Explore the vast range of titles available.

The transition between the weak lithosphere of the Tibetan plateau and the surrounding rigid crustal blocks has a key role in the ongoing collision between India and Asia. A reanalysis of existing magnetotelluric data suggests that crustal melt penetrates north from the Tibetan plateau beyond the Kunlun Fault, and weakens the crust beneath the Kunlun Shan. The weak lithosphere of the Tibetan plateau is surrounded by rigid crustal blocks 1 and the transition between these regimes plays a key role in the ongoing collision between India and Eurasia. Geophysical data 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and magmatic evidence 6 , 7 support the notion that partial melt exists within the anomalously hot 7 , 8 crust of northern Tibet. The Kunlun Fault, which accommodates the plateau’s eastward extrusion, has been identified as a significant rheological boundary 4 between weak, warm Tibetan crust 8 and the rigid eastern Kunlun–Qaidam block. Here we present reanalyses and remodelling of existing magnetotelluric data 4 , using an anisotropy code 9 to obtain revised resistivity models. We find unequivocal evidence for anisotropy in conductivity at the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau. We interpret this anisotropy as the signature of intrusion of melt that penetrates north from the Tibetan plateau and weakens the crust beneath the Kunlun Shan. We suggest that our identification of a melt intrusion at the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau compromises the previous identification of the Kunlun Fault as an important rheological boundary. We conclude that the crustal melt penetration probably characterizes the growth of the plateau 10 to the north, as well as accommodating the north–south crustal shortening in Tibet.

We present the latest magnetotelluric models on profiles in the northeastern part of Slovakia and the southeastern part of Poland. These models are focused on deciphering the tectonic structures at the contact of the Inner Carpathians with the European Platform in this area. For the Inner Carpathian block, we propose the term Carpathia. Profile SA-01 shows shallower structures and the parallel MT-05 profile shows deeper structures. These models are also correlated with the seismic profile CEL-05. All results are compatible and show an original subduction-collisional structure, which was later replaced by a transpressive-transtensional one. The most striking structures are thick highly conductive subhorizontal zones in the middle crust and a tectonically controlled deep vertical conductive structure—the Carpathian conductive zone. Other significant structures, which also appear in the seismic section, are back thrusting of Flysch Belt and the Klippen Belt basement (Penninic crust) uplift.

Electrical resistivity of the Earth’s crust is sensitive to a wide range of petrological and physical parameters, and it particularly clearly indicates crustal zones that have been tectonically or thermodynamically disturbed. A complex geological structure of the Alpine nappe system, remnants of older Hercynian units and Neogene block tectonics in Western Slovakia has been a target of recent magnetotelluric investigations which made a new and more precise identification of the crustal structural elements of the Western Carpathians possible. A NW-SE magnetotelluric profile, 150 km long, with 30 broad-band and 3 long-period magnetotelluric sites, was deployed, crossing the major regional tectonic elements listed from the north: Brunia (as a part of the European platform), Outer Carpathian Flysch, Klippen Belt, blocks of Penninic or Oravicum crust, Tatricum and Veporicum. Magnetotelluric models were combined with previous seismic and gravimetric results and jointly interpreted in the final integrated geological model. The magnetotelluric models of geoelectrical structures exhibit strong correlation with the geological structures of the crust in this part of the Western Carpathians. The significant resemblance in geoelectrical and crustal geological structures are highlighted in shallow resistive structures of the covering formations represented by mainly Tertiary sediments and volcanics. Also in the deeper parts of the crust highly resistive and conductive structures are shown, which reflect the original building Hercynian crust, with superposition of granitoids or granitised complexes and lower metamorphosed complexes. Another important typical feature in the construction of the Western Carpathians is the existence of young Neogene steep fault zones exhibited by conductive zones within the whole crust. The most significant fault zones separate individual blocks of the Western Carpathians and the Western Carpathians itself from the European Platform.

The paper presents the interpretation of magnetotelluric measurements along the SW–NE profile near Stará Ľubovňa (Northern Slovakia). The profile passes through the Outer Carpathian Flysch Belt, Klippen Belt and ends in the Inner Western Carpathians Paleogene NW from Ružbachy horst structure. The interpretation of the older measurements from profile Mt4 was utilized and, moreover, the 3-D geoelectrical model of studied region was constructed. The magnetotelluric data interpretations verified the northern inclination of Flysch belt structures and their smaller thickness out of Klippen Belt in direction to the Carpathian electrical conductivity zone axis. We consider this as a consequence of the flower structure—more precisely the southern branch of the suture zone related to mentioned conductivity zone. Northerly from this zone the thickness of the Outer Carpathian Flysch Belt increases and the structures have inclination to the south, i.e. to the subduction zone. The contact of Flysch Belt with Klippen Belt has a fault character and it is subvertical, slightly inclined to the North. The southern boundary between Klippen Belt and Inner Western Carpathians has also fault character and is very steep. We detect the continuation of the Ružbachy horst to the NE in the basement of Inner Western Carpathian Paleogene. The structural discordance between this horst and Klippen Belt direction is a result of younger tectonic processes. According to our results the depth distribution of the pre-Tertiary basement below the Inner Western Carpathian units is non-uniform; the basement is broken to a number of partial blocks—horsts and grabens.

