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.

Study on Fine Crustal Structure of the Sanhe-Pinggu Earthquake (M8.0) Region by Deep Seismic Reflection Profiling

Two near-vertical deep seismic reflection profiles (140km-long, 24-fold) were completed in the 1679 Sanhe-Pinggu earthquake (M8.0) region. The profiles ran through the Xiadian fault and the Ershilichangshan fault. The profiling result shows that the crust in this region is divided into the upper crust, the lower crust and the crust-mantle transitional zone by two powerful laminated reflectors: one at the two-way travel-time of about 7.0s (21km), the other at about 11.0～12.5s (33～37km). Crustal structure varies significantly in vertical direction. The shallow part is characterized by obvious stratification, multilayers and complexity. The upper crust on the whole features reflection “transparency”, while the lower crust features distinct reflectivity. Crustal structure also varies a lot in the lateral direction. The main fracture in this region is the deep fault under the Xiadian fault. This deep fault is steeply inclined (nearly vertical), and is supposed to be the causative fault of the Sanhe-Pinggu M8.0 earthquake. The two profiles respectively reveal the existence of local strong reflectivity in the lower crust and the lower part of the upper crust, which is assumed to be a dike or rock mass formed by the upwelling and cooling down of materials from the upper mantle. Magmatic activity in this part brought about differences in regional stress distribution, which then gave rise to the formation of the deep fault. That is supposed to be the deep structural setting for the Sanhe-Pinggu M8.0 earthquake.

High-resolution crustal structure of the Yinchuan basin revealed by deep seismic reflection profiling:implications for deep processes of basin

The Yinchuan basin, located on the western margin of the Ordos block, has the characteristics of an active continental rift. A NW-striking deep seismic reflection profile across the center of Yinchuan basin precisely revealed the fine structure of the crust. The images showed that the crust in the Yinchuan basin was characterized by vertical stratifications along a detachment located at a two-way travel time（TWT） of 8.0 s.The most outstanding feature of this seismic profile was the almost flat Mohorovicˇic′ discontinuity（Moho） and a high-reflection zone in the lower crust. This sub-horizontal Moho conflicts with the general assumption of an uplifted Moho under sedimentary basins and continental rifts, and may indicate the action of different processes at depth during the evolution of sedimentary basins or rifts.We present a possible interpretation of these deep processes and the sub-horizontal Moho. The high-reflection zone, which consists of sheets of high-density, mantlederived materials, may have compensated for crustal thinning in the Yinchuan basin, leading to the formation of a sub-horizontal Moho. These high-density materials may have been emplaced by underplating with mantlesourced magma.

Using large dynamite shots to image the structure of the Moho from deep seismic reflection experiment between the Sichuan basin and Qinling orogen

The Qinling orogen was formed as a result of the collision between the North and South China blocks. The Qinling orogen represents the location at which the southern and northern parts of the Chinese mainland col- lided, and it＇s also the intersection of the Central China orogen and the north-south tectonic belt. There is evidence of strong deformation in this orogen, and it has had a long and complex geological history. We investigated the structure of the Moho in the southern Qinling orogen using large dynamite shot imaging techniques. By integrating the analysis of the single-shot and the move-out corrections profile, we determined the structure of the Moho beneath the northern Dabashan thrust belt and the southern Qinling orogen, including the mantle suture beneath Fenghuang mountain. The Moho is divided into two parts by the mantle suture zone beneath Fenghuang mountain： （1） from Ziyang to Hanyin, the north-dipping Moho is at about 45-55 km depth and the depth increases rapidly; and （2） from Hanyin to Ningshan, the south-dipping Moho is at about 40-45 km depth and shallows slowly. The mantle suture is located beneath Fenghuang mountain, and the Moho overlaps at this location： the shallower Moho is connected to the northern part of China, and the deeper Moho is connected to the southern part. This may indicate that the lithosphere in the Sichuan basin subducts to the Qinling block and that the subduction frontier reaches at least as far as Fenghuang mountain.

