Earthquakes in the western Alpine mantle wedge |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, 20126 Milano, Italy;2. State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;3. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, CNT, Genova, Italy;4. ISTerre, CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France;5. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Bologna, Italy;1. Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen''s University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada;2. Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA |
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| Abstract: | The assessment of seismic activity in the shallow continental mantle has long been hindered by the low resolution of both seismic imaging and earthquake locations in young collision zones. Here, we combine the most recent and high-resolution image of the lithospheric structure of the Western Alps with a high quality dataset of anomalously deep earthquakes recorded in the same area in the past 25 yrs. We show that these earthquakes are aligned on an active lithospheric strike-slip fault, and we provide evidence that this fault is located in the mantle wedge beneath the Adriatic Moho. Our results: (i) provide direct evidence that deep material can be seismogenic or not depending on the lithology; (ii) confirm the role of serpentinization in favoring the aseismic creep of mantle rocks; and (iii) demonstrate that the upper mantle can be stiff and seismogenic not only in cold cratons, but also in young orogenic belts. |
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