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We use earthquake geothermometry, measured heat flow, and structural constraints from P-wave receiver functions to model the thermal evolution of the lithosphere beneath Harrat Lunayyir. We suggest that the lithosphere thinned to its present 60-km thickness in a second stage of lithospheric thinning at 15–12 Ma following initial Red Sea extension at ∼27 Ma. Harrat Lunayyir is an active volcanic field located in the Arabian Shield >150 km east of the Red Sea rift axis. In the lithospheric mantle beneath Harrat Lunayyir we locate 64 high-frequency earthquakes at depths of 42–48 km, all with m L ≤ 2.5 . These brittle-failure earthquakes must have nucleated at relatively low temperatures, based upon global maximum nucleation depths and temperature-dependent-deformation experimental results. Therefore, the mantle earthquakes show that the upper mantle lithosphere is not in thermal equilibrium with the shallow (60 km) underlying asthenosphere. Our thermal modeling indicates that the lithosphere beneath Harrat Lunayyir thinned to its current 60-km thickness at 12 ± 2 Ma, as constrained by thermal modeling of: (1) surface heat-flow; (2) the depth to the mid-crustal brittle–ductile transition, and (3) the depth to the upper-mantle brittle–ductile transition.

We discriminate upper-mantle earthquakes from crustal earthquakes based on the amplitude ratio of seismic waves Sn and Lg (‘ S n / L g ’), a prominent feature of regional seismograms that is visible to the naked eye. Crucially, our new method uses only the waveforms of the candidate earthquake, unlike previous methods to identify upper-mantle earthquakes that introduce potentially large errors by comparing hypocentral depths with independent measures of crustal thickness. Our synthetics show that the Love-wave higher modes that form individual Sn and Lg Airy phases on the transverse component are preferentially excited when the source is respectively below or above the Moho. We use three previously recognized mantle events from southern Tibet to validate our new approach and show that focal mechanism, intrinsic attenuation, geometrical spreading etc., can be ignored to first order. We then identify two new upper-mantle earthquakes in NW Tibet where, previously, only lower-crustal events had been reliably demonstrated, thereby showing this NW-Tibet lithosphere is seismogenic at all depths i.e. that upper-mantle and lower-crustal earthquakes co-exist. Our method has potential for expanding the global catalog of continental earthquakes reliably determined to be close above or close below the Moho.

We perform a finite-frequency tomographic inversion to image 3D velocity structures beneath southern and central Tibet using teleseismic body-wave data recorded by the TIBET-31N passive seismic array as well as waveforms from previous temporary seismic arrays. High-velocity bodies dip ∼40° northward beneath the Himalaya and the Lhasa Terrane. We interpret these high-velocity anomalies as subducting Indian Continental Lithosphere (ICL). The ICL appears to extend further north in central Tibet than in eastern Tibet, reaching 350 km depth at ∼31°N along 85°E but at ∼30°N along 91°E. Low P- and S-wave velocity anomalies extend from the lower crust to ≥180 km depth beneath the Tangra Yum Co Rift, Yadong-Gulu Rift, and the Cona Rift, suggesting that rifting in southern Tibet may involve the entire lithosphere. The anomaly beneath Tangra Yum Co Rift extends down to about 180 km, whereas the anomalies west of the Yadong-Gulu Rift and east of the Cona Rift extend to more than 300 km depth. The low-velocity upper mantle west of the Yadong-Gulu Rift extends furthest north and appears to connect with the extensive upper-mantle low-velocity region beneath central Tibet. Thus the northward-subducting Indian Plate is fragmented along north–south breaks that permit or induce asthenospheric upwellings indistinguishable from the upper mantle of northern Tibet.

The Tibetan plateau is bounded in part by cratonic blocks, and in part by tectonothermally younger and weaker crust. How the Tibetan plateau interacts with bordering non-cratonic crust is a continuing debate, whether the plateau is currently enlarging its area, and if so, whether by thrusting or by lower-crustal flow, or both. The gently sloping northeastern margin of Tibet has been inferred to incorporate a lower-crustal channel flow outward towards the Ordos block that is a part of the North China Craton. We calculated receiver functions using teleseismic waveforms recorded by a dense nodal seismic array crossing from the Longxi basin of northeastern Tibet across a transition zone marked by the Liupan Shan (mountains) into the Ordos block. Our image shows the Longxi upper crust overthrusts onto the Ordos block building the Liupan Shan, and the Longxi lower crust underthrusts beneath the Ordos forming a 10-km thick crustal root. The Ordos crust forms a crustal-scale wedge inserted into the Longxi crust, and deformation is limited to a narrow zone of

