Celebration 2000: A Seismic Investigation of Lithospheric Structure in the Trans-European Suture/Carpathian Mountains Region

University Of Texas At El Paso, El Paso TX

Investigators

Abstract

INT 0001356 Keller This cooperative research project, "CELEBRATION 2000: A Seismic Investigation of Lithospheric Structure in the Trans-European Suture/Carpathian Mountains Region" is an ambitious regional project involving researchers from the geophysical and geological communities in the US, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Researchers from Denmark, Finland and Sweden will also contribute to this project. The principal investigators are Dr. G. Randy Keller from the University of Texas at El Paso and colleagues from the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the University of Warsaw, Eotvos Lorand Geophysical Institute in Budapest, the Slovak Geological Survey, the Institute of Geophysics in Bratislava (Slovakia) and the Geophysical Institute in Prague (Czech Republic). Eastern Europe contains a variety of interesting and important tectonic features. Three of these features are the Trans-European Suture Zone (TESZ), the Carpathian Mountains, and the Pannonian basin. In 1997, the PI and his colleagues joined researchers from Poland in a very large seismic experiment (POLONAISE '97) that targeted the northern portion of the TESZ region. This project was very successful and has yielded a series of scientific papers in major journals. The PI now proposes to expand this collaboration to neighboring countries in the region in order to undertake another experiment (CELEBRATION 2000 - Central Europe Lithospheric Experiment Based on Refraction) that targets the southern portion of the TESZ as well as the Carpathian Mountains and Pannonian basin. This research will augment two of the PI's ongoing research efforts in the US. One deals with the tectonic history of the southern margin of the North American craton. The other involves a study of the structure and evolution of the souther Rockies. The joint study of the Carpathian Mountains and Rocky Mountains is expected to provide additional insight into the processes involved in mountain building. This project in earth sciences research fulfills the program objectives of bringing together leading experts in the U.S. and Central/Eastern Europe to combine complementary efforts and capabilities in areas of strong mutual interest and competence on the basis of equality, reciprocity, and mutuality of benefit.