Crustal structure beneath NE China imaged by NECESSArray receiver function data

Abstract We analyzed tens of thousands of receiver-function data recorded by 185 broadband seismic stations to study the crustal structure beneath the northeast China. Moho depth and average crustal V p / V s ratio were measured at each station using the H – κ grid searching technique. For stations located above unconsolidated sediments, we applied the H – β method to remove strong shallow reverberations and generate subsurface receiver functions that allow for effective H – κ analysis. The measurements show that the Songliao basin has a relatively thin crust (∼31 km), and the Moho depth increases significantly from southeast (∼27 km) to northwest (∼35 km). The northwestward tilting of the Songliao basin may suggest that it was initiated by lithospheric flexure due to the load of the Great Xing'an range in the Jurassic before the large-scale extension in the Cretaceous. Moho depth varies from 26.7 km to 42.3 km across the study area, with the shallowest and deepest Moho being located at the eastern flank of the Songliao basin and the Great Xing'an range, respectively. The Moho depth correlates well with the surface topography in the western part, but not the central and eastern parts of the study area. The residual topography computed based on the Airy's isostasy model indicates that the high topography at the eastern flank of the Songliao basin, the Changbaishan volcanic center, and the southern end of the Great Xing'an range is likely dynamically supported by the upper mantle.

[1]  B. Kennett,et al.  Traveltimes for global earthquake location and phase identification , 1991 .

[2]  L. P. Vinnik,et al.  Detection of waves converted from P to SV in the mantle , 1977 .

[3]  N. Sleep.  Isostasy and Flexure of the Lithosphere , 2002 .

[4]  Junlai Liu,et al.  Structural and sedimentary evolution of the southern Songliao Basin, northeast China, and implications for hydrocarbon prospectivity , 2010 .

[5]  B. Zelt,et al.  Receiver-function studies in the Trans-Hudson Orogen, Saskatchewan , 1999 .

[6]  Youlin Chen,et al.  Crustal structure beneath China from receiver function analysis , 2010 .

[7]  J. Cassidy,et al.  Numerical experiments in broadband receiver function analysis , 1992, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[8]  Robert Tibshirani,et al.  Bootstrap Methods for Standard Errors, Confidence Intervals, and Other Measures of Statistical Accuracy , 1986 .

[9]  K. J. MUIRHEAD,et al.  Eliminating False Alarms when detecting Seismic Events Automatically , 1968, Nature.

[10]  Determination of the absolute depths of the mantle transition zone discontinuities beneath China: Effect of stagnant slabs on transition zone discontinuities , 1998 .

[11]  Bin Chen,et al.  Two contrasting paleozoic magmatic belts in northern Inner Mongolia, China: petrogenesis and tectonic implications , 2000 .

[12]  Hiroo Kanamori,et al.  Moho depth variation in southern California from teleseismic receiver functions , 2000 .

[13]  Dapeng Zhao,et al.  High‐resolution mantle tomography of China and surrounding regions , 2006 .

[14]  Liang Jian,et al.  Technical system construction of Data Backup Centre for China Seismograph Network and the data support to researches on the Wenchuan earthquake , 2009 .

[15]  M. P. Watson,et al.  Plate tectonic history, basin development and petroleum source rock deposition onshore China , 1987 .

[16]  D. James,et al.  Fine structure of the lowermost crust beneath the Kaapvaal craton and its implications for crustal formation and evolution , 2002 .

[17]  A. Levander,et al.  Mapping the subducting Pacific slab beneath southwest Japan with Hi-net receiver functions , 2005 .

[18]  A. Levander,et al.  Receiver function study of the crustal structure of the southeastern Caribbean plate boundary and Venezuela , 2007 .

[19]  Jiaqi Liu,et al.  Cenozoic episodic volcanism and continental rifting in northeast China and possible link to Japan Sea development as revealed from K Ar geochronology , 2001 .

[20]  M. Toksöz,et al.  Crustal structure of China and surrounding regions from P wave traveltime tomography , 2006 .

[21]  Jianmin Hu,et al.  Tectonics of the late Mesozoic wide extensional basin system in the China–Mongolia border region , 2003 .

[22]  Jie Zheng,et al.  Construction of the Technical System of Data Backup Centre for China Seismograph Network and Its Support to Wenchuan Earthquake Researches , 2009 .

[23]  D. McKenzie,et al.  Some remarks on the development of sedimentary basins , 1978 .

[24]  Juan Li,et al.  Component azimuths of the CEArray stations estimated from P-wave particle motion , 2011 .

[25]  F. Niu,et al.  Receiver function study of the crustal structure of Northeast China: Seismic evidence for a mantle upwelling beneath the eastern flank of the Songliao Basin and the Changbaishan region , 2011 .

[26]  Zhang Junxia,et al.  Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic rifting and its dynamic setting in Eastern China and adjacent areas , 2002 .

[27]  Yonghua Li,et al.  Crustal thickness map of the Chinese mainland from teleseismic receiver functions , 2014 .

[28]  Stephen S. Gao,et al.  Southern African crustal evolution and composition: Constraints from receiver function studies , 2006 .

[29]  Charles J. Ammon,et al.  The isolation of receiver effects from teleseismic P waveforms , 1991, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[30]  Arthur L. Lerner-Lam,et al.  Crustal thickness variations across the Colorado Rocky Mountains from teleseismic receiver functions , 1995 .

[31]  J. Ning,et al.  Estimating sedimentary and crustal structure using wavefield continuation: theory, techniques and applications , 2013 .

[32]  F. Niu,et al.  Seismic evidence for a 920-km discontinuity in the mantle , 1994, Nature.

[33]  Peter Molnar,et al.  Rayleigh–Taylor instability and convective thinning of mechanically thickened lithosphere: effects of non‐linear viscosity decreasing exponentially with depth and of horizontal shortening of the layer , 1998 .

[34]  Q. Meng,et al.  What drove late Mesozoic extension of the northern China Mongolia tract , 2003 .

[35]  David E. James,et al.  Crustal structure beneath southern Africa and its implications for the formation and evolution of the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons , 2001 .

[36]  R. Rudnick,et al.  Recycling lower continental crust in the North China craton , 2004, Nature.

[37]  W. Siebel,et al.  Late Mesozoic tectonic evolution of the Songliao basin, NE China: Evidence from detrital zircon ages and Sr–Nd isotopes , 2012 .

[38]  R. Hilst,et al.  Structure of the upper mantle and transition zone beneath Southeast Asia from traveltime tomography , 2010 .

[39]  Robert W. Clayton,et al.  Source shape estimation and deconvolution of teleseismic bodywaves , 1976 .

[40]  Fei Wang,et al.  Late Mesozoic volcanism in the Great Xing'an Range (NE China): Timing and implications for the dynamic setting of NE Asia , 2006 .

[41]  Vadim A. Kravchinsky,et al.  Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean demonstrated by new Mesozoic palaeomagnetic results from the Trans-Baïkal area (SE Siberia) , 2005 .

[42]  J. Jackson,et al.  Characteristics and consequences of flow in the lower crust , 2000 .