Multi-layer Tectonic Model for Intraplate Deformation and Plastic-Flow Network in the Asian Continental Lithosphere

In a large area of the east—central Asian continent there is a unified seismic network system composed of two families of large—seismic belts that intersect conjugately. Such a seismic network in the middle—upper crust is actually a response to the plastic flow network in the lower lithosphere including the lower crust and lithospheric mantle. The existence of the unified plastic flow system confirms that the driving force for intraplate tectonic deformation results mainly from the compression of the India plate, while the long-range transmission of the force is carried out chiefly by means of plastic flow. The plastic flow network has a control over the intraplate tectonic deformation.

A comparative study of seismic tomography models of the Chinese continental lithosphere

The Chinese mainland is subject to complicated plate interactions that give rise to its complex structure and tectonics. While several seismic velocity models have been developed for the Chinese mainland, apparent discrepancies exist and, so far, little effort has been made to evaluate their reliability and consistency. Such evaluations are important not only for the application and interpretation of model results but also for future model improvement. To address this problem, here we compare five published shear-wave velocity models with a focus on model consistency. The five models were derived from different datasets and methods (i.e., body waves, surface waves from earthquakes, surface waves from noise interferometry, and full waves) and interpolated into uniform horizontal grids (0.5° × 0.5°) with vertical sampling points at 5 km, 10 km, and then 20 km intervals to a depth of 160 km below the surface, from which we constructed an averaged model (AM) as a common reference for comparative study. We compare both the absolute velocity values and perturbation patterns of these models. Our comparisons show that the models have large (> 4%) differences in absolute values, and these differences are independent of data coverage and model resolution. The perturbation patterns of the models also show large differences, although some of the models show a high degree of consistency within certain depth ranges. The observed inconsistencies may reflect limited model resolution but, more importantly, systematic differences in the datasets and methods employed. Thus, despite several seismic models being published for this region, there is significant room for improvement. In particular, the inconsistencies in both data and methodologies need to be resolved in future research. Finally, we constructed a merged model (ChinaM-S1.0) that incorporates the more robust features of the five published models. As the existing models are constrained by different datasets and methods, the merged model serves as a new type of reference model that incorporates the common features from the joint datasets and methods for the shear-wave velocity structure of the Chinese mainland lithosphere.

Petrogenesis of the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene Yao'an Shoshonitic Complex,Southeastern Tibet:Partial Melting of an Ancient Continental Lithospheric Mantle beneath the Yangtze Block

Cenozoic potassic-ultrapotassic igneous rocks are widespread in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau.Their petrogenesis and magmatic processes remain subject to debate in spite of numerous publications.Almost all of the Cenozoic extrusive and intrusive rocks in the Yao’an area,western Yunnan Province,SW China,are geochemically shoshonitic,collectively termed here the Yao’an Shoshonitic Complex(YSC).The YSC is located in the(south)easternmost part of the ENE-WSW-trending,~550 km-long and~250 km-wide Cenozoic magmatic zone;the latter separates the orthogonal and oblique collision belts of the India-Eurasia collision orogen.Previously published geochronological and thermochronological data revealed that the rocks of the YSC were emplaced over a short timespan of 34-32 Ma.This and our new data suggest that the primary magma of the YSC likely was formed by partial melting of ancient continental lithospheric mantle beneath the Yangtze Block.This part of the continental lithospheric mantle had likely not been modified by any oceanic subduction.Fractionation crystallization of an Mg-and Ca-bearing mineral and TiFe oxides during the magmatic evolution probably account for the variable lithologies of the YSC.

Thermal State and Strength of the Lithosphere Beneath the Chinese Mainland

The temperature distributions of the lithosphere underneath the mainland of China were estimated by applying local isostatic equilibrium-constrained geothermal calculations. Maps of the lateral temperature variation at depths of 40, 70, and 100 km are presented for the whole Chinese continent, with the thermal thickness of the lithosphere is calculated. Lithospheric roots of 160-200 km thickness underlie Tarim and the Upper Yangtze Korean platform. In general, the Tibetan plateau lithospheres, whereas thinner thermal lithospheres platform, but are absent beneath the entire Sino- and fold belts to the north have warm but thick have been identified in northern Tibet and central Tian Shan around Issyk-Kul Lake. The warm and soft lithosphere in the Tibetan plateau and Tian Shan are caused by uniform north-south shortening, which may represent a snapshot of the early stage of convective thinning of the convergent lithosphere. However, the lithospheric thinning beneath northeastern China might be related to volatile infiltration by dehydration of the deeply subducting Pacific slab during the Cenozoic. Dry and wet upper mantle rheology display ＂jelly sandwich＂ and ＂cr^me brfil^e＂ pictures, respectively, demonstrating the mechanical behaviour of the Chinese lithosphere outside the Tibetan plateau. Considering a more geologically evident wet-mantle rheology, the ＂creme brulee＂ model can approximate the lithospheric rheology for the most earthquake-prone regions on the Chinese mainland.

