RESEARCH

Mantle earthquakes in the absence of subduction?

Continental delamination in the Romanian Carpathians
Melvin A. Fillerup1, James H. Knapp1, Camelia C. Knapp1, and Victor Raileanu2
1

DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND OCEAN SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 701 SUMTER ST., EWS 617, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA 29208, USA
NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR EARTH PHYSICS, P.O. BOX MG-2, RO-077125 BUCURESTI-MAGURELE, ROMANIA

ABSTRACT
The Vrancea seismogenic zone of Romania is a steeply NW-dipping volume (30 70 200 km) of intermediate-depth seismicity in the upper
mantle beneath the bend zone of the Eastern Carpathians. It is widely held that the source of this seismicity is the remnant of a Miocene-age
subduction zone. However, recent deep seismic-reflection data collected over the Eastern Carpathian bend zone image an orogen lacking
(1) a crustal root and (2) dipping crustal-scale fabrics routinely imaged in modern and ancient subduction zones. Here, we use these data to
evaluate the lithospheric structure of the Eastern Carpathians as it relates to the Vrancea seismogenic zone. Crustal architecture obtained
from these data indicate the 140-km-wide orogen is only supported by ~33-km-thick crust, while the adjacent Transylvanian and Focsani
basins have ~37- (possibly up to ~46 km) and 42-km-thick crust, respectively. Because the Vrancea seismogenic zone is located beneath the
east side of the thin orogenic crust, we infer that the lower orogenic crust was removed through continental delamination and is now represented by the mantle seismicity observed in the Vrancea seismogenic zone. These data and their interpretation suggest an alternate means
of generating mantle seismicity in the absence of subduction processes.

LITHOSPHERE; v. 2; no. 5; p. 333340; Data Repository 2010239.

doi: 10.1130/L102.1

INTRODUCTION
48N
N

E.
Ca
rp

47

ath
Transylvanian
Basin
DRAC

2600

Elevation (m)

Apuseni
Mountains

ian

The association of earthquakes in the upper mantle with the subduction of oceanic plates at convergent boundaries has been a fundamental
tenet of plate tectonics for decades. Indeed, the recognition that WadatiBenioff zones of localized seismicity represent the descent of oceanic lithosphere into the mantle was a significant contribution to the plate-tectonic
paradigm. To date, the scientific community has yet to agree on a case
where a well-defined zone of upper-mantle seismicity is unrelated to the
subduction process, and yet the geologic history of the Romanian Carpathians appears to preclude such an origin for the Vrancea seismogenic
zone (Knapp et al., 2005; Houseman and Gemmer, 2007; Lorinczi and
Houseman, 2009).The Vrancea seismogenic zone of Romania is one of
the most active seismic regions in Europe (Fig. 1), with two to three large
(MW > 7.0) events per century occurring at depths of 70200 km, and it is
widely interpreted to be the result of remnant oceanic subduction (Wortel
and Spakman, 2000). Here, we present deep seismic-reflection profiles
from the Eastern Carpathians that document the lithospheric architecture
associated with the Vrancea seismogenic zone. Our data provide strong
evidence that the Vrancea seismogenic zone seismicity is unlikely to be
related to subduction, and that the geometry and position of the seismogenic volume match closely that of a large void in the lower crust beneath
the Eastern Carpathians. We interpret these relationships to mean that the
seismogenic body resulted from a process of delamination of the lower
continental crust beneath the bend zone of the Eastern Carpathians in the
absence of subduction.
As originally proposed by Bird (1979), continental delamination was
envisioned as an inevitable consequence of lithospheric thickening, but
largely as an aseismic process limited to the mantle lithosphere. Subsequently, Kay and Mahlburg Kay (1993) suggested that lithospheric delamination could also include density inversions in the crust, which would

ULA I

46

DAC

IA-P

S. Carpathians

LAN

Focsani
Basin

45

Bucharest

50 km
0

22E

23

24

Moesian Platform
25

26

27

44
28

Figure 1. Digital elevation map showing the Eastern Carpathian reentrant

and location of the intermediate-depth (70200 km) seismicity (Mw >4)
of the Vrancea zone (black dots) and combined DRACULA I (heavy red
line) and DACIA-PLAN (heavy blue line) deep seismic profiles. Note higher
elevation of the Transylvanian basin compared to surrounding Pannonian
and Focsani basins.

| Volume
| 2010 Geological Society of America
LITHOSPHERE
For
permission to
copy, contact
2 | Number
editing@geosociety.org
5 | www.gsapubs.org

333

FILLERUP ET AL.

