P-wave Velocity Structure of the Lower Crust and Uppermost Mantle
Beneath the Sichuan-Yunnan (China) Region
Abstract
We conduct a tomographic inversion for the 3-D P-wave velocity structure
in the lower crust and uppermost mantle of the Sichuan-Yunnan region in
the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. A total of 43,450
reliable arrival times of P waves are picked from over 300,000 regional
seismic records using an automatic algorithm based on deep learning. A
two-stage iterative inversion process is adopted in which events are
relocated in the process, leading to a significant reduction in
traveltime residuals. A statistical resolution matrix analysis suggests
that our model has an optimal spatial resolution length of
~0.4° in the lower crust and ~0.2° in
the uppermost mantle. Our 3-D model shows that both the lower crust and
uppermost mantle in the region are characterized by strong lateral
heterogeneities. The unusually low velocities in the lower crust may
indicate the existence of lower crustal flow, whereas the high velocity
anomalies in the uppermost mantle in and around the Sichuan-Yunnan
Rhombic Block may be an important factor in preventing the ductile
materials in the lower crust moving eastward. Our model also indicates a
coupling between the surface deformation and the material flow in the
lower crust. Finally, the lower crustal flow may influence the materials
immediately below the Moho interface beneath the Sichuan-Yunnan Rhombic
Block, and the crust-mantle transition zone in the eastern margin of
Songpan-Ganzi Block may be influenced by both the lower crustal flow and
the upwelling warm materials from below.