Publication 112
TOPO-EUROPE: The geoscience of coupled deep Earth-surface processes
S.A.P.L. Cloetingh, P.A. Ziegler, P.J.F. Bogaard, P.A.M. Andriessen, I.M Artemieva,
G. Bada, R.T. van Balen, F. Beekman, Z. Ben-Avraham, J.-P. Brun, H.P. Bunge, E.B. Burov,
R. Carbonell, C. Facenna, A. Friedrich, J. Gallart, A.G. Green, O. Heidbach, A.G. Jones,
L. Matenco, J. Mosar, O. Oncken, C. Pascal, G. Peters, S. Sliaupa, A. Soesoo, W. Spakman,
R.A. Stephenson, H. Thybo, T. Torsvik, G. de Vicente, F. Wenzel, M.J.R. Wortel,
and the TOPO-EUROPE Working Group
Abstract
TOPO-EUROPE addresses the 4-D topographic evolution of the orogens and intra-plate regions of Europe
through a multidisciplinary approach linking geology, geophysics, geodesy and geotechnology.
TOPO-EUROPE integrates monitoring, imaging, reconstruction and modelling of the interplay between
processes controlling continental topography and related natural hazards. Until now, research on
neotectonics and related topography development of orogens and intra-plate regions has received
little attention. TOPO-EUROPE initiates a number of novel studies on the quantification of rates
of vertical motions, related tectonically controlled river evolution and land subsidence in carefully
selected natural laboratories in Europe. From orogen through platform to continental margin, these
natural laboratories include the Alps/Carpathians�Pannonian Basin System, the West and Central European
Platform, the Apennines�Aegean�Anatolian region, the Iberian Peninsula, the Scandinavian Continental
Margin, the East-European Platform, and the Caucasus�Levant area. TOPO-EUROPE integrates European research
facilities and know-how essential to advance the understanding of the role of topography in Environmental
Earth System Dynamics. The principal objective of the network is twofold. Namely, to integrate national
research programs into a common European network and, furthermore, to integrate activities among TOPO-EUROPE
institutes and participants. Key objectives are to provide an interdisciplinary forum to share knowledge
and information in the field of the neotectonic and topographic evolution of Europe, to promote and encourage
multidisciplinary research on a truly European scale, to increase mobility of scientists and to train young
scientists. This paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art of continental topography research, and
of the challenges to TOPO-EUROPE researchers in the targeted natural laboratories.
Source
Global and Planetary Change, 58, 1-118, 2007.
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