Steep subduction of the Indian continental mantle lithosphere beneath the eastern Himalaya revealed by gravity anomalies

The geometry and deformation of the Indian continental mantle lithosphere(ICML)beneath the India-Eurasia collision zone are critical to understanding the accommodation of continent-continent convergence.In this paper,the distribution of residual gravity anomalies in the upper mantle of southern Tibet is estimated using the gravity data and seismic velocity models,and the heterogeneous density distribution of the upper-mantle is then recovered through three-dimensional gravity inversion.The results reveal a low-density anomaly(~300 km W-E and~100 km N-S)in the upper mantle under the eastern Himalaya,while there is no obvious density anomaly under the western Himalaya.The western boundary of the low-density anomaly coincides with the Yadong-Gulu Rift(YGR)on the surface(89°–90°E),and its southern boundary is located at~28°N,approximately 130 km southward from the Indus-Yarlung suture,probably representing the mantle suture at depth.This observation indicates that,in contrast to the western ICML which is probably underthrusting at a shallow angle,the eastern ICML be likely subducting steeply,accompanying asthenosphere upwelling.Such a laterally varying geometry suggests that a major tearing of the ICML may have taken place from the intersection of the mantle suture and the YGR in the upper mantle.The tearing and the steep subduction of the ICML might be associated with the magmatic and mineralization events in the eastern Himalaya-Gangdese and the formation of the YGR.

Quantitative Expression of Heat Flow versus Tectonic Deformation in the China Continent: The Effects of Plastic-Flow Network and Stable Block

Based on the heat flow data published in 1990 and 2001, a study of the factors influencing the terrestrial heat flow distribution in the China continent and its quantitative expression is carried out using the ＂Netlike Plastic-Flow＂ continental dynamics model and the methods of statistic analysis and optimum fitting. The result indicates that the factors influencing the heat flow distribution is classified into two groups, i.e. background and tectonic ones, in which the former mainly involves the non- uniform distribution of mantle heat flow, heat production of radioactive dements in the crust, heattransfer media and hydrothermal circulation, while the latter mainly involves plastic-flow networks and relatively-stable blocks. The plastic-flow network is a manifestation of shear localization in the netlike plastic-flow process in the lower lithosphere, which is composed of two sets of plastic-flow belts （PFBs） intersecting each other and, as one of the basic action regimes, controls the intraplate tectonic deformation. Relatively stable blocks （RSBs）, which are the tectonic units with relatively-high viscosities existing in the netlike plastic-flow field, as one of the principal origins, result in the development of large-seale compressional basins. PFB and RSB, as the active and quiet states of tectonic deformation, give rise to the higher and lower heat flow values, respectivdy. The provincial average heat flow in continent can be estimated using the expression qav = q0 ＋ a Pbt-c Pbk, where the three terms of the right side are background heat flow, PFB-positive contribution and RSB-negative contribution, Pbt and Pbk are the PFB- and RSB-coverage ratios, respectively, a is the coefficient of PFB- positive contribution depending mainly on the strain in the lower lithosphere, and c is the coefficient of RSB-negative contribution related mainly to the thickness of the lithosphere, the aseismic-area ratio and the tectonic age. For the major portion of the China continent excluding some of the southeastern region of China, the confidence interval of the provincial average background heat flow is qo=57.25±24.8 mW/m^2 and the PFB-positive- and RSB-negative-contribution coefficients are a=14.8-71.9 mW/m^2 and c=0-25.6 mW/m^2, respectively. The concepts of PFB and RSB effects and the heat flow expression suggested provide a new choice of the approach to the quantitative description of the characteristics of heat flow distribution in continent and their physical mechanisms.

Focal depth estimates of earthquakes in the Himalayan-Tibetan region from teleseismic waveform modeling

We estimate the focal depths and fault plane solutions of 46 moderate earthquakes in the Himalayan- Tibetan region by modeling the broadband waveforms of teleseismic P waves. The depths of 38 of these earth- quakes range between 0-40 km, with a peak at -5 km. One earthquake is located within the lower crust of the Indian shield. The remaining eight earthquakes occurred between depths of 80 -120 km and are all located in the Pamir-Hindu Kush and the Indo-Myanmar deep seismic zones. None of the earthquakes outside these deep seismic zones are located in the mantle. Global centroid moment tensor （CMT） solutions indicate that most earthquakes in northern Tibet and northern India had thrust-faulting mechanisms and that normal and strike-slip faulting earthquakes occurred primarily in central Tibet. These mechanisms are consistent with the predominantly NNW-SSE compression in the direction of current Himalayan-Tibetan continental collision.

Coupling characteristics of stress and strain at different layers of different sub-regions in Yunnan and its adjacent areas

In this paper, we collect 6 361 waveform data to calculate the shear wave splitting parameters from a regional seismic network of 22 digital stations in Yunnan and its adjacent area from July 1999 to June 2005. By using the cross-correlation method, 64 splitting events of 16 stations are processed. We also collect the splitting results of eight earthquake sequences to present the characteristics of shear wave splitting in Yunnan and its adjacent areas. The orientations of maximum principal compressive stress of three sub-regions in this area are derived from the CMT focal mechanism solutions of 43 moderate-strong earthquakes provided by Harvard University by the P axis azimuth-averaging method. The principal strain rate at each observatory is deduced from the observations of Crustal Movement Observation Network of China during the period from 1999 to 2004. In addition, the data of Pn aniso- tropy and SKS splitting of Yunnan and its adjacent areas are also collected. We have discovered from this study that the continental lithosphere, as a main seismogenic environment for strong earthquake, can be divided into blocks laterally; the mechanical behavior of lithosphere varies with depth and can be divided into different layers in the vertical orientation; the information of crustal deformation obtained from GPS might be affected by the type of blocks, since there are different types of active blocks in Yunnan and its adjacent areas; the shear wave splitting in this region might be affected mainly by the upper crust or even the surface tectonics.