Upper-mantle velocity structures beneath the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding areas inferred from triplicated P waveforms

P-wave waveforms in the distance range between 12°and 30°were analyzed to investigate upper-mantle P velocity structures beneath the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding areas.The waveform data from 504 earthquakes with magnitudes larger than 5.0 between 1990 and 2005 that occurred within 30°from the center of the Plateau were modelled.We divided the study area into 6 regions and modeled upper-mantle-distance P waveforms with turning points beneath each region separately.The results show that the uppermantle P-wave velocity structures beneath India,the Himalayas,and the Lhasa Terrane are similar and contain a high-velocity lid about 250 km thick.The upper-mantle velocities down to 200 km beneath the Qiangtang Terrane,the Tarim Basin,and especially the Songpan-GarzêTerrane are lower than those in the south.The 410-km discontinuity beneath these two terranes is elevated by about 20 km.Highvelocity anomalies are found in the transition zone below 500 km under the Lhasa and Qiangtang Terranes.The results suggest that the Tibetan Plateau was generated by thrusting of the Indian mantle lithosphere under the southern part of Tibet.Portions of the thickened Eurasian mantle lithosphere were delaminated;they are now sitting in the transition zone beneath southern Tibet and atop of the 410-km discontinuity underneath northern Tibet.

Measuring PmP travel times using teleseismic S-wave waveform data

Joint inversion for crustal velocity structure using only surface wave dispersion and receiver function data often suffers the non-unique solution problem due to lack of P wave velocity constraint in the data.Here we developed a method for measuring PmP travel time using teleseismic S wave waveform.The major improvement by this method over the previous one-layer-crust search method is its use of a more realistic multi-layer-crust(MLC)velocity model in the study region based on available information.Numerical tests show that compared with the previous search method the MLC search method is faster and more reliable and accurate.One limit of the MLC search method is the requirement of a multi-layer background model,thus this method might not be applicable in regions where the velocity structure is unknown.Nevertheless,our numerical tests show that the MLC search method is robust in the sense that small deviations of the background model from the true velocity model do not influence the results severely.We applied the MLC search method to data from a temporary linear array across the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone in the central USA.We obtained 157 PmP travel-time measurements that show lateral crustal structure variation in the region.The measurements provide additional constraints in joint inversion for crustal velocity structure in this seismically active region.

In memory of Donald V.Helmberger

When I received the shocking news on August 13,2020 that our beloved Don passed away,I was deeply saddened.The feeling was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic that essentially locked down everything so most of us were not able to attend his memorial ceremony.On Nov.11,2021,more than a year later,I took an early flight from St Louis to LAX to attend the memorial observance and reception honoring him in the Athenaeum of Caltech.

Heat Shielding Effects in the Earth＇s Crust

Knowledge of heat flow and associated variations of temperature with depth is crucial for understanding how the Earth functions. Here, we demonstrate possible heat shielding effects that result from the occurrence of mafic intrusions/layers（granulitic rocks） within a dominantly granitic middle crust and/or ultramafic intrusions/layers（peridotitic rocks） within a dominantly granulitic lower crust; heat shielding is a familiar phenomenon in heat engineering and thermal metamaterials. Simple one-dimensional calculations suggest that heat shielding due to the intercalation of granitic, granulitic and peridotitic rocks will increase Moho temperatures substantially. This study may lead to a rethinking of numerous proposed lower crustal processes.