The Study of Crustal Velocity Structure Characteristics in Yangjiang Area of South China

Author(s):  
Xiaona Wang ◽  
Zhihui Deng ◽  
Xiuwei Ye ◽  
Liwei Wang

<p>This paper collects 43,225 absolute first arrival P wave arrival times and 422,956 high quality relative P arrival times of 6,390 events occurred in Yangjiang and its adjacent area from Jan, 1990 to Aug, 2019, these seismic data is recorded by 49 stations from Guangdong seismic network, Guangxi seismic network and Hainan seismic network. Based on the seismic data above, we simultaneously determine the crustal 3D P wave velocity structure and the hypocenter parameters of 6255 events in Yangjiang and its adjacent area by applying Double-Difference seismic tomography. The result shows that, shallow P wave velocity in Yangjiang area is higher due to the thinner sedimentary layer and widely exposed Yanshanian granite, Indosinian granite and Cambrian metamorphic rocks. There are obvious correspondences between the distribution of shallow velocity and fault structure as well as geological structure. A wide range of low velocity anomaly exists in 20km depth, which verifies the low velocity layer in the middle crust at Yangjiang area of South China continent. The velocity image from land to ocean in 30km depth shows low velocity in NW side and high velocity in SE side, which verifies the characteristic of crust thinning in South China coastal continent. The NEE seismic belt from Yangbianhai to Pinggang is speculated to locate in a buried fault of southwest segment of Pinggang fault. The buried thrust fault is a N78°E strike fault, dip to NW with a dip angle of 85 °. In addition, the buried fault locates in the abnormal junction of high velocity on the NW side and low velocity on the SE side, which reflects the tectonic activity characteristic of NW plate uplifting and SE plate declining from Miocene period. The characteristic of activity in the buried fault shows thrust movement with a small strike slip component, which is consistent with the focal mechanism of M4.9 earthquake occurred in 2004.</p>

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaochun Wang ◽  
Hans Thybo ◽  
Irina M. Artemieva

AbstractAll models of the magmatic and plate tectonic processes that create continental crust predict the presence of a mafic lower crust. Earlier proposed crustal doubling in Tibet and the Himalayas by underthrusting of the Indian plate requires the presence of a mafic layer with high seismic P-wave velocity (Vp > 7.0 km/s) above the Moho. Our new seismic data demonstrates that some of the thickest crust on Earth in the middle Lhasa Terrane has exceptionally low velocity (Vp < 6.7 km/s) throughout the whole 80 km thick crust. Observed deep crustal earthquakes throughout the crustal column and thick lithosphere from seismic tomography imply low temperature crust. Therefore, the whole crust must consist of felsic rocks as any mafic layer would have high velocity unless the temperature of the crust were high. Our results form basis for alternative models for the formation of extremely thick juvenile crust with predominantly felsic composition in continental collision zones.


1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Drakatos ◽  
G. Karantonis ◽  
G. N. Stavrakakis

The three-dimensional velocity structure of the crust in the Aegean sea and the surrounding regions (34.0º-42.OºN, 19.0ºE-29.0ºE) is investigated by inversion of about 10000 residuals of arrival times of P-wave from local events. The resulting velocity structure shows strong horizontal variations due to the complicated crustal structure and the variations of crustal thickness. The northern part of the region generally shows high velocities. In the inner part of the volcanic arc (Southern Aegean area), relatively low velocities are observed, suggesting a large-scale absorption of seismic energy as confirmed by the low seismicity of the region. A low velocity zone was observed along the subduction zone of the region, up to a depth of 4 km. The existence of such a zone could be due to granitic or other intrusions in the crust during the uplift of the region during Alpidic orogenesis.


1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Chiarabba ◽  
A. Amato

In this paper we provide P-wave velocity images of the crust underneath the Apennines (Italy), focusing on the lower crustal structure and the Moho topography. We inverted P-wave arrival times of earthquakes which occurred from 1986 to 1993 within the Apenninic area. To overcome inversion instabilities due to noisy data (we used bulletin data) we decided to resolve a minimum number of velocity parameters, inverting for only two layers in the crust and one in the uppermost mantle underneath the Moho. A partial inversion of only 55% of the overall dataset yields velocity images similar to those obtained with the whole data set, indicating that the depicted tomograms are stable and fairly insensitive to the number of data used. We find a low-velocity anomaly in the lower crust extending underneath the whole Apenninic belt. This feature is segmented by a relative high-velocity zone in correspondence with the Ortona-Roccamonfina line, that separates the northern from the southern Apenninic arcs. The Moho has a variable depth in the study area, and is deeper (more than 37 km) in the Adriatic side of the Northern Apennines with respect to the Tyrrhenian side, where it is found in the depth interval 22-34 km.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunggu Jun ◽  
Hyeong-Tae Jou ◽  
Han-Joon Kim ◽  
Sang Hoon Lee