trigger the removal of both the lower crust and upper mantle. Our data
suggest that the combination of continental delamination and introduction of lower-crustal material to mantle depths (1) is the source of mantle
seismicity in the Vrancea seismogenic zone, (2) represents an important
alternative process to explain mantle seismicity in the absence of subduction, and (3) suggests that lithospheric delamination may potentially be
seismogenic when lower crust is involved.
Delamination versus Subduction in the Vrancea Seismogenic
Zone

Historically, geodynamic models proposed for the Vrancea seismicity

have been subduction related (Fuchs et al., 1979; Girbacea and Frisch,
1998; Linzer et al., 1998; Wortel and Spakman, 2000; Sperner et al., 2001;
Cloetingh et al., 2004; Schmid et al., 2008). Subsequently, much of the
research conducted during the past 20 yr has utilized the various subduction models in interpreting observations of basin evolution (Tarapoanca et
al., 2003; Leever et al., 2006; Matenco et al., 2007), volcanism (Seghedi
et al., 2004, 2005; Downes et al., 1995; Falus et al., 2008), uplift (Sanders
et al., 1999; Fugenschuh and Schmid, 2005; Krezsek and Bally, 2006),
geophysical investigations of the crust (Hauser et al., 2007; Martin et al.,
2005; Diehl et al., 2005), and mantle (Fan and Wallace, 1998; Weidle
et al., 2005; Ismail-Zadeh et al., 2005, 2008; Ivan et al., 2008), which
ultimately have influenced the prevailing ideas about the regional tectonic evolution of the Carpathian-Pannonian system (Wortel and Spakman, 2000; Ustaszewski et al., 2008; Schmid et al., 2008). However, new
models for Vrancea seismicity have also been forthcoming. Knapp et al.
(2005) suggested continental lithospheric delamination as a probable
mechanism for the generation of seismicity beneath the East Carpathians,
while Houseman and Gemmer (2007) suggested that the seismic activity resulted from gravitational instability caused by lateral thinning of the
mantle lithosphere beneath the Pannonian basin, resulting in thickening
and downwelling beneath the Eastern Carpathians. Lorinczi and Houseman (2009) proposed that Vrancea seismicity is the consequence of a
Rayleigh-Taylor instability affecting the continental mantle lithosphere
and supported this view by showing that the seismic moment release in
the Vrancea seismogenic zone may explain the modeled drip instability. It
should also be noted that although some models for the Vrancea seismogenic zone include both subduction and subsequent delamination events
(i.e., Sperner et al., 2004; Girbacea and Frisch, 1998), we include them
with the models that suggest a subduction origin for the Vrancea seismogenic zone. In contrast, the models proposed by Knapp et al. (2005),
Houseman and Gemmer (2007), and Lorinczi and Houseman (2009) neither require nor involve subduction of oceanic lithosphere.
The Vrancea seismic zone is a narrow 30 70 200 km steeply NWdipping (~86) body within the upper mantle beneath the East Carpathian
bend zone. In the published literature, this mantle seismicity is widely
attributed to the final stages of subduction (e.g., Wortel and Spakman,
2000) in the Carpathians. However, there are geologic and geophysical
observations of post-Miocene geologic evolution that are spatially and
temporally discordant with the subduction interpretation. These observations include the position of earthquake hypocenters as related to the
inferred location of a proposed suture (Linzer et al., 1998; Wortel and
Spakman, 2000). The purported suture, if existent, is thought to be located
west of the current mantle seismicity beneath the flysch nappes of the
East Carpathians (Girbacea and Frisch, 1998; Chalot-Prat and Girbacea,
2000; Sperner et al., 2004). The interpretation of subduction for the Vrancea seismogenic zone has led to the assumption that the mantle seismicity represents either (1) the present location of a subducted slab, or (2) a
remnant slab that was subducted westward from the Vrancea seismogenic

