The lithosphere temperature field and geodynamic processes in the Carpathian area. 25 years of geothermal research in the Institute of Earth Physics and the Institute of Geodynamics

The formation of the Carpathians, their relationship with the foreland and the development of the sedimentary basins inside the orogen have been the result of complex interactions of tectonic plates and blocks in the mobile Tethyan area. The surface heat flux - which describes the loss of heat from inside the Earth through its surface - reflects the integrated thermal structure of the lithosphere due to the heat conducted through the lithosphere, heat production in the crust, and tectonic-thermal events affecting the lithosphere. This parameter, which is determined by temperature and thermal conductivity measurements at shallow depths in the crust, usually less than 1000 m, is the only information on energies involved in large scale, past or ongoing tectonic processes affecting a certain territory. The subsurface temperature field resulting from the heat balance inside the Earth is crucial for geodynamic processes which include lithosphere deformation. Results will be reviewed, concerning the surface heat flux distribution on the Romanian territory and the thermo-mechanical modeling of the evolution of tectonic units such as the Eastern Carpathians, Transylvanian and Pannonian Depressions and the foreland of the Eastern Carpathians bend. A special attention is given in this context to thermo-mechanical conditions in which intermediate-depth earthquakes occur in Vrancea area. (authors)