Study of the crustal thickness and the subducting lithosphere in Greece from gravity data

Abstract

The area of Greece has experienced a complex tectonic history dominated by the subduction of the African plate beneath Eurasia. In this study the variations of the crustal thickness in the area of Greece were obtained by means of the multiple‐source Werner deconvolution (MSWD) method applied to gravity data. Thicknesses of 40–49 km are estimated beneath the Hellenides mountain belt to the west. Eastward thinning of the crust, to thicknesses ranging from 25 km in the north to 30 km in the south is seen in the Aegean region. These results are in good agreement with recent seismological results, demonstrating that the MSWD method successfully treated the problem. Using the crustal model we derived, we computed the gravity effect of the crust and extracted it from the Bouguer anomaly. We also extracted the gravity effect of the subducting lithosphere from the Bouguer anomaly, producing a residual map where most of the original gravity variation has been successfully removed. The remaining anomalies appear related to near‐surface features and an area of low‐velocity mantle in the central Aegean Sea.