334

zone in pre-Miocene time, and underwent detachment and retreat toward

the southeast to correspond with the zone of mantle hypocenters.
The presence of a linear MiocenePleistocene volcanic chain located
in the East Carpathian hinterland has been interpreted as further evidence
for subduction. The age of this volcanism decreases from older (11 Ma
in the northwest) to younger (0.03 Ma in the southeast) toward the East
Carpathian bend zone (Pcskay et al., 2006). Calc-alkaline rock types are
mainly andesites and dacites, while the alkaline rocks found in the Persani
Mountains near the bend zone are basalts (Peltz et al., 1973; Downes et
al., 1995; Mason et al., 1996). However, the relationship of these volcanic
rocks to the proposed subduction is not without complication. The most
problematic geodynamic example presented by the subduction hypotheses is that the magmatism continued for >8 m.y. after the purported subduction and shortening had ceased around ca. 11 Ma. Contemporaneous
alkaline basalt and andesitic eruptions in the bend region during the Pleistocene further complicate the subduction models because these extrusive
magmas are >100 km west of the near-vertical purported slab. The latest alkaline eruptions in the Persani Mountains occurred ~500,000 yr ago
(Pcskay et al., 2006, and references therein), and the timing and relation
of this PliocenePleistocene volcanism to the inferred subduction in the
southeast Carpathians are some of the many questions not fully satisfied
by existing subduction models for the Vrancea seismogenic zone.
Deep seismic-reflection profiles (Fig. 2) collected in collisional orogens
clearly show the suture and fabric imparted to the crust from subduction
and collision. The suture between the Adriatic plate and European plate
(Fig. 2A) dips steeply east through the crust and upper mantle, imparting a
prominent dipping fabric (Marchant and Stampfli, 1997). Similarly, Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling (COCORP) lines Georgia 13
and 14 (Fig. 2B) image a wide band of dipping reflectivity imparted to
the crust from what is interpreted as the collision of Africa with North
America (Nelson et al., 1985). Zhao et al. (1993) showed the result of the
collision of the Indian plate beneath Asia where the Himalayan crust overrides the north-dipping Indian crust (Fig. 2C). In each case in Figure 2,
there is a predominant crustal-scale through-going dipping fabric associated with the suture indicating collision. Accordingly, Deep Reflection
Acquisition Constraining Unusual Lithospheric Activity (DRACULA 1),
a deep seismic-reflection profile located in the East Carpathian hinterland,
was designed to test geodynamic models that imply a subduction-related
suture located at depth in crust of the East Carpathian hinterland. The
DRACULA I deep seismic profile complements a previous deep seismicreflection profile called Danube and Carpathian Integrated Action on
Process in the Lithosphere and Neotectonics (DACIA-PLAN), which targeted the lithospheric architecture of the East Carpathian foreland above
the Vrancea seismogenic zone (see Panea et al., 2005). Presented together
the DRACULA I and reprocessed DACIA-PLAN reflection profiles provide a new, ~120-km-deep lithospheric cross section of the southeastern
Carpathians over the Vrancea seismogenic zone (Fig. 3). We processed
the combined seismic profiles to enhance the crustal architecture of the
Eastern Carpathians in order to test the delamination and subduction
hypotheses on an orogenic scale. Specifically, the presence or absence of
crustal-scale through-going dipping reflections on the seismic profile will
facilitate the evaluation of the myriad geodynamic models proposed for
the Vrancea seismogenic zone and evolution of the Eastern Carpathians.
DRACULA I AND DACIA-PLAN

Two deep seismic-reflection profiles, DRACULA I and DACIA-PLAN

(originally in Panea et al., 2005), collected in 2004 and 2001, respectively,
image the continental crust and upper mantle to depths of ~120 km beneath
the Transylvanian basin, the East Carpathian Mountains, and the Focsani

www.gsapubs.org | Volume 2 | Number 5 | LITHOSPHERE

Mantle earthquakes in the absence of subduction?

Approx. depth (km) @ 6 km/s

Western Alps
VANOISE
ECORS ALP-1

ECORS ALP-2

| RESEARCH
E

CROP ALP 1
Adriatic plate

European plate
20
Moho

Moho
40

60

A
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

S
0

Georgia 13

COCORP

Georgia 14

HIMALAYA (INDEPTH)

African
crust

20

N. American
crust

Moho

40

Moho

B
0

20

40

60

80

100

Profile length (km)

Approx. depth (km) @ 6 km/s

GAP

Approx. depth (km) @ 6 km/s

Profile length (km)

N

Asian crust

20

Top Indian cr
ust

40

60

80

Moho

C VE ~1:1
10

30

50

70

90

Profile length (km)

Figure 2. Similarly scaled deep seismic-reflection images from collisional orogens illustrating the dipping, crustal-scale reflection fabric associated with former subduction zones. The black arrows indicate the prominent crustal-scale through-going dipping fabric. Such a throughgoing fabric is not found on the DRACULA and DACIA-PLAN profile in Figure 3, indicating that it is unlikely that subduction tectonics occurred
beneath or immediately adjacent to the Eastern Carpathians. Seismic profiles from the western Alps (A), Georgia (B), and the Himalaya (C) are
modified after Marchant and Stampfli (1997); Nelson et al. (1985); and Zhao et al. (1993), respectively. VEvertical exaggeration.