Frozen subduction in the Yangtze block:insights from the deep seismic profiling and gravity anomaly in east Sichuan fold belt

The Sichuan basin is the main part of the middle-upper Yangtze block, which has been experienced a long-term tectonic evolution since Archean. The Yangtze block was regarded as a stable block until the collision with the Cathaysia block in late Neoproterozoic. A new deep seismic reflection profile conducted in the eastern Sichuan fold belt（ESFB） discovered a serials of south-dipping reflectors shown from lower crust to the mantle imply a frozen subduction zone within the Yangtze block. In order to prove the speculation, we also obtain the middle-lower crustal gravity anomalies by removing the gravity anomalies induced by the sedimentary rocks and the mantle beneath the Moho, which shows the mid-lower crustal structure of the Sichuan basin can be divided into eastern and western parts. Combined with the geochronology and Aeromagnetic anomalies, we speculated the Yangtze block was amalgamated by the West Sichuan and East Sichuan blocks separated by the Huayin-Chongqing line. The frozen subduction zone subsequently shifted to a shear zone accommodated the lower crustal shortening when the decollement at the base of the Nanhua system functioned in the upper plate.

Exploration and Research of Deep Crustal Structures in the Zhangzhou Basin and Its Vicinity

The Zhangzhou basin is located at the middle section of the southeast coast seismic zone of the mainland of China. Using high-resolution refraction and wide-angle reflection/refraction seismic profiling of Zhangzhou basin and its vicinity, we have obtained the crustal geometric structure and velocity structure as well as the geometric configuration and structural relationship between the deep and shallow fractures. The results show that the crust in the region is divided into the upper crust and lower crust. The thickness of the upper crust is 16.5km- 18.8km, and that of the lower crust is 12.0km- 13.0km. The upper crust is further divided into an upper and lower section. In the lower section of the upper crust, there is a low-velocity layer with a velocity of about 6.00km/s; the depth of the top surface of the low-velocity layer is about 12.0km, and the thickness is about 5.0km. The lower crust is also divided into an upper and lower section. The depth of Moho is 29.0km- 31 .8km There are 6 normal faults in the shallow crust in this region, and most of them extend downwards to a depth of less than 4kin, the maximum depth is about 5km. Below the shallow normal faults, there is a conjectural high-dip angle deep fault zone. The fault zone extends downwards till the Moho and upwards into the low-velocity layer in lower section of the upper crust. The deep and shallow faults are not tectonically connected. The combination character of deep and shallow structures in the Zhangzhou basin indicates that the Jiulongjiang fault zone is a deep fault zone with distinct characteristics and a complex deep and shallow structure background. The acquisition of deep seismic exploration results obviously enhanced the reliability of explanation of deep-structural data and the exploration precision of the region. The combination of deep and shallow structures resulted in uniform explanation results. The delamination of the crust and the characteristic of the structures are more precise and explicit. We discovered for the first time the combination characteristics of extensional structures and listric faults in the upper crust. This is not only helpful to the integrative judgment of earthquake risk in Zhangzhou and its vicinity, but also of importance for deepening the knowledge of deep dynamic processes in the southeast coast seismic zone.

Exploration and Study of Deep Crustal Structure in the Quanzhou Basin and Its Adjacent Area

The Quanzhou basin and its adjacent areas locate in the middle of the southeastern coast seismic belt on the Chinese mainland. The very fine geometry structure of this area from near ground to Moho interface and the relationship between the deep and shallow faults are obtained based on deep seismic reflection profiling. This profile is the first deep seismic reflection profile in this area and it indicates that the crust can be divided into the upper crust and the lower crust and the thickness of crnst is from 29.5 km to 31 km in this area. The upper crust and the lower crust can be also divided into two layers. There are shallow normal faults developed in the upper crust and extending to the depth from 6 km to 12 kin. The angle of those listric faults decreases with depth and the faults joint into the C1 interface （detachment surface）. There is a high angle fault under the Yong＇an-Jinjiang fault belt which cuts off the interface of the upper crust and the lower crust and the Moho interface. Although there is no connection between the shallow and the deep faults, it offers deep structural environment for moderate and strong earthquake because of the deep high angle fault. This exploration result improves the reliability and precision of explanation of deep crustal structure in this area. The pull-apart and listric normal fault model indicates that the upper crust structure accords to the dynamic process of Taiwan Straits. This is helpful for seismicity estimation of Quanzhou and its adjacent area and important for obtaining more of the dynamic process of the southeast coast seismic belt.

