Receiver function imaging reveals Pyrenean-style crustal wedging in the Western Carpathians

The Alpine−Tethys suture in the Western Carpathians records the collision between the northern European passive margin and the Adria-derived Alps−Carpathians−Pannonian (AlCaPa) tectonic unit. Previous tectonic models, largely based on indirect evidence, proposed complex configurations involving two oceanic domains and a buried microcontinent. Here, we present new receiver function results from a dense seismic profile across the Western Carpathians. The derived images place the Moho at ∼30−35 km depth with two steps beneath the Pieniny Klippen Belt and the Darnó fault. The receiver functions indicate crustal-scale wedging between the European and AlCaPa crusts and a south-dipping upper-mantle interface interpreted as an underthrust segment of attenuated European lithosphere—analogous to the Pyrenean double-wedge system. Our results suggest that the Europe−AlCaPa suture is a distributed zone of crustal imbrication and provide new insights into the architecture of Alpine-type orogens.