EUROPROBE PROJECTS
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Trans-European
Suture Zone:
Phanerozoic Accretion and the Evolution of Contrasting Continental Lithosphere |
The
Trans-European Suture Zone (TESZ) is the most prominent geological boundary in
Europe, separating mobile Phanerozoic terranes in the south and west from the Precambrian
East European Craton. This complex fundamental structure crosses northwest-southeast
through central Europe, from the North Sea to the Black Sea, a distance exceeding 2000 km.
It is as clearly defined in the deep lithosphere as in the upper crust, Moho depths
increasing across the TESZ from c. 30 km beneath Phanerozoic Europe to c. 45 km beneath
the craton. Relatively high heat flow characterises Palaeozoic western Europe, in marked
contrast to the thick, relatively cold, Precambrian eastern craton.
EUROPROBE studies of the crust and upper mantle along the TESZ and its
margins are allowing new interpretations of the thermo-mechanical processes of Phanerozoic
lithosphere accretion. The TESZ is a key enigmatic element in the evolution of the
Palaeozoic orogens; together with EUROPROBE’S URALIDES project, TESZ will provide new
insights into pre-Mesozoic plate tectonics and the assembly of Pangaea.
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Understanding the contrasting signatures of European deep lithosphere requires detailed
analysis of the Phanerozoic tectonic history across the TESZ and correlation of deep and
shallow crustal structures. The Palaeozoic structures are largely obscured by Mesozoic and
younger strata of the North Sea-Danish-North German-Polish Basin; a detailed analysis of
this basin complex and its partial inversion is required to unravel the enigmatic early
Phanerozoic history of this major suture zone. Reconstruction of the Palaeozoic history is
also being much assisted by analysis of the numerous deep drillholes which penetrate the
pre-Permian basement.
Highlights
of EUROPROBE’S multidisciplinary TESZ project include:
Teleseismic
and regional earthquake tomography experiments defining the complex suture in the mantle
beneath the TESZ that appears to extend through the whole lithosphere into the
asthenosphere.
Determination
of variation in Moho depth and lithospheric velocity structure across this fundamental
suture zone by seismic refraction – wide angle reflection experiments.
Correlation
of deep and shallow structures of Proterozoic and Phanerozoic lithosphere by deep seismic
reflection and magnetotelluric tomography experiments.
Deciphering
the tectonothermal history of Palaeozoic terrane accretion in central Europe by
multidisciplinary analysis of drillcores and outcrops.
Integrating
the tectonothermal history of the TESZ with that of the better exposed Palaeozoic orogens
of the Appalachians, Western Europe and the Uralides to better understand the assembly of
Pangaea.
Comparison
of Permian-Mesozoic subsidence and Cenozoic inversion of sedimentary basins overlying the
contrasting lithospheres on each side of the suture.
Visit
the PACE EU-TMR network
homepage
Also
the EU-TMR Network Permo-Carboniferous
Rifting in Europe, closely related to the TESZ project, has now its homepage.
Get
the TESZ text and figures out of the EUROPROBE 1996 publication by clicking on the
corresponding text.
Click on the figure and see the image enlarged
PDF-viewers can be obtained through the net for different
operating systems.
Text (PDF file, 1.8 Mb)
For more information please contact the project
leader:
Dr. Tim Pharaoh
British Geological Survey
Keyworth
NOTTINGHAM NG12 5GG
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44-115/936 31 00, /936 31 52
Fax: +44-115/936 32 00
E-mail: tcp@wpo.nerc.ac.uk
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