S-wave velocity and Poisson's ratio structure of crust in Yunnan and its implication

Receiver function of body wave under the 23 stations in Yunnan was extracted from 3-component broadband digital recording of teleseismic event. Thus, the S-wave velocity structure and distribution characteristics of Poisson's ratio in crust of Yunnan are obtained by inversion. The results show that the crustal thickness is gradually thinned from north to south. The crustal thickness in Zhongdian of northwest reaches as many as 62.0 km and the one in Jinghong of further south end is only 30.2 km. What should be especially noted is that there exists a Moho upheaval running in NS in the Chuxiong region and a Moho concave is generally parallel to it in Dongchuan. In addition, there exists an obvious transversal inhomogeneity for the S-wave velocity structure in upper mantle and crust in the Yunnan region. The low velocity layer exists not only in 10.0-15.0 km in upper crust in some regions, but also in 30.0-40.0 km in lower crust. Generally, the Poisson's ratio is on the high side, however it has a better corresponding relation to the crustal velocity structure. An obvious block distribution feature is still shown on such a high background of Poisson's ratio. It is discovered by synthetically analyzing the velocity structure and Poisson's ratio distribution that there are high Poisson's ratio and complicated crust-mantle velocity structure feature in the Sichuan-Yunnan Diamond Block with Xiaojiang fault to be the east boundary and Yulong Snow Mountain fault to be the west boundary besides the frequent seismicity. This feature differs obviously from that of surrounding areas, which would provide geophysical evidence to deeply study the eastwardly flowage of lithospheric substances in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Interpretation of S-Wave Data from Fanshi-Taipusiqi DSS Profile and Analysis of Correlation between Deep Structural Characteristics and Seismicity

By processing S-wave data from the Fanshi-Huai’an-Taipusiqi DSS profile,which is a three-component,wide-angle reflection/refraction profile,and in the light of the results from P-wave interpretation,two-dimensional(2-D)structures of the crust and upper mantle are presented,including S-wave velocity Vs and the physical parameter of medium-Poisson’s ratio a.Taking other geological and geophysical information into account,and with reference to the results from petrophysical experiments at home and abroad,we carried out interpretation and inference with respect to deep crustal structure,tectonics,and lithologic characters.It has been concluded that in the upper and middle crust,a values are mostly not greater than 0.25,and rocks,which generally assume brittle,are mainly composed of granite; the rocks in the lower layer of the upper crust between Yangyuan-Huai’an containing inorganic CO2 itself releases carbon; for the rocks in the lower crust and crust-mantle transitional zone,which are comparatively

Poisson's ratios and S-wave velocities of the Xishancun landslide,Sichuan,China,inferred from high-frequency receiver functions of local earthquakes

Landslides are recurrent geological phenomena on Earth that cause heavy casualties and property losses annually.In this study,we use the V_(p)-k stacking and nonlinear waveform inversion methods of high-frequency receiver functions extracted from local earthquakes,to sequentially invert Poisson’s ratios and S-wave velocities of the Quaternary Xishancun landslide,which is composed of three segments,i.e.,h1,h2,and h3 from bottom to top.Our results show that Poisson’s ratio values are generally higher than 0.33 and that the S-wave velocities vary from 0.1 to 0.9 km s^(-1).High Poisson’s ratios(>0.44)are mainly distributed in the juncture regions between different segments,as well as the western edge of h2.These zones show significant variation in landslide thickness and are potentially hazardous areas.Low velocities of 0.05–0.2 km s^(-1)with thicknesses of 10–30m are widely observed in the lower layer of the landslide.The high Poisson’s ratios and low-velocity layer may be related to water-rich materials in these areas.Our study suggests that the high-frequency receiver functions from local earthquakes can be used to delineate geotechnical structures,which is valuable for landslide stability analysis and hazard mitigation.

Jacobian matrix for the inversion of P-and S-wave velocities and its accurate computation method

The optimization inversion method based on derivatives is an important inversion technique in seismic data processing,where the key problem is how to compute the Jacobian matrix.The computation precision of the Jacobian matrix directly influences the success of the optimization inversion method.Currently,all AVO(Amplitude Versus Offset) inversion techniques are based on approximate expressions of Zoeppritz equations to obtain derivatives.As a result,the computation precision and application range of these AVO inversions are restricted undesirably.In order to improve the computation precision and to extend the application range of AVO inversions,the partial derivative equation(Jacobian matrix equation(JME) for the P-and S-wave velocities inversion) is established with Zoeppritz equations,and the derivatives of each matrix entry with respect to Pand S-wave velocities are derived.By solving the JME,we obtain the partial derivatives of the seismic wave reflection coefficients(RCs) with respect to P-and S-wave velocities,respectively,which are then used to invert for P-and S-wave velocities.To better understand the behavior of the new method,we plot partial derivatives of the seismic wave reflection coefficients,analyze the characteristics of these curves,and present new understandings for the derivatives acquired from in-depth analysis.Because only a linear system of equations is solved in our method,the computation of Jacobian matrix is not only of high precision but also is fast and efficient.Finally,the theoretical foundation is established so that we can further study inversion problems involving layered structures(including those with large incident angle) and can further improve computational speed and precision.

East-west crustal structure and “down-bowing” Moho under the northern Tibet revealed by wide-angle seismic profile

We recognized 6 sets of reflecting P- and S-wave events from Moho and other interfaces within the crust, respectively, with the wide-angle seismic data acquired from 510 km-long Selincuo-Ya'anduo profile in the northern Tibet, fitted the observed events with forward modeling, and interpreted crustal structure of P- and S-wave velocities and Poisson's ratio under the profile. The results demonstrate that the crustal structure between Yarlungzangbo and Bangong-Nujiang sutures changes abruptly, and the crust is the thickest at the middle part of the profile with thickness of 80 km or more. The 'down-bowing' Moho is the striking feature for the crustal variation along the west-east direction. The Moho uplifts with steps, and the uplifting rate westward is greater than that eastward. The heterogeneity of P- and S-wave velocities exists both vertically and horizontally, and one lower velocity layer (LVL) exists with the depth range of 27-34 km and the thickness range of 5-7 km. For the upper crust, Poisson's ratio is the lowest at the middle part of the profile; for the lower crust, the Poisson's ratio at the east segment is lower than that at west segment, which means that the crustal rigidity for the upper crust is different from the lower crust, and the lower crust under the east segment of the profile is more ductile. We infer that the substance in the lower crust endured eastward flow along with the collision between Eurasian and Indian plates, and the 'down-bowing' Moho is attributable to the multi-phase E-W tectonic processes.