Differences in lithospheric structures between two sides of Taihang Mountain obtained from the Zhucheng-Yichuan deep seismic sounding profile

A 2-D model of lithospheric velocity structures in the southern part of the North China Craton was obtained using data from the Zhucheng-Yichuan deep seismic sounding profile.Results show that there are great differences in lithospheric structures between two sides of Taihang Mountain.In the eastern region,the lithosphere is thinner,with a thickness of about 70-80 km,while in the western region,the thickness is 85-120 km.There is a jump of the lithospheric thickness across Taihang Mountain gravity anomaly belt with a magnitude of about 30 km.P wave velocities of the lithospheric mantle and lower crust are lower in the eastern region and higher in the western region.In the eastern region,there are low velocity bodies in the middle and lower crust,while none were found in the western region.These differences indicate that the Taihang Mountain gravity anomaly belt is a belt with a abrupt change of lithospheric thickness and lithological composition.According to the Pm waveform,it can be deduced that the Moho in the eastern region is not a sharp discontinuity,but a complex transitional zone.From a preliminary analysis,it is found that the geothermal mechanical-chemical erosion could be the main mechanism causing the thinning and destruction of the lithosphere beneath the eastern side of Taihang Mountain.In addition,subduction of the Pacific Plate is an important factor which changes the properties of the lithospheric mantle of the North China Craton.

Deep Background of Wenchuan Earthquake and the Upper Crust Structure beneath the Longmen Shan and Adjacent Areas

By analyzing the deep seismic sounding profiles across the Longmen Shan, this paper focuses on the study of the relationship between the upper crust structure of the Longmen Shan area and the Wenchuan earthquake. The Longmen Shan thrust belt marks not only the topographical change, but also the lateral velocity variation between the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin. A low-velocity layer has consistently been found in the crust beneath the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and ends beneath the western Sichuan Basin. The low-velocity layer at a depth of -20 km beneath the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau has been considered as the deep condition for favoring energy accumulation that formed the great Wenchuan earthquake.

Crustal velocity structure of the Shaowu-Nanping-Pingtan transect through Fujian from deep seismic sounding-tectonic implications

The Shaowu-Nanping-Pingtan deep seismic sounding profile is located in northern Fujian Province. High-quality seismic sounding data were acquired by five large explosive blasts received by 133 digital seismic instruments along the profile. Based on seismic facies analysis and travel-time picking on shot record sections, a model of the velocity structure of upper crust was developed by finite-difference tomography of the first breaks; the 2-D P-wave velocity structure and tectonic characteristics of the crust were interpreted further by fitting of waveforms and seismic travel times. The results show that the top of the crystal- line basement is buried at depths of 2.0-4.0 kin, with the deepest buried up to 4.0 km within the Fuzhou Basin. The Moho in- terface was found to be deeper in the west and shallower in the east （i.e., 30.0 km near the coast, increasing to 33.0 km north- westward）. The lower crust on the east side of the Zhenghe-Haifeng Fault Zone has a smoothly varying gradient structure, whereas on the west side it has two distinct layers with a boundary between those layers at a depth of 23 km. Seismic velocities on the west side are generally lower than on the east side; a low velocity layer is observed with a lowest speed of 6.25 km/s at a depth of 22 km on the west side, which may consist of partially molten material. The Zhenghe-Haifeng Fault is a deep crustal fault, and should be a channel for deep material upwelling; it has a direct relationship with multiple stages of continental tectonic movements in Southern China and with multiple magmatic events that started in the Proterozoic and ended in the of late Tertiary in Fujian.

Crustal and upper mantle structure and deep tectonic genesis of large earthquakes in North China

From the 1960 s to 1970 s, North China has been hit by a series of large earthquakes. During the past half century,geophysicists have carried out numerous surveys of the crustal and upper mantle structure, and associated studies in North China.They have made significant progress on several key issues in the geosciences, such as the crustal and upper mantle structure and the seismogenic environment of strong earthquakes. Deep seismic profiling results indicate a complex tectonic setting in the strong earthquake areas of North China, where a listric normal fault and a low-angle detachment in the upper crust coexist with a high-angle deep fault passing through the lower crust to the Moho beneath the hypocenter. Seismic tomography images reveal that most of the large earthquakes occurred in the transition between the high-and low-velocity zones, and the Tangshan earthquake area is characterized by a low-velocity anomaly in the middle-lower crust. Comprehensive analysis of geophysical data identified that the deep seismogenic environment in the North China extensional tectonic region is generally characterized by a low-velocity anomalous belt beneath the hypocenter, inconsistency of the deep and shallow structures in the crust, a steep crustalal-scale fault,relative lower velocities in the uppermost mantle, and local Moho uplift, etc. This indicates that the lithospheric structure of North China has strong heterogeneities. Geologically, the North China region had been a stable craton named the North China Craton or in brief the NCC, containing crustal rocks as old as ～3.8 Ga. The present-day strong seismic activity and the lower velocity of the lower crust in the NCC are much different from typical stable cratons around the world. These findings provide significant evidence for the destruction of the NCC. Although deep seismic profiling and seismic tomography have greatly enhanced knowledge about the deep-seated structure and seismogenic environment, some fundamental issues still remain and require further work.