Structure of the lithosphere and upper mantle in den ocean-continent transition from SS precursors

Time frame: 2008 - 2011

Summary
We use the large amount of seismic data recorded by seismic networks in Europe to study the lithosphere and mantle transition zone in the continent-ocean transition with SS precursors. SS bounce points from events in southwest Pacific sample a corridor from the Aleutians, Kamchatka and the Japan subduction zone through the North China craton to the Tibetan plateau. The corridor passes different tectonic units such as subduction zones, an old continental shield, a fold belt and a high plateau. We investigate the lithosphere and the mantle transition beneath different geologic units along the corridor and infer geodynamic processes at depth. We attempt to use the short period content of SS waveform data and experiment with methods like CMP stack and migration techniques to acquire high resolution lithosphere and upper mantle images and to improve the lateral and depth resolution for the upper mantle discontinuities and, further more, to create new possibilities to study the shallower structures such as the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary and the Moho with SS precursors.

Contact
Dr. Xiaohui Yuan (GFZ Potsdam)
Dr. Benjamin Heit (GFZ Potsdam)

Principle Investigators
Dr. Xiaohui Yuan (GFZ, Section 2.4)
Rainer Kind (GFZ, Section 2.4)
Benjamin Heit (GFZ, Section 2.4)

Publications

• Heit, B., X. Yuan, M. Bianchi, R. Kind and J. Gossler, 2010, Study of the lithospheric and upper mantle discontinuities beneath eastern Asia by SS precursors, Geophys. J. Int., 183, 252-266, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04714.x.