TECTONOPHYSICS

ELSEVIER

Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

On the thermal regime of some tectonic units in a continental

collision environment in Romania
Cri%an Demetrescu, Maria Andreescu
Institute of Geodynamics,

19-21 J.L. Calderon St., R-70201, Bucharest-37,

(Received January 26, 1993; revised version accepted

September

Romania

16, 1993)

Abstract
An analysis of the evolution of the
lithosphere
should be derived according,
units have been involved in and, on the
model of the crustal temperature
field
presented
for the Romanian territory. It
different geological and thermal histories.
lithosphere
in the East Carpathians,
as

main tectonic units in Romania shows that the thermal regime of the
on the one hand, to the particular tectonic interactions
the various tectonic
other hand, to the investigated
depth interval. A steady-state
conduction
based on the heat flow distribution
and information
on the structure
is
shows large lateral thermal variations between tectonic units, as a result of
Within the frame of a complex modelling of the thermal evolution of the
proposed in this study, the zero-order thermal effects of the pre-Miocene

oceanic subduction of the Eurasian plate are evaluated. The deep thermal structure of the subducted slab is derived
and shown to be compatible with the velocity structure of the lithosphere and the intermediate-depth
seismicity of
the Vrancea area.

1. Introduction
The heat flow distribution
on the Romanian
territory shows a complex pattern with high heat
flow in the Pannonian
Depression,
the Neogene
volcanic zone and parts of the Moesian Platform,
with low heat flow in the Transylvanian
Depression, the Crystalline-Mesozoic
and Flysch zones
of the East Carpathians,
the Carpathian
foredeep
and the Moesian Platform, and with large variations of the heat flow between neighbouring
tectonic units. A contour
map, recently
updated
(Demetrescu
et al., 1991b), is presented
in Fig. 1.
The tectonic units we refer to are described
in
Fig. 2. The heat flow map is based on available
heat flow data (167 heat flow values by the end of
0040-1951/94/$07.00
0 1994 Elsevier
XSDI 0040-1951(93)E0205-9

Science

19881, supplemented,
in areas of poor coverage,
with estimations
from temperature
and thermal
gradient information
from oil industry boreholes.
Most of the 167 heat flow values were obtained
by temperature
measurements
down to 500-1000
m in thermally stabilized boreholes
and conductivity measurements
or estimations
for the same
depth interval (Demetrescu
et al., 1991b). The
heat flow contours are shown by broken lines in
areas for which no (Southern
Carpathians)
or
very poor (e.g. Apuseni
Mountains,
Western
Transylvanian
Basin) geothermal
information
is
available.
The heat flow distribution
gives a preliminary
idea on the geothermal
regime of different
tectonic units in the Romanian
territory. The next

B.V. All rights reserved

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

266

step in characterizing the thermal regime is to

infer the depth-distribution
of temperature. For
certain areas and certain depths, for which a
thermal steady-state can be assumed, the usual
way of doing this is by means of steady-state
conduction models. In the next section we present such a model for the crust.
When the entire lithosphere is considered, one
has to take into account thermal effects of largescale tectonic processes involving the whole lithosphere. In the Romanian territory the lithosphere
structure is the result of the complex interaction
between the Alpine and older Europe. Some past

2 o
I

90
I

20

2 o
I

or still ongoing tectonic processes and the attempts to model their thermal effects are briefly
reviewed in Section 3. A model for the deep
thermal structure of the East Carpathians is given
in the Section 4.

2. The thermal regime of the crust

As far as the crust alone is concerned, steadystate conduction models for defining the geotherma1 regime of various tectonic units are justified
for most of the Romanian territory (Demetrescu,

26O

280

.r.

*t ,.&\

KRAINE

Fig. 1. Heat flow distribution

on the Romanian
territory. Contours in mW m -*. Dots represent surface heat flow data points (after
Demetrescu
et al., 1991b). EC = East Carpathians;
SC = Southern Carpathians;
AM = Apuseni Mountains;
EEP = East European
Platform;
MP = Moesian
Platform;
PD = Pannonian
Depression;
TD = Transylvanian
Depression;
NV= Neogene
volcanites;
A-A = possible direction of the cross-section
of Fig. 5 (see text); O-O = trench line; rectangle = epicentral area of intermediatedepth earthquakes.

