Insights on the upper mantle beneath the Eastern Alps

Analyses of Ps and Sp receiver functions from datasets collected by permanent and temporary seismic stations, image a seismic discontinuity, due to a negative velocity contrast across the entire Eastern Alps. The receiver functions show the presence of the discontinuity within the upper mantle with a resolution of tens of kilometers laterally. It is deeper (100-130 km) below the central portion of the Eastern Alps, and shallower (70-80 km) towards the Pannonian Basin and in the Central Alps. Comparison with previous studies renders it likely that the observed discontinuity coincides with the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) east of 15 degrees E longitude, while it could be associated with a low velocity zone west of 15 degrees E. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).