The thickness and structural characteristics of the crust across Tibetan plateau from active-sources seismic profiles

The Tibetan plateau as one of the youngest orogen on the Earth was considered as the result of continent-continent collision between the Eurasian and Indian plates. The thickness and structure of the crust beneath Tibetan plateau is essential to understand deformation behavior of the plateau. Active-source seismic profiling is most available geophysical method for imaging the structure of the continental crust. The results from more than 25 active-sources seismic profiles carried out in the past twenty years were reviewed in this article. A preliminary cross crustal pattern of the Tibetan Plateau was presented and discussed. The Moho discontinuity buries at the range of 60-80 km on average and have steep ramps located roughly beneath the sutures that are compatible with the successive stacking/accretion of the former Cenozoic blocks northeastward. The deepest Moho （near 80 km） appears closely near IYS and the crustal scale thrust system beneath southern margin of Tibetan plateau suggests strong dependence on collision and non-distributed deformation there. However, the -20 km order of Moho offsets hardly reappears in the inline section across northern Tibetan plateau. Without a universally accepted, convincing dynamic explanation model accommodated the all of the facts seen in controlled seismic sections, but vertical thickening and northeastern shorten of the crust is quite evident and interpretable to a certain extent as the result of continent-continent collision. Simultaneously, weak geophysical signature of the BNS suggests that convergence has been accommodated perhaps partially through pure-shear thickening accompanied by removal of lower crustal material by lateral escape. Recent years the result of Moho with -7 km offset and long extend in south-dip angle beneath the east Kunlun orogen and a grand thrust fault at the northern margin of Qilian orogen has attract more attention to action from the northern blocks. The broad lower-velocity area in the upper-middle crust of the Lhasa block was once considered as resulted from partially melted rocks. However the low normal vp/vs ratio and the Moho stepwise rise fail to support significant partial melting in the middle-lower crust of the central-northern Tibetan plateau. Furthermore, the lower-velocity of crust occasionally disappears, and/or local thinned exhibits their non-stationary spatial distribution.

Wave field in two-phase media by the convolutional differentiator method

This paper applies the convolutional differentiator method, based on generalized Forsyte orthogonal polynomial （CFPD）, to simulate the seismic wave propagation in two-phase media. From the numerical results we can see that three types of waves, fast P-waves, S-waves and slow P-waves, can be observed in the seismic wave field. The experiments on anisotropic models demonstrate that the wavefront is elliptic instead of circular and S-wave splitting occurs in anisotropic two-phase media. The research has confirmed that the rules of elastic wave propagation in fluid-saturated porous media are controlled by Biot＇s theory. Experiment on a layered fault model shows the wavefield generated by the interface and the fault very well, indicating the effectiveness of CFPD method on the wavefield modeling for real layered media in the Earth. This research has potential applications to the investigation of Earth＇s deep structure and oil/gas exploration.

Joint tomographic inversion of first-arrival and reflection traveltimes for recovering 2-D seismic velocity structure with an irregular free surface

Irregular surface flattening,which is based on a boundary conforming grid and the transformation between curvilinear and Cartesian coordinate systems,is a mathematical method that can elegantly handle irregular surfaces,but has been limited to obtaining first arrivals only.By combining a multistage scheme with the fast-sweeping method(FSM,the method to obtain first-arrival traveltime in curvilinear coordinates),the reflected waves from a crustal interface can be traced in a topographic model,in which the reflected wavefront is obtained by reinitializing traveltimes in the interface for upwind branches.A local triangulation is applied to make a connection between velocity and interface nodes.Then a joint inversion of first-arrival and reflection traveltimes for imaging seismic velocity structures in complex terrains is presented.Numerical examples all perform well with different seismic velocity models.The increasing topographic complexity and even use of a high curvature reflector in these models demonstrate the reliability,accuracy and robustness of the new working scheme;checkerboard testing illustrates the method's high resolution.Noise tolerance testing indicates the method's ability to yield practical traveltime tomography.Further development of the multistage scheme will allow other later arrivals to be traced and used in the traveltime inversion.

High-resolution 3D crustal S-wave velocity structure of the MiddleLower Yangtze River Metallogenic Belt and implications for its deep geodynamic setting

The Middle-Lower Yangtze River Metallogenic Belt(MLYMB) is an important mineral resource region in China.High-resolution crustal models can provide crucial constraints to understand the ore-forming processes and geodynamic setting in this region. Using ambient seismic noise from 107 permanent and 82 portable stations in the MLYMB and the adjacent area,we present a new high-resolution 3D S-wave velocity model of this region. We first extract 5–50 s Rayleigh wave phase velocity dispersion data by calculating ambient noise cross-correlation functions(CFs) and then use the surface wave direct inversion method to invert the mixed path travel times for the 3D S-wave velocity structure. Checkerboard tests show that the horizontal resolution of the 3D S-wave velocity model is approximately 0.5°–1.0° and that the vertical resolution decreases with increasing noise and depth. Our high-resolution 3D S-wave velocity model reveals:(1) AV-shaped high-velocity zone(HVZ) is located in the lower crust and the uppermost mantle in the study region. The western branch of the HVZ passes through the Jianghan Basin,the Qinling-Dabie orogenic belt and the Nanxiang Basin. The eastern branch, which almost completely covers the main body of the MLYMB, is located near the Tanlu Fault. The low-velocity anomalies between the western and eastern branches are located in the area of the Qinling-Dabie orogenic belt.(2) High-velocity uplifts(HVUs) are common in the crust of the MLYMB,especially in the areas near the Tanlu Fault, the Changjiang Fault and the Yangxin-Changzhou Fault. The intensities of the HVUs gradually weaken from west to east. The V-shaped HVZ in the lower crust and uppermost mantle and the HVUs in the middle and lower crust likely represent cooled mantle intrusive rocks. During the Yanshanian period, fault systems formed in the MLYMB due to the convergence between the South China Plate and the North China Plate, the multiple-direction drifting of the PaleoPacific Plate and its subduction beneath the Eurasian Plate. The dehydration of the cold oceanic crust led to partial melting in the upper mantle. Temperature differences caused strong convection of the upper mantle material that underplated the lower crust and rose to near the surface along the deep fault systems. After mixing with the crustal materials, mineralization processes, such as assimilation and fractional crystallization, occurred in the MLYMB.