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

261

Fig. 2. Structural
sketch of central and southeastern
Europe (after Siindulescu
(1984)). I = the major Tethyan suture: Transylvanides, Vardar, South-Pannonian
suture, Pienine klippes (a = units with ophiolites,
b = associated
units); 2 = Internal Dacides
(Austroalpine);
3 = Median Dacides (b = Serbo-Macedonian
Massif); 4 = Outer Dacides;
5 = Marginal
Dacides (Danubian);
6 = Moldavides;
7 = Carpathian
foredeep;
8 = Internal
Dinarides;
9 = Outer Dinarides;
10 = North Dobrudjan
orogen;
11 =
Neogene volcanites;
12 = East European
Platform;
13 = Moesian Platform;
14 = epicentral
area of intermediate-depth
Vrancea
earthquakes:
PD = Pannonian
Depression;
TD = Transylvanian
Depression;
A-A = possible direction of the cross-section
of Fig.
5 (see text): O-O = trench line of Fig. 5; rectangle = study area.

1982; Demetrescu and Veliciu, 1991). To support

this statement we mention (see Lachenbruch and
Sass, 1977) that the conductive time constant
(T = h/K, h = layer thickness, K = thermal diffusivity) for a 30-km crust is 7-8 Ma, which means
that steady-state conduction through the crust
can safely be assumed as at N 24 Ma after the
initiation of heating or cooling by some subcrustal
processes bringing or taking away heat constantly.
Such sources or sinks might have been active in
relation to the Savian (Early Miocene) and Styrian (Middle Miocene) erogenic phases affecting
the East Carpathian flysch units, to the Walachian

(Pleistocene) phase affecting the Subcarpathians,

and in the case of the Pannonian Depression
which has been undergoing extension since the
Badenian (Middle Miocene). The transient effect
of the cooling of the Neogene igneous systems of
the East Carpathians was studied by Veliciu and
Visarion (1984) and was found to be negligible at
present due to the relatively old age (3-12 Ma).
The study of the transient effect of the postPalaeogene subsidence and sedimentation showed
negligible lateral variations in the Transylvanian
Depression and Moesian Platform (Demetrescu
et al., 1983). According to Royden and Burchfiel

268

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

(1989) rapid uplift and deep erosion, likely to

produce strong thermal effects, were generally
lacking in the Carpathians. If we accept an erosion of 5 km in 20 Ma, the effect on the original
heat flow could be only about 10% (Powell and
Chapman, 1988). And last, but not in the least,
we have neglected a possible important cause for
the non-steady-state thermal conditions, namely
disturbances by water flow, for the following reasons: (1) large crustal-scale water flow systems in
the crust are not known in the study area; (2)
basin-scale {a few kilometr~s) water flows do not
show up in the map because the density of data
points can not resolve the characteristic lateral
distribution of the heat flow in that case; (3) the
consistency of the heat flow values at the regional
scale of this study shows that water flow disturbances do not control the temperature field at
this scale.
Geotherm families, vertical cross-sections and
maps of the lateral variation of temperature at
various depths, based on steady-state conduction
models, have been presented. The results (see a
complete reference list in Demetrescu and Veliciu, 1991) show that: (1) within a given tectonic
unit, the lateral thermal variations depend on the
structure and composition of the crust, the most
important contribution being that of the first
lo-20 km; (2) large lateral thermal variations
appear between different tectonic units, including
horizontal gradients of 200-3OOC/IOO km; this
seems to be a consequence of different Moho
heat flows (e.g. lo-20 mW rnw2 in platform areas, 15-30 mW m- in the external units of the
East Carpathians, 50-60 mW m- in the Neogene volcanic zone, 15-20 mW m- in the Transylvanian Depression, and 40-60 mW rnp2 in the
Pannonian Depression), characterizing tectonic
units with very different geological histories (Fig.
2).
In this section we present a steady-state 1-D
conduction model for the entire Romanian territory, calculated in a grid of 12 X 20 minutes of
latitude and longitude. The heat flow map of Fig.
1, information on crustal structure (Radulescu,
19791, and a model of the vertical variation of
thermal properties of rocks (Table l> were used
in deriving the grid data. FolIowing Cermak (1982)

Table 1
Thermal properties
1982)
Crustal layers

of crustal rocks (partly after Cermik,

K,

Ao

(K-l)

