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Crustal Thickness and Poisson’s Ratio in Tianshan Region from Receiver Functions

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Abstract

The structure and physical properties of the crust in the Tianshan region are important for studying the tectonic evolution process within the Tianshan crust. We extracted the receiver functions by collecting the teleseismic waveform from 43 permanent and temporary stations in the Tianshan region (40–46° N, 78–92° E), and obtained the crustal thickness and Poisson’s ratio by using the H–κ–c stacking method to eliminate the effects of the anisotropy and dipping interface in the crust. The results from the H–κ–c stacking method are more robust than those obtained from traditional H–κ stacking. The crustal thickness in the study area ranges from 38 to 62 km with an average of 51 km. The overall crustal thickness is found to be thicker at the Tianshan Mountains but thinner in the basins to the north and south. It is assumed that these features are related to the subduction of Tarim Basin and Junggar Basin beneath the Tianshan Mountains, where insertion and subduction occurred, resulting in crustal shortening and thickening. The Poisson’s ratio in most areas of the Tianshan Mountains ranges from 0.23 to 0.27, close to the average for continental crust. In the contact zone between the southern margin of Junggar Basin and Tianshan Mountains and from the northern margin of Tarim Basin to the western part of the Tianshan Mountains, the Poisson’s ratio reaches as high as 0.3. Based on the velocity structure, electrical conductivity, density, and heat flow study, the higher Poisson’s ratio near the contact zones is probably related to partial melting of the mass with low melting point from the basins due to the subduction. The Tianshan Mountains and Tarim Basin show a clear unbalanced isostatic gravitational state.

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Availability of Data and Material

The waveform are available from the Data Management Centre of China National Seismic Network at Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration with the DOI of https://doi.org/10.11998/SeisDmc/SN (http://www.seisdmc.ac.cn).

Code Availability

The code is from Li et al. (2019). It can be obtained upon request from the authors or directly from github (https://github.com/ljtuiuc/H‐k‐c).

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Acknowledgements

The data from the permanent stations are available from the Data Management Centre of China National Seismic Network at Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration with the DOI of https://doi.org/10.11998/SeisDmc/SN (http://www.seisdmc.ac.cn). This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant of China (grant no. 41804057), National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2018YFC1504100), and Special Fund of the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration (grant no. DQJB20X07).

Funding

National Science Foundation Grant of China (grant no. 41804057). National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2018YFC1504100). Special Fund of the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration (grant no. DQJB20X07).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yan Cai, JianPing Wu & WeiLai Wang

  2. Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76187, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Yan Cai

  3. Key Laboratory of Seismic Observation and Geophysical Imaging, Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    JianPing Wu

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  1. Yan Cai
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Y.C. and W.L.W. The manuscript was written by Y.C. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yan Cai or JianPing Wu.

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Cai, Y., Wu, J. & Wang, W. Crustal Thickness and Poisson’s Ratio in Tianshan Region from Receiver Functions. Pure Appl. Geophys. 178, 3529–3542 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-021-02817-9

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