Origin and Crustal Expression of Active Lithospheric Delamination in the Vrancea Zone, Romania

来自美国国家科学基金会的资金被用于获取和分析约260公里深的地震反射数据，以阐明罗马尼亚弗朗切震区的起源、地壳结构和三维地球动力学背景。南卡罗莱纳大学、布加勒斯特大学和罗马尼亚国家地球物理研究所合作的德古拉项目（深部反射采集限制异常岩石圈活动），利用深部地震反射技术来绘制(1)东喀尔巴阡山脉的主要构造分离及其向西延伸到腹地的地图；(2)为特兰西瓦尼亚地壳中新世俯冲带的存在、位置和极性提供可靠的几何约束；(3)阐明喀尔巴阡前陆活动断裂与地幔发震量之间的几何关系；(4)验证前陆地壳与弗朗西尼亚地震活动性的力学耦合假说；(5)在此基础上，对Vrancea地区地幔地震活动起源的竞争性俯冲/分层地球动力学模型进行评价。有了这些数据，弗朗西亚带可能被证明是一个独特的环境，可以为活跃的大陆岩石圈分层建立证据。

Funds from the U. S. National Science Foundation are being used for acquisition and analysis of ~260 km of deep seismic reflection data to illuminate the origin, crustal structure, and three dimensional geodynamic setting of the Vrancea seismogenic zone of Romania. Project DRACULA (Deep Reflection Acquisition Constraining Unusual Lithospheric Activity), a collaboration between the University of South Carolina, the University of Bucharest, and the National Institute for Earth Physics in Romania, is employing deep seismic reflection techniques to (1) map the main structural detachment(s) of the Eastern Carpathians, and their westward continuation into the hinterland, (2) provide reliable constraints from the geometry of crustal reflectors on the postulated existence, position, and polarity of a Miocene-age subduction zone within the Transylvanian crust, (3) elucidate the geometric relationship between active faults in the Carpathian foreland and the seismogenic volume in the mantle, in order to (4) test the hypothesis of mechanical coupling of the foreland crust with Vrancea seismicity, and ultimately, (5) evaluate competing subduction/delamination geodynamic models for the origin of mantle seismicity in the Vrancea zone based on these results. With such data, the Vrancea zone may prove to be a unique setting in which to establish evidence for active continental lithospheric delamination.