(PWm-s)

(km)

1.3

0.8

2.5

0,s

3.0
2.0

0.0008
0

*
*

*
*

(Wm-
Neogene
sediments
Pre-Neogene
sediments
Upper crust
Lower crust

K)

* According to C-,(O)of the province and Eqs. (4) and (9) with
C, = 89~900, C, = 2.17 (Rybach and Buntebarth, 1984). :,@I
= 5.9 km s-r for the East European Platform; 6.0 km s _ for
the Pannonian Depression, Apuseni Mountains and Neogene
volcanic arc; 6.2 km s- for the Transylvanian Depression,
Carpathians, Foredeep and Moesian Platform (F. Radulescu,
pers. commun., 1989).

the thermal conductivity was considered

perature-dependent
according to:
K=K,(l

t-CT)_

as tem-

(I)

A single A(z) relationship (A = heat production: z = depth) for the entire investigated depth
interval has been derived for each heat flow
province (Demetrescu et al., 1991a), making use
of the existent information (F. Radulescu, pers.
commun., 1989) on seismic velocities characterizing the crystaiiine basement of various tectonic
units.
Briefly, combining the exponential depth-dependence of the heat production (Lachenbruch,
1968):
A(Z) =A(O) exp( -z/D)

(2)
with the seismic P-wave velocity-dependence
of
the heat production (Rybach and Buntebarth,
1984):

A( 2) = C, exp[ -C,v,(

z)]

(3)

where C, and C, are empirically determined

constants, and z*r is the velocity of P-waves, resubs in:
A(z) = C, exp[ -C+,(O)]

exp( --z/L))

(4)

where u,(O) is the seismic velocity in the crystalline basement.

For a given heat flow province we then combine two well known empirical relationships, pro-

269

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 26.5-276

posed by Birch et al. (19681, Roy et al. (1968) and

by Pollack and Chapman (1977):
9=qr+flA,
q, = 0.6~
with a modification
Q = 4, + LSi;,

0.49

(5)
(6)
by CermQk (1982) of Eq. (5):
(7)

to obtain:

D = 0.4@&,

Taking into account Eq. (31, we obtain:

(8)

In Eqs. W-(8), q is the surface heat flow, 4,

the reduced heat flow, A, =A(01 the surface heat
production, and the bar indicates averages over
the province.

(9)

L, = C, exp[ -C,i-j,(O)]

which defines a single A(Z) relationship, Eq. (41,

for the heat flow province, provided the mean
surface heat flow and the mean seismic velocity
in the basement could be estimated.
The calculation resulted in a quasi 3-D model
of the crustal temperature field for the entire
Romanian territory. The lateral distribution of
the temperature field in the study area is illustrated by maps at different depths, of which
give in Fig. 3, as an example, the map for 20

-I
UKRAINE

Fig. 3. Temperature distribution at a depth of 20 km. Contours in C. EC = East Carpathians; SC = Southern Carpathians;
Mountains; EEP = East European Platform; MP = Moesian Platform; PD = Pannonian Depression; TD =
Transylvanian Depression; NV = Neogene volcanites.

AM = Apuseni

270

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

depth. At this depth, temperatures of 200-400C

characterize the platform areas, 400-500C the
external units of the East Carpathians, 600-800C
the Neogene volcanic zone, 300-500C the Transylvanian Depression, and 500-700C the Pannonian Depression.
The model obtained confirms previous models
concerning individual tectonic units. The large
lateral thermal variations between tectonic units
seem to be a consequence of different mantle
heat flows.

MOLDAVIDES

EXT

DACIDES

MED.

