1-D P- and S-wave velocity models for the collision zone between the northern Tianshan mountain and the Junggar basin based on local earthquake data

Abstract

We have developed crustal minimum 1-D P- and S-wave velocity models of the collision zone between the northern Tianshan mountain and the Junggar basin (86 E-89 E, 43 N-44.5 N). These two models were created through inversion of 1 370 P- and 1 396 S-wave travel times from 173 well-constrained local earthquakes recorded by the Ürümqi sparse local seismic network and temporary seismic arrays. In contrast to previous models, our results indicate relatively low velocity at both shallow (<10 km) and deep (30-45 km) depths. The shallow zone is interpreted to be the result of thick surficial sedimentary deposits, whereas the deeper anomaly is interpreted to result from ductile shearing and lower crustal flow. Additionally, we detected several transition layers under the lower crust, which may imply structural complexity of the uppermost mantle in this region. The improved models reduce the RMS residual of earthquake locations by 41.7% from 1.2 to 0.5 seconds. The more accurately located hypocenters appear to correlate with prominent local over-thrusts, which underlie an anticlinal fold belt and several blind faults. Positive station corrections are observed near the Junggar basin, which likely reflects low wave velocity; negative corrections near the Tianshan mountain and Bogda mountain suggest high wave velocity. © 2012 The Seismological Society of China and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.