Upper-mantle flow in Eastern Europe

We present and discuss estimates of shear-wave splitting in the upper mantl e of eastern Europe, based on SKS techniques. Estimates of the direction of polarization of the fast split wave ct and the delay of the slow wave bt a re obtained at seven stations: UZH, KOV and LW, within and near the Carpath ians, SIM, SEV and YAL in the Crimean peninsula, and KIEV in the Russian pl ate. Fast directions at all stations are around 130 degrees, close to the v alues previously found in central Europe. In the Carpathians, similar value s of delta t are observed within the Pannonian depression, where the subcru stal lithosphere, if present, is very thin, and in the foredeep with a thic k subcrustal lithosphere. This similarity suggests that the observed anisot ropy is not inherited from earlier orogenies and preserved in the lithosphe re. In the Crimea, the fast direction of anisotropy in the mantle is perpen dicular to the strike of the Crimean mountains of late Jurassic-Cretaceous age, contrary to the expected alignment of the fast direction with the stri ke of a collisional belt. In general, the data are consistent with a presen t-day or recent large-scale mantle flow in central and eastern Europe, para llel to the Alpine belt.