This publication is a contribution to discussion on the geometry and petrography of the rock complex responsible for the Carpathian conductivity anomaly. We analysed arguments showing that this anomaly is caused by induction in the sedimentary basin, and make a critical review of various data to find out whether the good conductivity is connected with a rock complex containing graphite or mineralized water. We conclude that a more likely mechanism is the ionic one, i.e., the existence of fluids, although a final decision can only be made on the basis of deep drillings.

Induced magnetic fields in the Earth arise due to two phenomena: induction generated by the time-variable exciting field and the motional induction caused by movement of the conductive planet in the outer magnetic fields. The comparison of both approaches on the spherical Earth has been analyzed in the present work for two sources in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. For this aim, both sources with their natural sizes and positions have been modeled analytically to obtain the fields on the layered sphere at the middle latitudes. The conditions when the steady ring current field is not influenced by the Earth’s rotation have been established theoretically. The synthetic diurnal magnetograms were used for the deep sounding by the magnetovariation spatial gradient method and the result was compared with the one obtained on the nonrotating sphere. Sounding results using both approaches were found different above the 2D inhomogeneous mantle. The precessions of the magnetospheric belt current pole for daily sampling frequency were presented using several geomagnetic observatory data in the northern hemisphere.

In the years 2001–2003, we accomplished the experimental phase of the project CEMES by collecting long-period magnetotelluric data at positions of eleven permanent geomagnetic observatories situated within few hundreds kilometers along the south-west margin of the East European Craton. Five teams were engaged in estimating independently the magnetotelluric responses by using different data processing procedures. The conductance distributions at the depths of the upper mantle have been derived individually beneath each observatory. By averaging the individual cross-sections, we have designed the final model of the geoelectrical structure of the upper mantle beneath the CEMES region. The results indicate systematic trends in the deep electrical structure of the two European tectonic plates and give evidence that the electrical structure of the upper mantle differs between the East European Craton and the Phanerozoic plate of west Europe, with a separating transition zone that generally coincides with the Trans-European Suture Zone.

Crustal structures in the northern part of Slovakia were interpreted based on magnetotelluric data with help of supplementary gravity information. Magnetotelluric measurements in northern Slovakia along the northern part of seismic profile 2T were modelled using new processing and inversion methods. Geoelectric model reveals the position and structure of the deep crustal tectonic units and identify major deep fault zones. Presented northern part of the model exhibits a significant influence of resistive complexes composed of Cadomian crystalline basement of European platform beneath Outer Western Carpathians conductive sediments of Flysch belt. The important contribution of the magnetotelluric method for the interpretation of crustal structures is the differentiation of high-resistivity and low-resistivity complexes, which can be interpreted in the southern part of the profile as inhomogeneities in the crust caused by tectonic superposition of granitoid and metamorphic complexes, as relics of crustal Hercynian tectonic structure. Young steep shear zones can be well identified by magnetotelluric method due to their conductive properties. In the gravity model we imaged denser structures of European platform and also overlaid flysch sediments, Klippen belt, Tatricum crystalline complex and Mesozoic carbonates.

A positive gravity anomaly was observed in the Flysch belt realm. Based on this fact and available geological knowledge we suppose that the source of gravity anomaly might be carbonate rocks lying perhaps in the footwall of Flysch sediments. The carbonates belong perhaps to the Penninic crust cover (a part of Klippen belt), or to lower structural stage of the Flysch belt. Besides this it is interpreted more volume of Neogene subvolcanic bodies in the frame of the Flysch belt based on the results of the newest magnetic measurements in the NE part of Slovakia (Kucharič et. al., in press). These are accompanied by increasing heat flow and hydrothermal alteration within neighbouring rocks what may eventuate into creation of raw materials. These two factors - carbonates and subvolcanic bodies - are important items for appraisal of new perspective in this area not only from hydrocarbon occurrences point of view (a primary intend within this area) but also for enhancement of geothermal potential of Slovak Republic and opening possibilities for prognosis of raw material occurrences as well.

We present analytical solution of the forward magnetometric problem for the oblate spheroid (rotational ellipsoid) as a causative body. The shorter semiaxis of the ellipsoid is supposed to be vertical to the surface of the earth. There is proved that the uniform inducing magnetic field B0 induces inside the spheroid also uniform magnetic field but its modulus and direction are different as compared to B0. The isolines and profile curves of ΔZ and ΔT are calculated on the plane z = const above the ellipsoid, as well as on the surface of the hill in the shape of cutted cone.