Differences in lithospheric structures between two sides of Taihang Mountain obtained from the Zhucheng-Yichuan deep seismic sounding profile

Abstract

A 2-D model of lithospheric velocity structures in the southern part of the North China Craton was obtained using data from the Zhucheng-Yichuan deep seismic sounding profile. Results show that there are great differences in lithospheric structures between two sides of Taihang Mountain. In the eastern region, the lithosphere is thinner, with a thickness of about 70-80 km, while in the western region, the thickness is 85-120 km. There is a jump of the lithospheric thickness across Taihang Mountain gravity anomaly belt with a magnitude of about 30 km. P wave velocities of the lithospheric mantle and lower crust are lower in the eastern region and higher in the western region. In the eastern region, there are low velocity bodies in the middle and lower crust, while none were found in the western region. These differences indicate that the Taihang Mountain gravity anomaly belt is a belt with a abrupt change of lithospheric thickness and lithological composition. According to the Pm waveform, it can be deduced that the Moho in the eastern region is not a sharp discontinuity, but a complex transitional zone. From a preliminary analysis, it is found that the geothermal mechanical-chemical erosion could be the main mechanism causing the thinning and destruction of the lithosphere beneath the eastern side of Taihang Mountain. In addition, subduction of the Pacific Plate is an important factor which changes the properties of the lithospheric mantle of the North China Craton. North China Craton, cratonic destruction, deep seismic sounding profile, Taihang Mountain gravity anomaly belt Citation:Li S L, Lai X L, Liu B F, et al. Differences in lithospheric structures between two sides of Taihang Mountain obtained from the Zhucheng-Yichuan deep seismic sounding profile.

Lithospheric Alteration, Intraplate Crustal Deformation, and Topography in Eastern China

“…South of TNCO, the lithosphere is thinner (110–120 km) than to the north (>120 km). Additionally, the thickness in the southern TNCO is consistent with that estimated from active‐source seismic work (S. Li et al, ) and the depth of a midlithospheric discontinuity (Chen et al, ). In south China, even though the isostatic lithospheric thickness is less than the thermal lithosphere, our lithospheric thickness is comparable to seismic results (Zhang et al, ), and both feature increasing depth from the coast to the interior mainland (Figure ), although our results are smoother than those of Zhang et al, (2018).…”

Late Cretaceous volcanic rocks and associated granites in Gyeongsang Basin, SE Korea: Their chronological ages and tectonic implications for cratonic destruction of the North China Craton

“…The Late Cretaceous magmatic rocks in the Japan Islands and the Korean Peninsula seem to represent subductionIsland Arc sequences; therefore, a clear geological scenario of subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate was from Late Cretaceous. So, Korean Peninsula and the NCC might have had different lines of tectonic evolution during the Late Mesozoic, with an earlier onset and later peak time of Mesozoic magmatic event in the Korean Peninsula as compared to the NCC could not be in agreement with the inference that the Pacific plate subduction played a pivotal role (Zhu et al, 2011;Li et al, 2011). There may be multiple tectonic factors that controlled cratonic destruction of the NCC (Zhai et al, 2004), such as the Indian-Eurasia block collision (Menzies et al, 1993), South China-North China collision (Xu, 2001), and subduction of the Pacific Plate or plumes (Deng et al, 2004).…”

Distinct variations of crustal shear wave velocity structure and radial anisotropy beneath the North China Craton and tectonic implications

“…Based on the new seismic data recently collected by dense broadband arrays and deep seismic sounding, fine-scale crustal structure images have been obtained for various parts of the NCC (e.g., Li et al, 2006;Zheng et al, 2008Zheng et al, , 2009bTeng et al, 2010;Li et al, 2011;Tian et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2011), revealing substantial structural variations of the region. In particular, a generally slow and thin crust (mostly b35 km) was imaged under the eastern NCC, whereas a thicker (~40 up to 60 km) and structurally complex crust was proposed to be characteristic of the central and western NCC.…”

“…These remarkable changes in the crustal structure appear to be correlated with the distinct regional variations of lithospheric structure and surface geology, reflecting complex crustal tectonics and evolution of the craton. However, discrepancies in the derived structural features of the crust, such as velocity distributions and crustal thickness, still exist in some regions of the craton in the results from different imaging methods and/or subsets of data (e.g., Wei et al, 2011), for instance, from active-(e.g., Teng et al, 2010;Li et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2011b and references therein) and passive-source data (e.g., Zheng et al, 2009b;Zhu and Zheng, 2009;Tian et al, 2011). This results in larger uncertainties in the crustal structure and therefore a less direct link between seismic velocity structure and regional geology and tectonics.…”