Test of Deep Seismic Reflection Profiling across Central Uplift of Qiangtang Terrane in Tibetan Plateau

A test of deep seismic reflection profiling across the central uplift or metamorphic belt of the Qiangtang （羌塘） terrane, Tibet plateau, provides a first image of the crustal structure. Complex reflection patterns in the upper crust are interpreted as a series of folds and thrusts, and bivergent reflections in the lower crust may represent a convergence between the Indian and the Eurasian plates.

Lithospheric structure and faulting characteristics of the Helan Mountains and Yinchuan Basin： Results of deep seismic reflection profiling

The Helan Mountains and Yinchuan Basin （HM-YB） are located at the northern end of the North-South tectonic belt, and form an intraplate tectonic deformation zone in the western margin of the North China Craton （NCC）. The HM-YB has a complicated history of formation and evolution, and is tectonically active at the present day. It has played a dominant role in the complex geological structure and modem earthquake activities of the region. A 135-km-long deep seismic reflection profile across the HM-YB was acquired in early 2014, which provides detailed information of the lithospheric structure and faulting characteristics from near-surface to various depths in the region. The results show that the Moho gradually deepens from east to west in the depth range of 40-48 km along the profile. Significant differences are present in the crustal structure of different tectonic units, including in the distribution of seismic velocities, depths of intra-cmstal discontinuities and undulation pattern of the Moho. The deep seismic reflection profile further reveals distinct structural characteristics on the opposite sides of the Helan Mountains. To the east, The Yellow River fault, the eastern piedmont fault of the Helan Mountains, as well as multiple buried faults within the Yinchuan Basin are all normal faults and still active since the Quaternary. These faults have controlled the Cenozoic sedimentation of the basin, and display a ＂negative-flower＂ structure in the profile. To the west, the Bayanhaote fault and the western piedmont fault of the Helan Mountains are east-dipping thrust faults, which caused folding, thrusting, and structural deformation in the Mesozoic stratum of the Helan Mountains uplift zone. A deep-penetrating fault is identified in the western side of the Yinchuan Basin. It has a steep inclination cutting through the middle-lower crust and the Moho, and may be connected to the two groups of faults in the upper crest. This set of deep and shallow fault system consists of both strike-slip, thrust, and normal faults formed over different eras, and provides the key tectonic conditions for the basin-mountains coupling, crustal deformation and crust-mantle interactions in the region. The other important phenomenon revealed from the results of deep seismic reflection profiling is the presence of a strong upper mantle reflection （UMR） at a depth of 82-92 km beneath the HM-YB, indicating the existence of a rapid velocity variation or a velocity discontinuity in that depth range. This is possibly a sign of vertical structural inhomogeneity in the upper mantle of the region. The seismic results presented here provide new clues and observational bases for further study of the deep structure, structural differences among various blocks and the tectonic relationship between deep and shallow processes in the western NCC.

200-kg large explosive detonation facing 50-km thick crust beneath west Qinling,northeastern Tibetan plateau

It is difficult to acquire deep seismic reflection profiles on land using the standard oil-industry acquisition parameters. This is especially true over much of Tibetan plateau not only because of severe topography and rapid variation of both velocity and thickness of near-surface layer, but also strong attenuation of seismic wave through the thickest crust of the Earth. Large explosive sources had been successfully detonated in US, but its application in Tibetan plateau rarely has an example of good quality. Presented herein is the data of a 200-kg single shot we recorded in west Qinling, northeastern Tibetan plateau. The shot gather data with phenomenal signal-to-noise ratios illustrate the energy of the Prop phase. Although the observations are only limited to the northeastern Tibetan plateau and thus cannot comprise an exhaustive study, they nevertheless suggest that large explosions may be a useful exploration tool in Tibetan Plateau where standard seismic sources and profiling methods fail to produce adequate data of low crust.