DACIDES

TRANSYLVANIDES

3. Tectonic

processes involving
sphere in the study area

the entire

litho-

A structural sketch of central and southeastern

Europe (Fig. 2) shows the major Carpathian units,
which group together nappes of similar type and
of synchronous age of tectogenesis, and their
relation to the East European and Moesian platforms of the foreland. Two main ophiolitic sutures are present in the study area (Transylvanides and Outer Dacides).
In the Alpine evolution of the Carpathians two
major periods, each with paroxysmal intervals,
can be distinguished following Sandulescu (1984;
1988), Royden and Burchfiel (19891, and Csontos
et al. (1992): one in which extension prevails and
one in which compression is the main stress characteristic. The extensional period is characterized
by the opening of the Tethys in the Middle Triassic and its evolution by spreading processes, accompanied by the appearance
of extensional
basins with stretched continental or oceanic crust
on both the Apulian and the European margins
(the Outer Dacides on the latter). The change to
the compressional regime was determined by the
opening of the Atlantic and the subsequent interaction of the African and European plates along
the mobile Tethyan area.
Two main tectogenetic
phases (mid-cretaceous and Miocene) are responsible for the
mountain
building in the Carpathians:
the
Dacides, Transylvanides and the Danubian as the
result of the first phase, and the Moldavides as
the result of the second phase (Fig. 4). The Moldavidic tectogeneses (Styrian-Middle
Miocene,

INT.

DACIDES
125
TIME

100
BEFORE

75

50
PRESENT

25

1M.Y.)

Fig. 4. Main tectogenetic

phases in the Carpathians
(after
S5ndulescu
(1984)). .T3= Late Jurassic;
K, = Early Cretaceous;
K, = Late Cretaceous;
PAL = Paleocene;
EOC =
Eocene; OLI = Oligocene;
MI0 = Miocene; PLI = Pliocene.

Moldavian-Late
Miocene) implied also shortening and consumption of the crust, processes linked
to the formation of the Neogene volcanic arc
superimposed on the internal areas of the Carpathians. Minor deformations in the bend area of
the East Carpathians were produced during the
last tectogenetic phase-the
Walachian (Pleistocene). The East European and Moesian platforms are underthrust with respect to the Carpathians.
Two large post-tectonic
Neogene molasse
basins (Transylvanian and Pannonian) are superimposed on the folded units and a molasse foredeep (of Sarmato-Pliocene
age in the study area>
borders the folded chain outwards.
At present, in the Romanian territory, the
Eurasian plate is in contact with two (Constantinescu et al., 1976) or three (Airinei, 1977)
lithospheric fragments (sensu Burchfiel, 19801,
namely: the Inter-Alpine, the Moesian, and the
Black Sea. Various models of plate-tectonics applied to the Carpathian area tried to include the
intermediate-depth
seismicity of the Vrancea
area. The earthquakes of this type occur in a very

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

narrow epicentral area (Fig. 2) of about 60 X 20

km, to a depth of about 200 km. The seismogenie volume is almost vertical; in the NE-SW
direction the hypocentres deepen at an angle of
about 65. The quasi-verticality of the T-axes and
the quasi-horizontality of the P-axes characterize
the focal mechanism (mainly reverse type) of
these earthquakes (see a review on the seismicity
and source models in Trifu, 1991). Historically
two types of tectonic models were proposed: (1)
active subduction of the oceanic part of the
Eurasian plate in the East Carpathians (Radulescu and Sandulescu, 1973; Herz and Savu, 1974);
(2) active SE-NW quasi-vertical subduction in
the East Carpathians bend area (Roman, 1970;
McKenzie, 1972; Constantinescu et al., 1973). For
the East Carpathians, more recent ideas favour a
Miocene continental collision with a type A subduction following the episode of oceanic subduction of the Eurasian plate (Burchfiel, 1980;
Sandulescu, 1988; Royden and Burchfiel, 1989).
Better-constrained
seismological data called for
variants and combinations of the two basic models, namely: (a) palaeo-subduction of the Eurasian
plate in the East Carpathians with a decoupled
lithospheric block in its southeastern extremity
sinking gravitationally into the mantle (Fuchs et
al., 1979; Oncescu, 1984a); and (b) active SE-NW
subduction in the Carpathian bend area interacting with the palaeo-subducted
slab in the East
Carpathians (Oncescu, 1984b). For the latter case,
a model has recently been presented (Kiratzi,
19931 of the deformation attributed to the occurrence of intermediate-depth
earthquakes.
The compressional tectonics characterizing the
folded units of the Carpathians, changed into
extensional tectonics in the Pannonian Depression. The relationship between the evolution of
the lithosphere and its thermal regime for these
two areas was studied by Veliciu and Visarion
(1984), and, respectively, Demetrescu and Polonic
(1989).
For the East Carpathians, Veliciu and Visarion (1984), following Radulescu and Sandulescu
(19731, considered a Miocene oceanic subduction
of the Eurasian plate and, adopting the 2-D model
of Lubimova and Nikitina (19781, concluded that
both the high heat flow and the build-up of the

