Effective elastic thickness of the Arabian plate: Weak shield versus strong platform

Abstract

The fan wavelet method has been employed to calculate high-resolution maps of variations of the effective elastic thickness (EET) for the Arabian plate and surroundings. As the initial data, we use high-resolution gravity field, topography, and recent models of sedimentary basins. The western part of the plate is generally characterized by low to midvalues of EET (10-30km) while the eastern one by high values (50km and more in the core). This finding confirms that the pronounced asymmetry of the plate is rather associated with fundamental structural differences of the lithosphere than with a forced tilt of the plate due to the rifting in the west-southwest and subduction in the northeast. Therefore, the high topography in the western part of the plate is likely supported by relatively hot mantle that is also responsible for the decrease of EET. These results are generally in agreement with recent seismic tomography models. Key Points Variations of the effective elastic thickness (EET) over the Arabian plate The western Arabian plate is weak, and the eastern part is strong The asymmetry of the plate reflects differences in the lithosphere structure