foreland basin, Romania (Fig. 1). The DRACULA I profile extends southeast from the central Transylvanian basin across the Eastern Carpathians
and terminates on the northwest side the Vrancea seismogenic zone. The
DACIA-PLAN profile extends over the Vrancea seismogenic zone SE onto
the Focsani foreland basin, which overlies the Moesian Platform. These
two deep seismic-reflection profiles form an ~320-km-long strike perpendicular profile of the lithosphere of the Eastern Carpathian orogen.
Both the DRACULA I and DACIA-PLAN seismic data sets utilized
explosive sources. The DRACULA I profile was collected in roll-along
mode, maintaining a 32 km active spread with far offsets of ~10 km.
The DRACULA I data are nominally 16-fold with a record length of
60 s and a 4 ms sample rate. The DACIA-PLAN profile was collected
in three static deployments, which were merged to form the complete
section (see Panea et al., 2005). Seismic data processing of DRACULA I and reprocessing of DACIA-PLAN seismic profiles included
noise filtering, coherency filtering, stacking, and depth conversion. The
processed seismic profiles comprise the reflection data shown in Fig-

LITHOSPHERE | Volume 2 | Number 5 | www.gsapubs.org

ure 3A. Lateral and vertical variations in reflective quality on the final
stacks prompted noise and amplitude analysis to test whether the reflective character was caused by geologic or acquisition effects. Amplitude
analysis performed on these data concluded that seismic signal penetration regularly exceeded depths of 40 km which suggests the variation in
reflectivity is likely geologic. The lateral variability of reflectivity presents
a problem for robust interpretation; nevertheless, we feel these data provide an adequate basis for testing of the subduction versus delamination
argument in the Eastern Carpathians.
The combined seismic profiles DRACULA I and DACIA-PLAN
delineate the crustal geometry of the Transylvanian basin, East Carpathian fold-and-thrust belt, and the Focsani basin in relation to the Vrancea
seismogenic zone. Vrancea seismogenic zone hypocenters projected onto
the plane of the DRACULA I and DACIA-PLAN seismic profile show
the relationship between the seismicity and the overlying crust (Fig. 3A).
Projected hypocenters include all earthquakes Mw 3.0 recorded digitally since 1977 and were taken from the Romanian National Institute for

335

Elevation (m)

FILLERUP ET AL.

NW
1500
1000
500

Transylvanian Basin

East Carpathians

Persani Mtns

SE
1500

Baraolt Mtns

Focsani Basin 1000

500

50

Profile length (km)

100
150
200

250

300 0
0

50

Depth (km)

50

50

100

100

100

150

150

150

A
200
50

Depth (km)

Continental
lithosphere

300 0
0

Moho

Continental
lithosphere

Asthenosphere

100

250

250

Moho

50

200

Continental crust

200

Profile length (km)

100
150
200

50

50

Figure 3. (A) Uninterpreted depthconverted composite DRACULA

I and DACIA-PLAN deep seismic
profile with Vrancea seismicity
projected onto the plane of the
section (see Fig. 1 for location).
Earthquake hypocenters include
digitally recorded events from
1977 to the present and are Mw
3 (Grecu, 2007). The topography
is shown for reference with vertical exaggeration (VE) of 10:1,
while the seismic profiles are
shown with VE 1:1. (B) Interpreted
depth-converted profile showing
spatial and areal coincidence of
the region of thinned crust and
Vrancea seismicity and proposed
lower-crustal origin of the Vrancea
seismogenic zone. The seismic
refraction Moho from Hauser et
al. (2007) is shown as a dashed
red line for comparison.

100

100

Neogene
basin fill

150

Mesozoic
basin fill

150

150

Sediment and
crystalline nappes

200

Reflection Moho (?)

Refraction Moho
(Hauser et al., 2007)

Earth Physics (NIEP) earthquake catalogue (Grecu, 2007). The hypocenters were projected from their locations perpendicular to the plane of the
seismic section. The seismicity is located on the western portion of the
DACIA-PLAN profile, and the intermediate-depth seismicity is located
NW of the Focsani basin below the eastern slopes of the Eastern Carpathians. For purposes of describing the location of specific features shown in
Figure 3, the depth description will be followed by distances measured in
kilometers from west (0 km) to east (320 km) as indicated at the top of the
seismic section.