271

Neogene-Quaternary
volcanic chain are consequences of this process.
However, according to the tectogenetic scheme
presented above, we suggest an alternative more
complex approach which consists of modelling a
pre-Miocene oceanic subduction followed by a
Miocene underthrusting of a continental lithosphere in the process of continental collision
leading to the Moldavidic tectogeneses. In the
next section we model only the zero-order thermal effects of the pre-collisional (pre-Miocene)
subduction of an oceanic lithosphere followed by
an interval (Miocene-Present)
of immobility and
show that the deep thermal regime of the lithosphere is compatible with available data on the
velocity structure (Oncescu et al., 1984) and, for
the Vrancea area, on the intermediate-depth
seismicity (Trifu, 1991). The thermal effects of the
Miocene interactions, to be studied elsewhere as
a next step, would be superimposed on the thermal field described in the next section. A Miocene
subduction of a continental crust and upper mantle would give thermal effects of the same type as
those described in the next section (van den
Beukel, 19921, attenuating to a certain extent the
recovering effects of the Miocene-Present
interval of immobility supposed in the present model.
Parts of the crust will be consumed in the shortening process and contribute to the formation of
the volcanic arc, with its characteristic high surface heat flow, superimposed on the low heat
flow background produced by the subduction in
the corresponding area. The thermal effects of
the thrusting of the Moldavide nappes would
concern mostly the upper part rather than the
deeper sections of the subducted slab (C. Demetrescu et al., in prep.).
For the Romanian sector of the Pannonian
Depression,
Demetrescu
and Polonic (1989),
based on subsidence data from 75 boreholes fairly
uniformly distributed over the area, and on heat
flow data interpreted in terms of the instantaneous homogeneous lithospheric stretching model
of McKenzie (1978), concluded that the extension
in the study area amounts to 40%, that the convective transfer of heat by lithospheric material
ascending during extension contributes
15-30
mW m-2 to the observed surface heat flow, and

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

272

that the deep thermal structure of the lithosphere, including the thermally defined thickness,
differs by 15-20% from the current estimates
based on steady-state conduction models.

4. Subduction

model for the deep thermal

ture of the East Carpathians

struc-

In this section we present an order-of-magnitude 2-D calculation of the thermal structure of a

lithosphere involved in the subduction process
possibly responsible, at its southeastern extremity, for the Vrancea intermediate-depth
earthquakes.
According to Enescu et al. (1989), based on
arguments relating the magnitude of the strongest

earthquakes to the subduction velocity and the

age of the subducting plate, the subduction is of
the oceanic type and the age of the oceanic
lithospheric slab subducted in the Vrancea zone
is 140-160 Ma. The velocity of subduction was
estimated to be 2-5 cm yr- (Enescu, 1985) or
5.7-8.4 cm yr-* (Enescu et al., 1989).
The calculations were made with the method
of Hasebe et al. (1970) for a 120~km-thick oceanic lithosphere (thermal conductivity K = 4.18
W m-i K-, heat production A = 0.2 pcl.wm-3
in the 5-km-thick basaltic crust, 0.009 PW me3 in
the upper mantle) allowed to subduct with 2 cm
yr-, dipping 65 from northeast to southwest, for
50 Ma and kept immobile for another 20 Ma. The
calculation would be representative
for any
cross-section cutting roughly perpendicularly the

01

Or

sw

!O

100km

NE

50

TOkm

NE

Fig. 5. Thermal regime of a subducted lithospheric

slab: (a) after 50 Ma of continuous subduction with a rate of 2 cm yr-I; (b) after
another 20 Ma of immobility. Crosses represent the lithosphere/asthenosphere
limit; dots indicate projections of hypocentres
(see
text). Upper plot = surface heat flow of the model; lower plot = temperature.