Characteristic of crustal structure in the Shulu fault basin and its vicinity

The deep seismic reflection profiling carried out in Xingtai earthquake area provides a new knowledge of the crustal structure of the Shulu fault basin and its vicinity. In the Ningjin-Xinhe and Lincheng-Julu deep seismic reflection profiles trending in NWW, CDP stack profiles respectively show a one-side fault basin (i. e. Shulu fault basin) within TWT 4. 0s. The width of the basin is about 15 km (Eogene system boundary), and Xinhe fault extends to below TWT 4. 0s (i. e. 8 km deep) with listric shape as a main boundary fault. These profiles also display distinctly a detachment in mid-crust. The Xinhe fault extends downward and converges to the detachment. The results of deep seismic sounding and magnetotelluric sounding indicate the low-velocity and highconductive zone beneath the detachment, which is beneficial to the detach between upper and lower plates. The Renxian-Ningjin deep seismic reflection profile trending in NNE lies within the fault basin, which shows the complicated structure of the basin. The shallow part of the profile is divided into three sub-basins by three lateral uplifts. In the mid-lower crust from Gengzhuangqiao to Xiaohezhuang of the profile, there are a lot of strong reflection events with laminae structure, which have been deformed strongly. Two NWW-trending profiles also have similar reflection feature. This may indicate that there is a relative large region where the magma upwell into mid-lower crust. The abnormal low velocity zone in lower crust indicates that the magmatism is still strong at present. The magmatism may be an important factor of the tectonic active region.

地震反射剖面揭示阿尔泰山陆内逆冲造山机制

The Altai orogen is a typical intracontinental orogen in Central Asia that experienced far-field deformation associated with Indian-Eurasian plate convergence. This region is characterized by uplift comparable to that of the Tianshan Mountains but has a distinct strain rate. Half of the Indo-Asia strain is accommodated by the Tianshan Mountains, whereas the Altai Mountains accommodates only 10%. To elucidate how the Altai Mountains produced such a large amount of uplift with only one-fifth of the strain rate of the Tianshan Mountains, we constructed a detailed crustal image of the Altai Mountains based on a new 166.8-km deep seismic reflection profile. The prestack migration images reveal an antiform within the Erqis crust, an ~10 km Moho offset between the Altai arc and the East Junggar area, and a major south-dipping(30° dip) thrust in the lower crust beneath the Altai Mountains, which is connected to the Moho offset. The south-dipping thrust not only records the southward subduction of the Ob-Zaisan Ocean in the Paleozoic but also controlled the Altai deformation pattern in the Cenozoic with the Erqis antiform. The Erqis antiform prevented the extension of deformation to the Junggar crust. The southdipping thrust in the lower crust of the Altai area caused extrusion of the lower crust, generating uplift at the surface, thickening of the crust, and steep(~10 km) Moho deepening in the Altai Mountains. This process significantly widened the deformation zone of the Altai Mountains. These findings provide a new geodynamic model for describing how inherited crustal structure controls intraplate deformation without strong horizontal stress.

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.

Underplating in the middle-lower Yangtze Valley and model of geodynamic evolution:Constraints from geophysical data

The lower crust and Moho are the most active boundary layers in the process of continental evolution, in which marks left by tectonic and magmatic activities during the process are preserved. The evolutionary process of the continental lithosphere may be reconstructed by exploring the structures of the lower crust and Moho. According to a study of the deep seismic reflection data obtained from the middle-lower Yangtze Valley, the authors find bright layered reflections ubiquitous in the lower crust and think that the bright reflections are caused by un-derplating of basic or ultrabasic magmas, which might be related to delamination of the lithosphere. On the basis of an integrated analysis of the geophysical and geological data of the region, the authors propose a model for geodynamic evolution of the middle-lower Yangtze Valley. This model suggests that the middle-lower Yangtze Valley had undergone such geodynamic processes as collision-compression, delamination-extension and underplating-melting since the end of the Permian, finally forming the gigantic middle-lower Yangtze Valley metallogenic belt.

Potential of South African road technology for application in China

One of the main problems with roads and highways in China is the reflection cracking caused by the cement stabilized subbase layers passing through the overlying asphaltic layers. The cracks permit the ingress of moisture which softens the layers below the subbase resulting in loss of support and accelerated breakdown of the subbase layer and reduction in the tiding quality. The aim of this paper is to present the use of South African pavement design approach of deep structure and thin surfacing to overcome the existing problems. The deep pavement structure provides good long-term support and avoids the influence of moisture ingress, which means that only surfacing damage needs to be repaired. An unbound crushed stone base layer which is an integral component of the pavement structure limits reflection cracking. The paper first deals with the South African pavement design procedure and contrast this with the Chinese pavement design method. The inherent weaknesses of these methods are discussed and flowing from this discussion proposals for adapting the South African approach to China is presented. The resultant proposals have a high likelihood of success and will counteract the influences of extreme climate and rampant overloading that occurs on the Chinese roads.