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An Overview of the Crustal and Uppermost Mantle Structure and Tectonics of Asia

Description: 

The structure of the crust and uppermost mantle of Asia is considered in the context of the Earth Crustal Model 1 (ECM1), a 1^◦ x 1^◦ global crustal model. ECM1 describes the thickness of the crust, including the overlying sediments, and the corresponding seismic velocities of P-waves, S-waves, and density. The crust is described by tiles with eight layers of variable thickness for ice, water, sediments, and the crystalline crust. ECM1 differs from previous crustal models in several aspects: (1) the sediment model incorporates newly published oceanic and continental compilations of sediment thickness; (2) the application of a vastly expanded database of 19,200 seismic measurements which sample seismic velocities within the sedimentary cover, crystalline crust and uppermost mantle; (3) the continental S-wave velocity is based on field measurements, unlike other models which estimate the S-wave velocity using the measured P-wave velocity and an assumed Vp/Vs ratio; (4) a new digital map of crustal types is used to interpolate seismic velocities for unmeasured areas. We use field measurements of crustal structure to calculate the Vp, Vs, Vp/Vs and density at 5 km intervals for continents and 2 km intervals for oceans down to Moho depth for each crustal type. In comparison with the global average properties of the crust, we find that the crust and uppermost mantle of many regions of Asia are anomalous, including Tibet, the north China craton and the continental magmatic arc of Indonesia. We interpret these anomalies in terms of the processes that have formed and modified the crust.

Session: Earth’s Structure from the Crust to the Core - II

Type: Oral

Date: 4/16/2025

Presentation Time: 11:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Walter

Student Presenter: No

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