Receiver function imaging of dense seismic array and deep dynamic mechanism beneath the eastern South China

The Mesozoic tectonic framework of the eastern South China is mainly controlled by subduction,turning toward,and rollback of the Pacific Plate.Recent studies of receiver function imaging and ambient noise tomography have revealed the“Yshaped”thinnest crustal belt in the eastern South China under the overall extension of the lithosphere.However,the deep dynamic environment and formation mechanisms of the thin crustal belt remain debatable.Here we obtained high-resolution images of the crustal thickness and Poisson’s ratio in the eastern South China Block applying the recently proposed H-κ-c receiver function method,using data recorded by 305 dense portable broadband stations and 219 permanent stations surrounding.Additionally,we discussed the deep dynamic formation mechanism of the“Y-shaped”thinnest crustal belt coupled with two common conversion point stacked images at key locations.Results show that the average crustal thickness of the study area is 33 km(thin crust)and the average Poisson’s ratio is 0.24(low ratio).The overall crustal thinning toward the continental margin is likely because eastern South China was in a back-arc extension environment,which was induced by the rollback of the subducted plate in the Early Cretaceous.The crustal thickness of the“Y-shaped”thinnest crustal belt is<30 km,which is 3-5 km thinner than that outside the zone.The eastern branch is distributed along the trajectory of Nanchang-Ji’an-Ganzhou-Shaoguan-Guangzhou,and the western branch is around the Jianghan-Xiangzhong Basin,both of which intersect in Nanling.The eastern branch of the thin crustal zone indicates the potential location of the Pacific subduction slab breakoff,and the formation mechanism may be related to the interaction of deep-shallow processes,including the upwelling of mantle heat flow through the slab window and transtensional pre-existing faults.We developed a dynamic model that combines subduction-breakoff-rollback processes of the Paleo-Pacific Plate and accompanying deep fluid upwelling to explain the regional extension of the South China lithosphere,the formation mechanism of the thinnest crustal belt,and the distribution of granitic plutons.

青藏高原向东挤出与向北扩展--高原隆升深部过程之探讨

青藏高原下方的软弱物质在印度-欧亚大陆的汇聚挤压作用下,从增厚、抬升的高原中部向东部逃逸挤出.本文基于一条宽频地震密集台站剖面观测给出的青藏高原-秦岭构造转换带地壳和上地幔顶部结构断面,结合前人的地质和地球物理学研究成果,探讨了青藏高原物质向东的挤出,揭示秦岭作为一个可能的通道,将如何协调青藏高原物质的挤出,进而探讨上述地球动力学过程如何影响高原东缘的隆升和扩展,并对比了青藏高原东缘和北缘的地壳变形增厚机制以及地幔岩石圈行为模式之差异.研究结果揭示了,受区域大型断裂带控制的中下地壳软弱物质挤出和由软流圈地幔流触发的岩石圈底部拆沉导致的重力均衡,可能同时在青藏高原东缘下方发生,断裂和块体控制的壳内软弱物质挤出可能是青藏高原东缘边界带上大地震发生的一个重要深部孕震机制.上述两个机制的共同作用导致了青藏高原东缘与秦岭以及四川盆地构造转换带区域的高原隆升和扩展.青藏高原东缘物质挤出的深部过程与处于青藏高原北缘的青藏高原-阿拉善构造转换带区域的高原向北扩展之深部机制存在差异,而造成高原北缘与东缘差异隆升模式的根本动力学原因,可能是从青藏高原中东部(青藏高原内部)到高原北缘岩石圈性质的横向变化.

Static Corrections Methods in the Processing of Deep Reflection Seismic Data

Statics are big challenges for the processing of deep reflection seismic data. In this paper several different statics solutions have been implemented in the processing of deep reflection seismic data in South China and their corresponding results have been compared in order to find proper statics solutions. Either statics solutions based on tomographic principle or combining the low-frequency components of field statics with the high-frequency ones of refraction statics can provide reasonable statics solutions for deep reflection seismic data in South China with very rugged surface topography, and the two statics solutions can correct the statics anomalies of both long spatial wavelengths and short ones. The surface-consistent residual static corrections can serve as the good compensations to the several kinds of the first statics solutions. Proper statics solutions can improve both qualities and reso- lutions of seismic sections, especially for the reflections of Moho in the upmost mantle.

Predicting roof-surface wind pressure induced by conical vortex using a BP neural network combined with POD

This study aims to examine the feasibility of predicting surface wind pressure induced by conical vortex using a backpropagation neural network(BPNN)combined with proper orthogonal decomposition(POD),in which a 1:150 scaled model with a large-span retractable roof was tested in wind tunnel under both laminar and turbulent flow conditions.The distributions of mean and fluctuating wind pressure coefficients were first described,and the effects of inflow turbulence,wind direction,roof opening were examined separately.For the prediction of wind pressure,the POD-BPNN model was trained using measurement data from adjacent points.The prediction results are overall satisfactory.The root-mean-square-error(RMSE)between test and predicted data lies mostly within 10%.In particular,the prediction of mean wind pressure is found to be better than that of fluctuating wind pressure.The outcomes in this study highlight that the proposed POD-BPNN model can be well used as a useful tool to predict surface wind pressure.