Figure 1. Experimentally determined directions of the present maximum compressive stress S H, max in the Western Europe lithosphere: (1) the S H, max directions determined from instrumental and seismological observations in the late 1960s-early 1970s (after [Ahorner, 1975]); (2) the S H, max directions determined in Germany and France from instrumental (overcoring and flat jack) measurements [Froidevaux et al., 1980; Greiner, 1975]; (3) averaged S H, max directions determined from various stress indicators and compiled from WSM data [Balling and Bauda, 1992; Müller et al., 1992]; (4) generalized S H, max directions obtained from seismological observations in Spain [De Vicente et al., 1996] and from data on borehole breakouts and focal mechanisms in Italy [Montone et al., 1999]; (5) generalized S H, max directions obtained from data on borehole breakouts in the North Sea [Gölke and Brudy, 1996; Wirput and Zoback, 2000]; (6) averaged S H, max directions determined from overcoring data in British Isles [ Becker and Davenport, 2001] and from borehole slotting data in the Swiss Alps [Becker, 1999]; (7) WESP boundary accepted in the present work; (8) Tornquist-Teisseyre line (western boundary of the East European platform); (9)-(11) boundaries of the (9) Alps, (10) Apennines and (11) Pyrenees.