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

structures
of the East Carpathians. One possible
direction of the cross-sections is marked in Figs. 1
and 2 (A-A) and it was chosen to be perpendicular to the trench line, O-O, which we placed at
the eastern margin of the Neogene volcanites, in
agreement with the position of the subduction
inferred from magnetotelluric studies (StatricH et
al., 19861, and parallel to the main horizontal
strike of the Vrancea seismogenic volume.
The mesh used in the finite-difference calculations was made up of 60 grid points in the horizontal direction (600 km) and 20 in the vertical
one (380 km). In the initial state the temperatures at the lithospheric top and bottom were 0
and 1333C respectively, and the thermal gradient below the lithosphere was taken as 3 mK
m-l. Zero horizontal heat flux at the lateral
margins and zero vertical heat flux at the bottom
of the model have been maintained.
According to a recent review (Davies and
Stevenson, 1992), the frictional heating has been
shown not to be a major heat source in subduction zones. However, a small value of 25 mW rnp2
has been considered at the upper face of the
subducted slab, which corresponds to a shear
stress of about 40 MPa for a subduction rate of 2
cm yrr (or smaller for higher rates). The heat
from this source conducted into the slab is of no
importance in establishing the temperature distribution in the descending slab, in comparison with
the sink represented by the downward movement
of the cold lithospheric material during subduction.
The major source of heat in the back-arc area,
namely the induced flow generated in the mantle
wedge by viscous coupling to the subducted plate
(Davies and Stevenson, 1992), which advects heat
above the slab, was modelled considering velocities of 0.2 cm yr- in the vertical direction and
0.1 cm yr- in the horizontal direction. These
values were suggested to us when applying our
approach to the heat flow data analysed by
Hasebe et al. (1970) for the Japan trench and
back-arc system, and they were used here only to
simulate high heat flow in the back-arc area of
the subduction model. The induced flow in the
mantle wedge above the slab is not capable to
heat up the slab/mantle
interface (Davies and

273

Stevenson, 1992) and, consequently, will not influence the temperatures in the slab. As we concentrate our attention only on the subducted slab,
the actual values of parameters characterizing the
heat sources and the heat transfer above the slab
are not important in this paper. The back-arc
heating during subduction and the presence of
such a thermal anomaly after subduction stopped
are possible elements of the thermal evolution of
the Pannonian and Transylvanian depressions.
This is still to be studied.
The results of this two-dimensional calculation
are shown in Fig. 5a (temperature distribution
after 50 Ma of continuous subduction) and Fig.
5b (temperature distribution after another 20 Ma
of immobility). The calculated surface heat flow
of the model is given as well. Similar to other
subduction zones (Hasebe et al., 1970; Minear
and Toksiiz, 1970; Toksiiz and Bird, 1977; Furlong et al., 19821, the typical drag of isotherms by
the subducting slab, low heat flow above the
trench and high heat flow in the back-arc area, is
the main characteristic of the thermal regime of
the subducted lithosphere and the overriding
plate. It is to be mentioned here that the subduction velocity and the exact duration of subduction
are not critical parameters in this case, because
after some time of continuous subduction (about
36 Ma for 2 cm yr- and shorter times for larger
velocities) a steady-state is reached in which temperatures within the plate do not change until the
slab stops, in accordance with the results of Molnar and England (1990) concerning the thermal
regime near major thrust faults.
The 20 million years of immobility results in a
partial recovering of temperatures in the slab and
of the surface heat flow. The slab can still be
identified in the surrounding mantle down to
depths of about 300 km, in accordance with the
existence of fast blocks in the Carpathian area
in the depth intervals SO-180 km and 180-250
km, rendered evident by a 3-D model of the
velocity structure of the Romanian territory
(Oncescu et al., 1984).
The hypocentres of 268 Vrancea intermediatedepth earthquakes which occurred between October 1981 and August 1986 (Trifu, 19911, were
projected in Fig. 5b on a NE-SW
plane. It is

