Tomographic images of the upper mantle below central Europe and the Mediterranean

Results from delay time tomography of the European-Mediterranean upper mantle are discussed and where possible interpreted in terms of geodynamic processes. Slab-like positive velocity anomalies of which the locations correlate well with deeper seismicity are found beneath Spain, the Tyrrhenian basin, and the Aegean. These structures are interpreted as images of subducted slabs. Large aseismic regions with positive velocity anomalies are found beneath the Western Mediterranean, Italy, the Alps, Dinarides, the Pannonian basin, northern Greece, and the Aegean. These anomalies can also be linked to subducted lithosphere. From the anomaly patterns it is deduced that subduction occurred below the Western Mediterranean and along both sides of the Adriatic micro-plate. Beneath the Dinarides and northern Greece the velocity structures suggest detachment of the slab from the surface.