The Moho depth map of the European Plate

• Published in: Geophysical Journal International
• Main Authors: Grad, Marek, Tiira, Timo, ESC Working Group
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2009
• Subjects: Tectonics and geodynamics; Arctic; Barents Sea; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/176/1/279; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2008.03919.x

The European Plate has a 4.5 Gy long and complex tectonic history. This is reflected in the present-day large-scale crustal structures. A new digital Moho depth map is compiled from more than 250 data sets of individual seismic profiles, 3-D models obtained by body and surface waves, receiver function results and maps of seismic and/or gravity data compilations. We have compiled the first digital, high-resolution map of the Moho depth for the whole European Plate, extending from the mid-Atlantic ridge in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the south to the Barents Sea and Spitsbergen in the Arctic in the north. In general, three large domains within the European Plate crust are visible. The oldest Archean and Proterozoic crust has a thickness of 40–60 km, the continental Variscan and Alpine crust has a thickness of 20–40 km, and the youngest oceanic Atlantic crust has a thickness of 10–20 km.