Rayleigh Wave Group Velocity Tomography of Siberia, China and the Vicinity

Rayleigh waves are used in a tomographic inversion to obtain group velocity maps of East Asia (40°E–160°E and 20°N–70°N). The period range studied is 30 to 70 seconds. Seismograms used for this study were recorded at CDSN stations, at a temporary broadband seismic array in Tibet, at several SRO stations, and Kirnos-equipped stations established in Asia by the former Soviet Union, in Siberia, in the Sakhalin and in Mongolia. Altogether more than 1200 paths were available in the tomographic inversion. The study area includes the Angara craton, the geologically ancient core of Asia, and the subsequently accreted units, the Altaids (a Paleozoic collision complex), the Sino-Korean platform (a chain of Archaen terranes separated by belts of active structures), the south China platform (a collage of Precambrian, Paleozoic and Mesozoic metamorphic and igneous terranes), as well as the Tibetan plateau (an active tectonic feature created in late Cenozoic through collision of the Indian subcontinent and the Asian continent). Many of these main units are recognizable in the tomographic images as distinctive units; Tibet appears as a prominent low velocity (about 15% from the average) structure, with western and central Tibet often appearing as the areas with the lowest velocities, the Central Asian fold-belt, and the Angara craton are consistently high group velocity areas. Some lesser tectonic features are also recognizable. For example, Lake Baikal is seen as a high velocity feature at periods greater than 40 seconds. However, the high group velocity feature does not stop near the southern end of Lake Baikal; it extends south-southwestward across Mongolia. The North China Plain, a part of the platform where extensional tectonics dominate, is an area of high velocities as a result of relatively thin crust. The south China block, the least tectonically active region of China, is generally an area of high velocity. For periods longer than 40 seconds, a NNE trending high group velocity gradient clearly exists in eastern China; the velocities are noticeably higher in the east. From the group velocity maps, average dispersion curves at twelve locations were determined and inverted to obtain velocity structures. Main results of group velocity inversion include: (1) a Tibetan crust of around 60 km thick, with low crustal and upper mantle shear velocities, at 3.3 km:s and 4.2 km:s, respectively; (2) with the Moho constrained at 40–43 km, the Angara craton and the Central Asian foldbelt have a VS in excess of 4.6 km:s; (3) relatively low shear velocities are obtained for tectonically active areas. In many parts of the study area, where Precambrian basement is exposed, the process in the crust and upper mantle due to recent tectonic activities have modified the crust and upper mantle velocity structures under the Precambrian terranes, they are no longer underlain by high velocity crust and mantle.