EASI

The Eastern, "straight" part of the Alps is home to a number of open questions. The most widespreadly known question is about lithospheric slab hanging beneath the Eastern Alps. Is it Adriatic (Lippitsch et al. 2003)? Is it European (Mitterbauer et al. 2011)? What is its extent and the related velocity anomaly?

Beyond carrying out tomographic calculations, one can also characterize the fabric of the lower crust with receiver functions. In the India-Asia collision zone this has helped to point out that the main lithosphere boundary is located at a very different place than the surface boundary of deformation. Anisotropic receiver function calculations are therefore one of the first tools to be applied on EASI data, with the main question of determining the role of the lower crust in shaping the orogen.

A recent Moho map compilation reveals another interesting features beneath the Eastern Alps and between the Europe and Adria plates: a Moho "gap" or "hole" (Spada et al. 2013). Near 47°N latitude and between 12° and 15.5°E longitude the crust-mantle boundary is not defined, or at least it does not appear as a sharp discontinuity. Mapping the extent of this hole, and characterizing the velocity gradient from crustal to mantle conditions is an interesting goal to tackle.

The relationship of the Alpine orogen to the adjacent foreland basin and the lithospheric blocks of the Bohemian Massif, with their own characteristic seismic signatures, is a structural target of EASI.

Our research methods include tomography, ambient noise analysis and receiver functions, with anisotropy included in all three types of investigations. The depth range of investigations encompasses the crust and the mantle lithosphere, down to the LAB.