a b s t r a c t West-east extension is a prominent tectonic feature of southern and central Tibet despite ongoing north- south (N-S) convergence between India and Eurasia. Knowledge of deep structure beneath the N-S trending rifts is key to evaluating models proposed for their origin, including gravitational collapse, oblique convergence along the arcuate plate boundary, and mantle upwelling. We model direct S and Moho-reflected SsPmp phases at teleseismic distances to constrain variations in crustal thickness across the major rifts crossed by a ∼900-km long, W-E broadband array in the Lhasa Terrane. Crustal thicknesses are ∼70-80 km. However, Moho depth decreases by ∼10 km within a horizontal distance of 100 km west of the Yadong-Gulu rift (YGR) and Nyainquentanghla mountains (NQTL). This Moho uplift, taken with deep, extensional focal mechanisms and reduced seismic velocity in the upper mantle, suggests that asthenospheric upwelling has significantly contributed to the pattern of extension across the YGR and NQTL. The ∼100-km separation between surface rift and Moho uplift is likely enabled by partial decoupling across a ductile middle crust. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

To understand the along-strike variation of crustal deformation and tectonic processes in the India–Tibet continental collision zone, we deployed a linear array of broadband seismic stations along 92° E to image lithospheric structure. Our receiver-function cross-section reveals a prominent negative converter dipping ∼20° north from ∼10–55 km depth below sea-level, almost through the whole crust, beneath the southern Lhasa terrane. We interpret it to be a manifestation of the Yarlung–Zangbo suture zone (YZS) separating the continental crust of the Indian and Eurasian plates. This implies the hypothesized channel-flows of Indian middle crust extruding southwards from Tibet are limited at this longitude to the southernmost portion of the Lhasa terrane. A positive converter, consistent with previous suggestions of eclogite formation, is seen about 10–15 km above the Moho and continuing 50 km north of the 20°-dipping YZS converter. We image this positive converter continuously from ∼60 km south of the surface trace of the YZS to the vicinity of the Jiali fault, supporting the interpretation of sub-horizontal underplating of Tibetan crust by Indian crust to ∼31° N at 85° E on the Hi-CLIMB transect. However, we also show a negative mantle converter sub-parallel to the crustal YZS converter, from the northern limit of the underplating Indian lower crust to at least 140 km depth, that we interpret as the base of Tibetan lithosphere overlying an asthenospheric mantle wedge. Based on the lithospheric structure observed in this and other studies, we infer that Indian mantle lithosphere currently detaches from Indian lower crust at the “mantle suture” that is nearly 50 km south of the surface trace of the YZS at 92° E, south of the mantle suture suggested by INDEPTH transect beneath the surface trace of the YZS at ∼90° E, and far south of the mantle suture suggested to be at the 31° N northern limit of underthrusting Indian lower crust suggested by Hi-CLIMB transect at ∼85° E. A change from underplating in the west to steep subduction in the east can reconcile all these observations.

We use common conversion point (CCP) stacking of Ps receiver functions to image the crustal structure and Moho of the Garhwal Himalaya of India. Our seismic array of 21 broadband seismometers spanned the Himalayan thrust wedge at 79–80°E, between the Main Frontal Thrust and the South Tibet Detachment, in 2005–2006. Our CCP image shows the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT), the detachment at the base of the Himalayan thrust wedge, with a flat-ramp-flat geometry. Seismic impedance contrasts inferred from geologic cross-sections in Garhwal imply a negative impedance contrast (velocity decreasing downward) for the upper flat, located beneath the Lower Himalaya, and a positive impedance contrast (velocity increasing downward) for the ramp, located beneath the surface trace of the Munsiari Thrust (or MCT-I). At the lower flat, located beneath the Higher Himalaya, spatially coincident measurements of very high electrical conductivities require the presence of free fluids, and we infer a negative impedance contrast on the MHT caused by ponding of these fluids beneath the detachment. Our seismic image indicates that the upper flat of the MHT is ∼ 10 km below sea level and dips north at ∼ 2 ° , connecting to a mid-crustal ramp which is ∼ 10 km high and dips at ∼ 16 ° . The lower flat is 20–25 km below sea level and dips at ∼ 4 ° . The Main Central Thrust (MCT) appears as a negative impedance contrast, dipping at ∼ 16 ° . The Moho is nearly horizontal at 35–45 km depth beneath the Sub-Himalaya and Lower Himalaya, deepening to 50 km or more beneath the Higher Himalaya. This depth is 10–25 km shallower than in the NW Indian Himalaya and 5–10 km shallower than in central Nepal, requiring significant along-strike variations in crustal thickness. The observed thickness of subducted Indian crust in Garwhal is 20–28 km.

