ИСТИНА

The fan wavelet coherence technique was employed to calculate variations of the effective elastic thickness (EET) of the lithosphere for most of Europe and adjoining southern mountain belts. We employed Bouguer gravity anomalies and topography corrected for the effect of density variations within sediments. Correcting for sediments considerably suppress the effect of unexpressed subsurface loads and reduces the estimates uncertainty. Addressing the sediment effect may principally change the estimated EET in areas with negligible variations in topography/bathymetry. In most cases, e.g., in the northern part of Central Europe and the East European Platform, this effect causes a principal reduction in EET values. The results show a good correspondence between the EET patterns and tectonic fragmentation of Europe. In particular, the Trans European Suture Zone clearly divides areas with generally high EET in Eastern Europe, and reduced EET in Central and Western Europe. We also find that the lithosphere of the Mediterranean Sea is divided into weak western and strong eastern blocks. The new EET values better correspond to independent estimates based on the strength model of the lithosphere, which demonstrates that the obtained results are robust.