Published research

• We produced maps of the depth and strength of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) below Europe (Geissler et al. 2010; Jones et al. 2010) and South America (Heit et al. 2007) based on permanent and temporary network stations. Within Europe, an average thickness of 100 km is found, but suture zones are characterised by thickened lithosphere and extensional zones like the Rhine graben by a shallower lithosphere. Areas of active mountain-building below the Alps do not show a clear LAB. A focussed study in the Central Alborz, a more mature part of the Alpine-Himalayan collision belt shows the absence of a crustal root for the mountains (Sodoudi et al. 2009). Instead a thin lithosphere shows that the mountains are supported by temperature differences within the mantle.
• We estimated the thickness of the lithospheric plates of the different fragments of Gondwanaland using receiver function techniques and found that the Indian plate has the thinnest lithosphere. We infer that the plume that partitioned Gondwanaland may have also melted the lower half of the Indian lithosphere, thus permitting faster motion (Kumar et al. 2007).
• We have shown that precursors of the SS phase arising from underside reflections of the LAB and Moho can be detected and their delays determined, where previously the SS method was primarily used for the transition zone. This success opens up areas with low or absent station density for studies of LAB and Moho depth (Heit et al., 2010).
• Studies of aftershocks and local seismicity in the interseismic period in the Sumatran (Lange et al., 2010) and Chilean subduction zones (Peyrat et al., 2010) helped to elucidate the nature of segment boundaries and the interplay between upper and lower plates in controlling frictional properties of the plate interface.