Abstract
Seismic evidence and thermal and topographic transients have led to the interpretation of lithospheric removal beneath the Southeast Carpathians region. A series of numerical geodynamic experiments in the context of the tectonic evolution of the region are conducted to test the surface-crustal response to lithosphere delamination and slab break-off. The results show that a delamination-type removal (“plate-like” migrating instability) causes a characteristic pattern of surface uplift/subsidence and crustal extension/shortening to occur due to the lithospheric deformation and dynamic/thermal forcing of the sublithospheric mantle. These features migrate with the progressive removal of the underlying lithosphere. Model results for delamination are comparable with observables related to the geodynamic evolution of the Southeast Carpathians since 10 Ma: the mantle structure inferred by seismic tomography, migrating patterns of uplift (>1.5 km) and subsidence (>2 km) in the region, crustal thinning in the Carpathian hinterland and thickening at the Focsani depression, and regional extension in the Carpathian corner (e.g., opening of Brasov basin) correlating with volcanism (e.g., Harghita and Persani volcanics) in the last 3 Myr.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1205-1224 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Tectonics |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 May 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016, American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Funding
The project was conducted while O.H.G. was a PDF with Greg Houseman at the University of Leeds. O.H.G. acknowledges support from NERC and fruitful discussions with the members of the South Carpathian Project Working Group. R.P. is grateful for funding from an NSERC Discovery Grant. O.H.G. and R.P. also acknowledge support from the TUBITAK 2221 Visiting Scientist Program for facilitating collaboration for the work. The paper was improved by constructive reviews from Linda-Elkins Tanton, Claire Currie, and an anonymous reviewer. Leigh Royden provided helpful comments on the original manuscript. Numerical calculations were done using a modified version of the SOPALE (2000) software. The SOPALE modeling code was originally developed by Phillip Fullsack at Dalhousie University with Chris Beaumont and his Geodynamics group. The numerical experiments presented here are available through contacting the authors.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| South Carpathian Project Working Group | |
| TUBITAK | |
| Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | |
| National Eye Research Centre |
Keywords
- Southeast Carpathians
- delamination model
- topographic transients