&lt;p&gt;Imaging the subsurface structure through seismic data needs various information and one of the most important information is the subsurface P-wave velocity. The P-wave velocity structure mainly influences on the location of the reflectors during the subsurface imaging, thus many algorithms has been developed to invert the accurate P-wave velocity such as conventional velocity analysis, traveltime tomography, migration velocity analysis (MVA) and full waveform inversion (FWI). Among those methods, conventional velocity analysis and MVA can be widely applied to the seismic data but generate the velocity with low resolution. On the other hands, the traveltime tomography and FWI can invert relatively accurate velocity structure, but they essentially need long offset seismic data containing sufficiently low frequency components. Recently, the stochastic method such as Markov chain Monte Carlo (McMC) inversion was applied to invert the accurate P-wave velocity with the seismic data without long offset or low frequency components. This method uses global optimization instead of local optimization and poststack seismic data instead of prestack seismic data. Therefore, it can avoid the problem of the local minima and limitation of the offset. However, the accuracy of the poststack seismic section directly affects the McMC inversion result. In this study, we tried to overcome the dependency of the McMC inversion on the poststack seismic section and iterative workflow was applied to the McMC inversion to invert the accurate P-wave velocity from the simple background velocity and inaccurate poststack seismic section. The numerical test showed that the suggested method could successfully invert the subsurface P-wave velocity.&lt;/p&gt;


Author(s):  
Glenn Thackray ◽  
Mark Zellman ◽  
Jason Altekruse ◽  
Bruno Protti ◽  
Harrison Colandera

Preliminary results from seismic data collected at two sites on the Teton fault reveal shallow sub-surface fault structure and a basis for evaluating the post-glacial faulting record in greater detail. These new data include high-resolution shallow 2D seismic refraction and Interferometric Multi-Channel Analysis of Surface Waves (IMASW) (O’Connell and Turner 2010) depth-averaged shear wave velocity (Vs). The Teton fault, a down-to-the east normal fault, is expressed as a distinct topographic escarpment along the base of the eastern front of the Teton Range in Wyoming. The average fault scarp height cut into deglacial surfaces in several similar valleys and an assumed 14,000 yr BP deglaciation indicates an average postglacial offset rate of 0.82 m/ka (Thackray and Staley, in review). Because the fault is located almost entirely within Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), and in terrain that is remote and difficult to access, very few subsurface studies have been used to evaluate the fault. As a result, many uncertainties exist in the present characterization of along-strike slip rate, down-dip geometry, and rupture history, among other parameters. Additionally, questions remain about the fault dip at depth. Shallow seismic data were collected at two locations on the Teton fault scarp to (1) use a non-destructive, highly portable and cost-effective data collection system to image and characterize the Teton fault, (2) use the data to estimate vertical offsets of faulted bedrock and sediment, and (3) estimate fault dip in the shallow subsurface. Vs data were also collected at three GTNP facility structures to provide measured 30 m depth-averaged Vs (Vs30) for each site. Seismic data were collected using highly portable equipment packed into each site on foot. The system utilizes a sensor line 92 m long that includes 24 geophones (channels) at 4 m intervals. At both the Taggart Lake and String Lake sites, P-wave refraction data were collected spanning the fault scarp and perpendicular to local fault strike, as well as IMASW Vs seismic lines positioned on the hanging wall to provide Vs vs. Depth profiles crossing and perpendicular to the refraction survey lines. The Taggart Lake and String Lake 2D P-wave refraction profile and IMASW Vs plots reveal buried velocity structure that is vertically offset by the Teton fault. At Taggart Lake, we interpret the velocity horizon to be the top of dense glacial sediment (possibly compacted till), which is overlain by younger, slower, sediments. This surface is offset ~13 m (down-to-the-east) across the Teton fault. The vertical offset is in agreement with the measured height of the corresponding topographic scarp (~12 - 15 m). Geomorphic analysis of EarthScope (2008) LiDAR reveals small terraces, slope inflections and an abandoned channel on the footwall side of the scarp. At String Lake, the shallow buried velocity structure is inferred as unconsolidated alluvium (till, colluvium, alluvium); this relatively low velocity zone (


1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 742-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
George A. McMechan ◽  
George D. Spence

Refraction data were recorded from three shot points out to a maximum distance of ~330 km as part of the 1980 Vancouver Island Seismic Project (VISP80). These vertical component data are partially reversed and so can be interpreted in terms of two-dimensional structures by iterative modeling of P-wave travel times and amplitudes. The structure of the upper crust is the best constrained part of the model. It consists, generally, of a gradually increasing velocity from ~5.3 km/s at the surface to ~6.4 km/s at 2 km depth to ~6.75 km/s at 15.5 km depth, where the velocity increases sharply to ~7 km/s. Below ~20 km depth, the model becomes speculative because the data provide only indirect constraints on velocities at these depths. An interpretation that fits the observed times and amplitudes has a low velocity zone in the lower crust and a Moho at 37 km depth. The only significant departure from this general structure is beneath the central part of Vancouver Island where the 15.5 km boundary in the model attains a depth of ~23 km, below which there appears to be a local high velocity anomaly.


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