2.2.3. Crustal-scale reflection and refraction seismology

During the last decades a large number of crustal-scale reflection-seismic surveys were carried out in Europe, using many geophones in short aperture arrays, that successfully imaged the deep structure of orogenic belts, sedimentary basins, the fabric of cratonic crust, the crust/mantle boundary, and in places upper mantle reflectors (e.g. Hobbs and Klemperer, 1991; BABEL Working Group, 1993; MONA LISA Working Group, 1997; DEKORP-BASIN Research Group, 1998). In combination with extensive refraction-seismic data, providing information on the crustal and upper mantle velocity structure, and potential-field data, this has greatly advanced the understanding of the configuration and evolution of Europe’s continental crust, and particularly of the transformation of orogenically destabilized crust into stabilized cratonic crust (e.g. Aichroth et al., 1992; ILIHA DSS Group, 1993; Guterch et al., 1999; Carbonell et al., 2000; Maystrenko et al., 2003; Thybo et al., 2003).

Continued technological advance, especially in the Earth Science community’s capabilities to process and model seismic (and other geophysical) data, has led to many new conceptual and quantitative breakthroughs in the field of lithosphere tectonics. New data sets, collaboratively collected and interpreted in targeted multidisciplinary projects, allowed participants to actively integrate the geophysical data with geological surface and subsurface mapping. Particularly relevant to the TOPO-EUROPE programme has been the realization that the reactivation potential of pre-existing crustal discontinuities plays an important role in the deformation of intraplate domains, both under compressional and extensional stress regimes. Correspondingly, identification of such crustal discontinuities is of great importance in terms of localization of neotectonic deformation and the assessment of underlying controlling processes.