336

200

200

The lithospheric-scale structural features evident on the DRACULA I

and DACIA-PLAN deep seismic profile include: (1) coherent 4246-kmdeep reflections beneath the Transylvanian basin between km markers 0
and 25, (2) a package of reflections dipping NW ~20 extending from 10
to 20 km depth between km markers 60 and 75, which is bounded above
and below by short bands of subhorizontal reflectivity, (3) reflectivity that
gradually transitions into seismically transparent material at depths of
4045 km between km markers 25 and 80, (4) an abrupt shallowing of transitional reflectivity beneath the Eastern Carpathians to depths of 3033 km

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Mantle earthquakes in the absence of subduction?

between markers 100 and 215, except where (5) prominent subhorizontal to slightly east-dipping (5) reflections are present at 3032 km depth
between km markers 125 and 150, and (6) the increase in reflective depth
of the transitional reflectivity to 4245 km depth beneath the Focsani basin
between km markers 215 and 320. (7) The location of the intermediatedepth Vrancea seismogenic zone hypocenters are shown to lie SE of the
thin transitional reflectivity beneath the eastern East Carpathians and western Focsani basin. A larger online image of the DRACULA I and DACIAPLAN profile is available to aid examination of the features (indicated as
supplemental Figure DR11). For a more detailed discussion of the crustal
observations associated with the DACIA-PLAN, see Panea et al. (2005).
INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION

For interpretation purposes, the seismic-reflection fabrics observed at

crustal levels on the DRACULA I and DACIA-PLAN profiles show good
correlation from one survey to another. As such, interpretation across the
profiles is considered reliable and an accurate seismic representation of
the orogen. Deep transitional reflectivity and associated coherent reflectivity across the profile are interpreted to indicate the base of the crust, or
Moho. Major structural architecture within the crust is apparent on both
the DRACULA I profile in the form of a west-dipping ramp beneath the
Transylvanian basin and in the Focsani basin as east-dipping sediments
associated with deformation in the foreland. These main features are discussed in detail next.
The Moho is commonly interpreted as the base of the crust on seismic
data profiles, and it represents a subsurface boundary where the seismic
velocity of P waves traveling through the planet increase sharply from 7.0
to 7.4 km/s above to greater than 8.1 km/s below. The interpreted depth of
the Moho on the DRACULA I and DACIA-PLAN profiles is 3133 km
beneath the Eastern Carpathians and 4245 km beneath the Focsani basin
and corresponds to the subhorizontal and transitional deep reflections
observed beneath the Eastern Carpathians and Focsani basin, respectively.
These Moho depths are supported by an independent coincident refraction profile (Hauser et al., 2007), which places the Moho at similar depths
for these respective locations (see Fig. 3). Below the western Transylvanian basin, the deep coherent reflections are located at 4246 km depth,
with transitional reflectivity at similar depths under eastern Transylvania,
nearly 10 km deeper than the 36-km-deep Moho boundary interpreted on
the refraction profile. In comparing the refraction profile and the DRACULA I profile, it is unlikely that depth conversion of the DRACULA I
seismic profile overestimated the depth of observed deep reflections
because processing velocities were heavily constrained by the refraction
velocities reported in Hauser et al. (2007). The recognition of deep reflectivity beneath the Transylvanian basin as observed on DRACULA I is,
however, not unique to this profile. Raileanu and Diaconescu (1998) identified a deep interval of coherent reflectivity at 3546 km on reprocessed
industry seismic data in the area near the western half of the DRACULA
I profile, which they interpreted as a crust-mantle transition zone. Knapp
et al. (2005) argued successfully that the deepest reflections at ~46 km on
the same profile referenced by Raileanu and Diaconescu (1998) represent the base of the westward extension of crust belonging to the Moesian
platform. Receiver function analysis by Diehl et al. (2005) elucidated the
three-dimensional (3-D) nature of the Moho in the region of the southeast
Carpathians, which suggests that the Moho beneath the Transylvanian
basin proximal to DRACULA I may be as deep as 38.4 km, with an error
1
GSA Data Repository Item 2010239, Figure DR1, is available at www.geosociety
.org/pubs/ft2010.htm, or on request from editing@geosociety.org, Documents
Secretary, GSA, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301-9140, USA.

