20.03.05. 1 Crustal Evolution of Western and Central Europe
A new Moho depth map has been assembled for Western and Central Europe and the West-Mediterranean area that is exclusively based on published regional Moho depth maps. Tectonic overlays summarize Caledonian and Variscan tectonic units, Permo-Carboniferous fault systems and magmatic provinces, Mesozo...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.499.7659 http://comp1.geol.unibas.ch/downloads/Crust_evol_europe_with_figs.pdf |
| Summary: | A new Moho depth map has been assembled for Western and Central Europe and the West-Mediterranean area that is exclusively based on published regional Moho depth maps. Tectonic overlays summarize Caledonian and Variscan tectonic units, Permo-Carboniferous fault systems and magmatic provinces, Mesozoic and Cenozoic rift-wrench systems, areas of intraplate compression, the outlines of Alpine orogens and the distribution of oceanic crust. Based on a comparison of these overlays with the Moho depth map we assess processes that controlled the evolution of the crust in the different parts of Europe through time. The present-day crustal configuration of Western and Central Europe results from polyphase Late Palaeozoic to recent lithospheric deformation that overprinted the margin of the Proterozoic East-European Craton and particularly the Caledonian and Variscan crustal domains. Following consolidation of the Caledonides, their crustal roots were destroyed in conjunction with Devonian wrench tectonics and back-arc rifting. During the Permo-Carboniferous tectono-magmatic cycle, wrench faulting disrupted the crust of the Variscan Orogen and its foreland and their lithosphere was thermally destabilized. Late Permian and Mesozoic re-equilibration of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system was interrupted by the development of the Arctic-North Atlantic, Tethyan and associated rift systems. During the Alpine orogenic cycle, intraplate compressional stresses controlled basin inversion-related crustal thickening and lithospheric folding, as well as the evolution of the Rhine-Rhône rift system. Variably deep crustal roots characterize the Alpine orogenic chains. Neogene back-arc extension disrupted the eastern Pyrenees, Betic-Balearic, Apennine and Dinarides orogens. Submitted to |
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