Modeling of the Alpine crust-mantle boundary
Perspective SW-view on the Moho discontinuity below the Alpine region.

This model is derived by a new approach to determine three-dimensional topography and lateral continuity of seismic interfaces using two-dimensionally derived controlled-source seismic (CSS) reflector data (Waldhauer et al. 1998). The aim of the approach is to give the simplest possible structure consistent with all reflector data and their error estimates. We define simplicity of seismic interfaces by the degree of interface continuity (i.e., shortest length of offsets) and by the degree of interface roughness (least surface roughness). The reflector data used for smoothest interpolation is shown by colors indicating weighting factors between blue (information poorly constraint by CSS methods) and red (highly reliable reflectors from CSS methods) and by size of Fresnel zone on Moho interface.
The Alpine Moho model shows two offsets with three sub-interfaces: The European, the Adriatic, and the Ligurian Moho. It reflects the present large-scale Alpine tectonic structure resulting from the collision of the African with the European plate. The two Moho offsets below the Insubric Line and below the northern Apennines confirm a southward subduction of the European Moho under the shallower, north-dipping Adriatic Moho, and a southward subduction of the Adriatic Moho beneath the Ligurian Moho. The Adriatic Moho is up-doming below the Po-plain plain, most likely as the combined result of compressional forces due to the NNW drifting African plate and of subduction related loading beneath northern Apennines.

Download the Alpine Moho model in ASCII format here.
Related articles:

Waldhauser, F., E. Kissling, J. Ansorge, and St. Mueller, Three-dimensional interface modelling with two-dimensional seismic data: The Alpine crust-mantle boundary, Geophys. J. Int. , 135, 264-278, 1998. [PDF]

Waldhauser, F., R. Lippitsch, E. Kissling, and J. Ansorge, High-resolution teleseismic tomography of upper-mantle structure using an a priori three-dimensional crustal model, Geophys. J. Int., 150, 403-414, 2002. [PDF]

Waldhauser, F., A parametrized three-dimensional Alpine crustal model and its application to teleseismic wavefront scattering, Ph.D. thesis Nr. 11940 , ETH-Zürich, pp 173, 1996. [PDF 10Mb]