LITHOSPHERE | Volume 2 | Number 5 | www.gsapubs.org

| RESEARCH

of 1.3 km. Thus, based on the preexisting evidence for deep crustal reflectivity beneath the Transylvanian basin, receiver functions proximal to the
reflection profile, and the new results from DRACULA I, we propose an
alternative interpretation for the Moho beneath the Transylvanian basin at
~4446 km depth. Regardless of the discrepancy in the thickness of the
crust under the Transylvanian basin among the refraction, reflection, and
receiver function data discussed here, these data sets similarly suggest that
the root of the East Carpathians is missing or thin and that the crust supporting the Focsani and Transylvanian basins is up to 10 km thicker than
the orogenic crust.
Based on these arguments, we offer the following as an alternate interpretation of crustal thickness of the Eastern Carpathians as observed on
the DRACULA I and DACIA-PLAN reflection profiles. Beneath the
Transylvanian basin, the crustal thickness is interpreted to be as deep as
~46 km, until it abruptly thins to 3033 km below the western East Carpathian fold-and-thrust belt. The thin portion of the crust continues SE
onto the DACIA-PLAN profile and over the Vrancea seismogenic zone
with a thickness varying from ~33 to 34 km. Under the eastern portion of
the orogens, the crustal thickness increases from 3334 km to 4146 km
beneath the Focsani basin. This interpretation shows an orogen absent of
a crustal root.
The Vrancea seismogenic zone intermediate-depth seismicity lies SE
of the apparent thinned crust of the orogen. Crustal-depth earthquakes
extend from shallow crustal depths (510 km) to the base of the reflections at ~35 km beneath the Focsani basin. Viewed on Figure 3A, the distance between the top of the intermediate seismicity (~70 km) and deepest events is 130 km. This distance corresponds well to the 125130 km
horizontal dimension of the thin orogenic lower crust interpreted here. We
interpret this relationship as possible evidence for the former location of
the lithosphere now represented by the Vrancea seismogenic zone. Girbacea and Frisch (1998), Chalot-Prat and Girbacea (2000), and Sperner et al.
(2004) also proposed in their models that the Vrancea seismogenic zone
restored horizontally beneath the Eastern Carpathians and was the former
mantle lithospheric root beneath the Eastern Carpathians. The interpretation we present here suggests that continental mantle lithosphere removed
from beneath the orogen also may include the removal of a portion of the
continental lower crust.
Dipping seismic reflections at crust or mantle depth that would indicate
subduction geometries are not manifest in any form on the seismic profile
presented here. On the DRACULA I and DACIA-PLAN section, there are
only two locations where significant dipping reflections exist, albeit not
on a scale at which the whole crust is affected. One set of dipping reflections in the eastern Transylvanian basin is located in the middle crust and
is more than 100 km NW of the observed seismicity. The second is in the
shallow tilted sediments associated with the Focsani foreland basin. The
dipping feature beneath the Transylvanian basin could mark flexure of the
crust in response to subduction. However, subhorizontal reflections below
and to the SE of this feature preclude flexure because they would likely be
dipping as well in the case of subduction. Furthermore, this would suggest
the proposed suture to be located beneath the Transylvanian basin, a result
not predicted by any current Vrancea seismogenic zone model (i.e., Girbacea and Frisch, 1998; Chalot-Prat and Girbacea, 2000; Gvirtzman, 2002;
Sperner et al., 2004; Heidbach et al., 2007; Schmid et al., 2008). If this dipping feature is a suture, it is not traceable to the surface and would preclude
an interpretation that suggests a Miocene suture exists in the East Carpathian hinterland. Therefore, there is little, if any, evidence for a NW-dipping
fabric in the Transylvanian or Carpathian crust to appeal for a remnant
suture zone indicating a former plate boundary according to these data.
On the seismic section, the NW-dipping reflections in the crust under
the Transylvanian basin are interpreted to follow a crustal ramp over

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FILLERUP ET AL.

which the allochthonous crystalline and sedimentary rocks comprising

the East Carpathian mountain belt were transported during the Neogene.
Though the reflections that indicate this feature are discontinuous from the
top of the ramp to the SE, we interpret them as a detachment beneath the
East Carpathians traced from the ramp to the foreland deformation front.
Palinspastic restorations addressing estimated Miocene shortening of the
East Carpathians have reported a number of values, ranging from 116 km
(Burchfiel, 1976), 125 km (Knapp et al., 2005), and 130 km (Roure et
al., 1993) to 220 km (Morley, 1996). The distance from the top of the
ramp to the tip of the blind thrust deforming the Quaternary Focsani basin
sediments is ~140 km. This estimated shortening measurement is greater
than, but conforms to, the estimates of shortening of 125 km (Knapp et al.,
2005) and 130 km (Roure et al., 1993).

Late Miocene. Final nappe emplacement and stacking.

East Carpathians

Transylvanian Basin

Eclogite root

Continental lithosphere

Pliocene. Early delamination, magmatism, uplift and subsidence.