274

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

interesting to note that the intermediate-depth

seismic activity, reaching 180-200 km, is confined
within the isotherm of 800C which approximately marks the brittle-ductile
transition for
ultramafic materials (Marquis and Hyndman,
1992). Of course, having in view the very narrow
seismogenic volume (about 20 km), a 3-D modelling would seem more appropriate (Jones et al.,
1994).
On the other hand, the absence of intermediate-depth seismicity elsewhere in the East Carpathians gives way to the question whether the
seismogenic volume in the Vrancea area is indeed genetically linked to the subduction process
in the East Carpathians. A thermal model of the
compressive type interaction of the Black Sea
fragment with the other tectonic fragments and
plates in the Romanian territory, which includes
the Vrancea seismogenic volume, might be relevant. The more general geodynamic models taking into account the eastward flow of the mantle
with respect to the lithosphere, which have been
suggested to apply also in the case of the Carpathians and which have recently been forwarded
(Ricard et al., 1991; Doglioni, 1991, 19921, should
also consider and explain local features such as
the confined intermediate-depth
seismicity of the
Vrancea area before any attempts to thermal
modelling are undertaken. As a matter of fact,
thermal modelling of subduction cannot distinguish among various tectonic models, the same
cold lithospheric volume at depth being obtained
in either case, due to the downgoing of the lithospheric material. For the East Carpathians, if the
seismogenic volume were linked genetically to the
subduction process, we would be able to distinguish between continuous subduction and one
which stopped 20 Ma ago, taking into account the
depth of the brittle-ductile
transition inferred
from the thermal model; in this respect, it seems
that the latter tectonic model is to be preferred.
The model calculation predicts a high heat
flow of 60-90 mW m-* in the back-arc area
beginning some 120 km west of the trench line
which we identify with the Apuseni MountainsPannonian Depression high in the heat flow map
of Fig. 1, and a low heat flow of 25-60 mW m-2
in a 120-km wide zone west of the trench line

which is partly coincident with the Transylvanian

Depression low in the heat flow map of Fig. 1. As
no standard measured surface heat flow data for
the Vrancea area are available (Fig. 11, a direct
comparison of the model results with measured
values is not possible for this particular area.
When discussing the model surface heat flow,
one should take into account that in this section
we modelled only one stage (the pre-Miocene
subduction) of a complicated tectonic process;
however, this stage is crucial in defining the thermal regime of the deepest part of the East Carpathians and adjacent areas. The measured surface
heat flow distribution is, of course, the result of
the superposition of thermal effects of several
processes at different depths and lateral-extent
scales. In this respect, the narrow belt of high
heat flow corresponding to the Neogene volcanic
arc seems to be the result of the much shallower
process of shortening and the consumption of
parts of the continental crust during the collisional stage.
5. Conclusion
The analysis of the thermal evolution of the
main tectonic units in Romania, considering that
the formation of the Carpathians, their relationship with the foreland and the development of
sedimentary basins inside the orogen have been
the result of complex interactions of tectonic
plates in the mobile Tethyan area and of subsequent continental collision following the closure
of Tethys and related basins, shows that the study
of the thermal regime of the lithosphere in Romania should be differentiated according to the
particular tectonic interactions between the various tectonic units on the one hand, and to the
investigated depth interval on the other hand.
As far as the crust alone is considered, simple
steady-state conduction models for defining the
geothermal regime of various tectonic units, starting from the surface heat flow distribution, are
justified for most of the Romanian territory. A
steady-state conduction model of the crustal temperature field for the entire Romanian territory
confirms previous models concerning individual
tectonic units. The large lateral thermal varia-

C. Demetrescu, M. Andreescu / Tectonophysics 230 (1994) 265-276

tions between tectonic units, as illustrated for

example by the temperature map at a depth of 20
km, seems to be a consequence of different mantle heat flows, which in turn can only be a result
of different geological histories with past or ongoing tectonic processes involving the whole lithosphere.
In this study a complex modelling is proposed
of the thermal evolution of the lithosphere in the
East Carpathians area, namely of the pre-Miocene
subduction of an oceanic lithosphere followed by
a Miocene underthrusting of the East European
continental margin in the process of continental
collision leading to the Moldavidic tectogeneses.
The zero-order
thermal effects of the preMiocene subduction, which were evaluated in this
paper, seem to characterize the deep thermal
regime of the lithosphere in the area, which is
compatible with available data on the intermediate-depth seismicity in the Vrancea area and on
the seismic velocity 3-D structure of the lithosphere. In our view, the thermal effects of the
collisional stage concern shallower depths, affecting mainly the crustal temperature field and the
lateral distribution of the surface heat flow in the
East Carpathians area.

6. Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to Drs. T. Lewis, F.W. Jones
and B. Bodri for useful discussions during the
preparation of this paper, and to Prof. H. Wilhelm, Dr. F. Horvath and two anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions for improving
the first version. This study has been supported
by the Institute of Geodynamics, Bucharest (Projects 7/1991, 4/1992X The revised version was
prepared during a CEC Go West fellowship at
the Geophysical Institute of Karlsruhe University.

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