The Karakoram fault (KKF) is the 1000 km-long strike-slip fault separating the western Himalaya from the Tibetan Plateau. From geologic and geodetic data, the KKF is argued either to be a lithospheric-scale fault with hundreds of km of offset at several cm/a, or to be almost inactive with cumulative offset of only a few tens of kilometers and to be just the upper-crustal localization of distributed deformation at depth. Here we show 3He/4He ratios in geothermal springs along a 500-km segment of the KKF are 3–100 times the normal ratio in continental crust, providing unequivocal evidence that a component of these hydrologic systems is derived from tectonically active mantle. Mantle enrichment is absent along the Indus–Yarlung suture zone (ISZ) just 35 km southwest of the KKF, suggesting that the mantle fluids flow only within the KKF. Within the last few Ma, the KKF must have accessed tectonically active Tibetan mantle northeast of the “mantle suture” which we therefore locate vertically beneath the KKF, very close to the surface trace of the ISZ. Hence, in southwestern Tibet, Indian crust may not now be underthrusting substantially north of the ISZ, even though Miocene underthrusting may have placed Indian crust north of the ISZ in the lower half of the Tibetan Plateau crust. This is in significant contrast to central and eastern Tibet where underthrust Indian material not only forms the lower half of the Tibetan crust but is also currently underthrusting for ∼200 km north of the ISZ. Our new constraint on KKF penetration to the mantle allows an improved description of the continuously evolving Karakoram fault, as a tectonically significant yet perhaps geologically ephemeral lithospheric structure.

Most compressional orogens include salients and recesses along their strike, the age and origin of which can be hard to ascertain. In the Kangra recess in the trace of the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), the largest such recess within the active Himalayan orogen, the Sub-Himalayan sedimentary fold-thrust belt increases in width to as much as 90 km (the Kangra Basin), but narrows to as little as 10 km in the adjoining Nahan salient of the MBT (the Subathu Basin) to the southeast. New seismic reflection profiling places the Himalayan decollement at 6–8 km depth above thin but reflective Meso- to Neoproterozoic Vindhyan (Lesser Himalayan Series-equivalent) strata. These data show that the Vindhyan sedimentary rocks are thinner in the Kangra recess than further southeast, allowing the hypothesis that the width of the Lesser Himalayan thrust belt, and the existence of the Kangra recess, could be related to the pre-deformation basin thickness. This hypothesis obviates the need for control of the Kangra recess by a lateral ramp in the Main Himalayan Thrust, so making it more likely that the Kangra segment could rupture as part of an earthquake far larger than the devastating 1905 M = 7.8 Kangra earthquake. Below the Proterozoic sedimentary rocks, our reflection data show a west–southwest-dipping reflective fabric spanning a 30 km-crustal thickness, which we infer corresponds to a widespread “Ulleri-Wangtu” orogenic event at c. 1850 Ma affecting a pre-Tethyan Indian continental margin, thickening the basement by c. 20%. The deepest 10 km of this ~ 50 km-thick crust shows a more horizontal, arguably younger, reflectivity, though the Moho is not clearly marked by strong reflectors.

The Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) is commonly considered the archetypal magma-assisted rift. Tomographic images of upper-mantle upwellings beneath the rift, aligned anisotropy beneath magmatic segments, and pervasive magmatic modification of the crust all indicate the importance of magmatic processes in present-day rift evolution. It has been suggested that this magmatic development is responsible for the straight and continuous path the rift cuts across the Ethiopian Plateau. We compile new evidence indicating that the MER is not as continuous and its development not as simple as previously believed. Significant lithospheric heterogeneities are evident in our compilation of recently acquired seismic, gravity, and geologic data. Numerical models of rift propagation in such heterogeneous lithosphere show that rift propagation may stall at rheological boundaries. We propose that the heterogeneities in the MER caused irregular rift propagation, resulting in a distinct discontinuity visible within the rift lithosphere. This discontinuity in structure spatially correlates to an apparent discontinuity in the age of extension between the northern MER and the central MER, lending support to our hypothesis. Our interpretation leads to a two-phase model of rift propagation in the MER, with initial rift development primarily controlled by lithospheric structure and a later phase during which magmatic processes are dominant. During the initial phase, rift propagation was irregular and at times stalled or was diverted away from the modern rift trend along pre-existing structures. Our model, while acknowledging the importance of magmatic processes in volcanic extensional regions, shows that even in this classic example of magma-assisted rifting, inherited lithospheric structure localized initial extension and controlled rift propagation. This early phase formed the template for future rift development and continental break-up.

Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks in the NW Himalaya are some of the youngest on Earth, and allow testing of critical questions of UHP formation and exhumation and the timing of the India–Asia collision. Initial collision of India with Asia is widely cited as being at 55F1 Ma based on a paleomagnetically determined slowdown of India’s plate velocity, and as being at ca. 51 Ma based on the termination of marine carbonate deposition. Even relatively small changes in this collision age force large changes in tectonic reconstructions because of the rapid India–Asia convergence rate of 134 mm/a at the time of collision. New U–Pb SHRIMP dating of zircon shows that Indian rocks of the Tso Morari Complex reached UHP depths at 53.3F0.7 Ma. Given the high rate of Indian subduction, this dating implies that Indian continental crust arrived at the Asian trench no later than 57F1 Ma, providing a metamorphic age for comparison with previous paleomagnetic and stratigraphic estimates. India’s collision with Asia may be compared to modern processes in the Timor region in which initiation of collision precedes both the slowing of the convergence rate and the termination of marine carbonate deposition. The Indian UHP rocks must have traveled rapidly along a short, hence steep, path into the mantle. Early continental subduction was at a steep angle, probably vertical, comparable to modern continental subduction in the Hindu Kush, despite evidence for modern-day low-angle subduction of India beneath Tibet. Oceanic slab break-off likely coincided with exhumation of UHP terranes in the western Himalaya and led to the initiation of low-angle subduction and leucogranite generation. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Snake River Plain (SRP), a 90-km-wide topographic depression in southern Idaho, is a topographically anomalous feature in the western U.S. Previous seismic studies focused on the northeastern SRP to study its relationship with the Yellowstone hotspot. We present new teleseismic shear-wave splitting data from six broadband seismic stations deployed along the axis of the SRP from June 2000 to September 2001. We also analyze splitting at HLID, a permanent station of the National Seismic Network located f100 km north of the plain. Splitting of individual teleseismic phases is consistent at all stations within 2r errors, and we favor the interpretation of anisotropy with a single horizontal fast axis, although a dipping-axis interpretation is statistically permitted at two of the stations. Our station fast directions, as well as shear-wave splitting data from numerous other stations throughout the Basin and Range, are best explained by a lattice preferred orientation of olivine due to horizontal shear along the base of the plate associated with the gravitational spreading of buoyant plume-like upwelling material beneath eastern Nevada into a southwestward flowing asthenosphere (with respect to a fixed hotspot reference frame). This parabolic asthenospheric flow (PAF) model for the Great Basin is attractive because it explains the observed high elevations, high mantle buoyancy, low-velocity anomaly beneath eastern Nevada, high heat flow, and depleted geochemistry of some erupted basalts. The lack of Pliocene-Recent major volcanism in eastern Nevada suggests that a significant amount of the buoyancy flux is due to compositional buoyancy. Our splitting station delay times vary in a way not predicted by the PAF model, and can be explained by: a zone of aligned magma-filled lenses and/or partially molten dikes beneath the SRP lithosphere, a depleted olivine-rich residuum underneath the sides of the eastern SRP, and/or the effect of lateral lower crustal flow from beneath the eSRP toward its adjacent flanks. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Aleutian island arc crosses from the Pacific Ocean to the North-American continent at the island of Unimak. 3-D finite-difference traveltime inversion of our onshore–offshore seismic reflection/refraction data gives a velocity model of the crust and uppermost mantle. The arc crust is on average 30 km thick, but thickens to almost 40 km under the western Alaska Peninsula. The transition from oceanic arc to continental arc is characterised by a decrease in average velocity in the upper crust from about 6.5 km/s to less than 6.0 km/s, with no systematic change in the velocity of the lower crust. Throughout our study area, in the upper 15 km of the crust the highest velocities are observed in the fore-arc just south of the volcanic line. In the lower crust, the lowest velocities of just 6.2 km/s are found close to the volcanic line. The uppermost mantle is quite heterogeneous with velocities ranging from 7.6 to 8.2 km/s, in part due to the thermal gradient from cold fore-arc to hot back-arc. Whereas the Aleutian oceanic (fore-)arc has higher seismic velocities than average continental crust throughout the crust, the Peninsula section is close to the continental average in the upper c. 20 km of the crust. We infer that repeated episodes of arc magmatism can produce a felsic-to-intermediate upper crust as is observed in the continents, but arc magmatism produces a thicker mafic lower crust than the average continent retains. Some of the excess mafic material in the island–arc crust can be attributed to pre-existing oceanic crust, which is less evident or absent in a continental arc.