CONTINENTAL DELAMINATION

Although there is no direct evidence for an eclogite root in the East

Carpathians, the phase transformation of granulite-facies lower crust
to eclogite is thought to be an important step in orogenic evolution and
necessary for delamination (Austrheim, 1991; Nelson, 1991; Kay and
Mahlburg Kay, 1991; Bousquet et al., 1997; Jackson et al., 2004). Jackson et al. (2004) applied the reasoning that fluids interacting with granulite lower-crustal rocks in the eclogite stability field (T > 500 C and P
> 1.2 GPa, approximately >40 km) are necessary to catalyze the phase
change to eclogite. Further, these authors suggested that the absorption of
fluids into granulite would be a slow process if only diffusion occurs, but
would be accelerated if fluids moved through fracture pathways formed
by brittle deformation. Hydrous mineral phases present in basement rocks
of the Moesian Platform involved in shortening in the Eastern Carpathians
likely contain sufficient water to drive metamorphism to eclogite facies.
Moreover, fluid or additional fluids could be derived from mantle metasomatized prior to Miocene shortening (Morogan et al., 2000; ChalotPrat and Girbacea, 2000). Miocene shortening in the Eastern Carpathians
was caused as a result of Alpine collision leading the eastward escape
and clockwise rotation of the Tiza-Dacia microplate during collision with
the East European and Moesian Platforms (Csontos, 1995; Csontos and
Voros, 2004; Roure et al., 1993; Royden, 1993). This collision shortened
the crust and depressed it into the eclogite stability field and likely provided the mechanical process needed to accelerate fluid mobility in the
East Carpathian root, leading to eclogitization. Therefore, we hypothesize
that the formation of the East Carpathian root during Miocene shortening may have undergone a metamorphic phase change to eclogite facies,
which later drove delamination.
Given the thin orogenic root presented in this work and the apparent
lack of evidence for the presence of a subduction boundary within these
data, we suggest the following sequence for the Miocene to present tectonic evolution of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains (Fig. 4). Beginning in
the early Miocene and terminating at ca. 11 Ma, the Eastern Carpathians
underwent ~140 km of shortening due to the eastward escape of the TizaDacia microplate in response to the Alpine-Tethys closure and collision.
The shortening observed in the Eastern Carpathians is largely thought to
have been accomplished by the consumption of a marine basin floored by
oceanic lithosphere (Sperner et al., 2004; Ustaszewski et al., 2008). The
Vrancea seismogenic zone is often interpreted as the last remnant of this
putative ocean basin (Wortel and Spakman, 2000). However, unequivocal evidence that the Vrancea seismogenic zone was directly part of a
subducted ocean basin has never been substantiated, although numerous
studies commonly interpret it as such, perhaps owing to early geophysical
interpretations of Vrancea seismicity (i.e., Fuchs et al., 1979). Sandulescu
(1988) argued that the consumed basin was underlain by attenuated con-

338

Focsani Basin

East Carpathians
Focsani Basin
UPLIFT
Transylvanian Basin Calc-alkaline volcanism Subsidence

Eclogite root

Continental lithosphere

Asthenosphere

PleistocenePresent. Delamination, uplift and subsidence.

East Carpathians
Transylvanian Basin
Alkaline volcanism

UPLIFT
UPL
LIFT
Calc-alkaline volcanism

Focsani Basin
Subsidence

Asthenosphere

50 km

VE~1:1

Figure 4. The late Miocene to present delamination sequence of the Eastern Carpathians leading to the formation of the Vrancea seismogenic
zone. For discussion of this figure, see text. VEvertical exaggeration.

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Mantle earthquakes in the absence of subduction?

tinental crust, which would seem likely, since Panea et al. (2005) and
Mucuta et al. (2006) described grabens of possibly Mesozoic age beneath
the Focsani basin. Based on reprocessed petroleum industry seismic data,
Knapp et al. (2005) argued that the East Carpathian foreland is floored by
the Moesian basement that extends west beneath the Transylvanian basin.
Due to the lack of subduction fabrics on the DRACULA I and DACIAPLAN seismic profiles, we favor the latter two arguments by Sandulescu
and Knapp, that the basin accommodating shortening during Miocene time
in the Eastern Carpathians was floored by basement of continental affinity
and that the shortening was intracontinental in nature. By the end of the
Mioceneearly Pliocene, the orogenic crust, thickened by nappe emplacement, underwent a metamorphic phase change to eclogite facies, which
caused densification of the orogenic root and began delamination. Gravity
and isostatic modeling by Sperner et al. (2004) show that thickening of
the crust and lithosphere beneath the orogen as a result of collision would
cause subsidence above the thickened orogenic root, and that following
delamination of the continental lithosphere, the locus of subsidence would
migrate eastward in response to the subcrustal load. Matenco et al. (2007)
and Leever et al. (2006) reported that from PliocenePleistocene time,
there was a SE shift in the accommodation and subsidence of the Focsani basin. While these authors attributed this phenomenon to lithospheric
buckling, this same subsidence response may well have occurred and was
predicted by Sperner et al. (2004) as a result of detachment and sinking
of delaminated continental lithosphere. In Pliocene time, and continuing
into the Pleistocene, the delaminated root descended into the upper mantle toward its current location. We suggest that the delaminated orogenic
root is now represented by the Vrancea seismogenic zone and that this
delamination was initiated prior to the onset of Pleistocene alkalic and
calc-alkaline volcanism in the southern East Carpathians, dated at 2.25
and 2.1 Ma, respectively (Downes et al., 1995; Pcskay et al., 2006), and
was contemporaneous with uplift of the southeast Carpathians and subsidence in the Focsani foreland basin (Sanders et al., 1999; Krezsek and
Bally, 2006; Leever et al., 2006; Matenco et al., 2007).
Teleseimic tomography used to image the mantle structure beneath
the East Carpathians shows a seismically fast (cold and/or higher density)
volume in the mantle beneath the Focsani basin, with the Vrancea seismicity located in or on its NW edge (Wortel and Spakman, 2000; Weidle
et al., 2005; Martin et al., 2005). This observation is consistent with the
interpretation presented here in Figure 3B, that the seismogenic body may
represent a seismically fast portion of crust removed due to delamination.
Delamination of the orogenic root beneath the Eastern Carpathians also
provides means for asthenospheric mantle to rise to depths as shallow as
3035 km in place of the missing lower crust on the seismic section.
Asthenospheric upwelling as a result of delamination may be (1) the cause
of uplift of the southeast Carpathians during the PliocenePleistocene
(Sanders et al., 1999), (2) the source of the deep-seated alkaline volcanism
in the Persani Mountains (Downes et al., 1995; Pcskay et al., 2006), (3)
the cause of the low-seismic-velocity anomaly located NW of the Vrancea
seismogenic zone in tomographic studies of the region (Wortel and Spakman, 2000; Weilde et al., 2005; Martin et al., 2005), and (4) the cause of
attenuation of seismic waves generated in the Vrancea seismogenic zone
as recorded in Transylvania (Russo et al., 2005).
CONCLUSIONS

From the deep seismic-reflection data shown here, we cannot advocate

the presence of a suture zone indicating the location where an ocean basin
was consumed beneath the East Carpathians. These data suggest that the
root of the southeast Carpathians is absent, as indicated by ~3233-kmthick crust beneath the orogen and two-dimensional geometry of the miss-

LITHOSPHERE | Volume 2 | Number 5 | www.gsapubs.org

| RESEARCH

ing crust that matches closely that of the intermediate-depth Vrancea seismogenic zone hypocenters. Though we also cannot unequivocally state
that delamination of lower crust and mantle lithosphere is the cause of
the Vrancea seismogenic zone and source of the geodynamic processes
observed in the Eastern Carpathians, we propose that numerous geologic
and geophysical observations support our interpretation for crust-inclusive
continental lithospheric delamination. The horizontal length of the missing lower crust corresponds to the depth dimension of the intermediate
Vrancea earthquakes and suggests a direct link between the seismic body
and the thin East Carpathian crust. Due to the two-dimensional nature of
this study, the extent of the continental delamination beneath the Eastern Carpathians can only be postulated. Nevertheless, the delamination
hypothesis proposed here for the origin of the Vrancea seismogenic zone
may represent the final stages of continental lithospheric delamination
beneath the length of the Eastern Carpathians. The model presented here
suggests that mantle-depth seismicity associated with the Vrancea seismogenic zone is unlikely to be the result of subduction and that continental
lithospheric delamination may be an alternate process capable of producing mantle-depth earthquakes in the absence of subduction tectonics.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Greg Houseman and two anonymous reviewers for comments

that strengthened this manuscript. We thank Liviu Matenco for insightful discussion and suggestions that have also improved this work. The
authors would like to acknowledge the National Science Foundation for
providing the funding to complete this research through the Tectonics
Program grant, EAR-0310118. We thank Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) and the Passcal instrument pool for providing recording instrumentation and field support for data acquisition.
Fieldwork was carried out through collaboration with the University of
Bucharest, Romania, the University of South Carolina, and the National
Institute for Earth Physics, Bucharest-Magurele, whose faculty, staff,
and students comprised team DRACULA. Data processing was completed using ProMAX software supplied to the University of South Carolina on a grant from Landmark Graphics Corporation.
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