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Detection of southward intracontinental subduction of Tibetan lithosphere along the Bangong-Nujiang suture by P-to-S converted waves

Danian Shi^*,1, Wenjin Zhao², Larry Brown³, Doug Nelson^,4, Xun Zhao⁵, Rainer Kind⁶, James Ni⁷, Jiayu Xiong⁸, James Mechie⁹, Jinru Guo¹⁰, Simon Klemperer¹¹ and Tom Hearn¹²

¹ Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 26 Baiwanzhuang Road, Beijing 100037, China, and China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
² Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 26 Baiwanzhuang Road, Beijing 100037, China
³ Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
⁴ Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA
⁵ Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 26 Baiwanzhuang Road, Beijing 100037, China
⁶ GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
⁷ Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA
⁸ Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 26 Baiwanzhuang Road, Beijing 100037, China
⁹ GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
¹⁰ Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
¹¹ Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
¹² Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA

Teleseismic primary (P) to secondary (S) converted waves recorded on the INDEPTH III seismic array have been used to detect lithospheric-scale deformation structures of the central Tibetan Plateau from the central Lhasa terrane to the central Qiangtang terrane. A south-dipping crustal converter is seen from the upper crust near the 500-km-long metamorphic core complex exposures in the Qiangtang terrane to the lower crust near the Bangong-Nujiang suture. At deeper depths, a southeast-dipping mantle converter is seen extending from 50 km north of the Bangong- Nujiang suture at the depth of the Moho, to a depth of 180 km, 100 km south of the Bangong-Nujiang suture. We found the observations to be most consistent with a model of lithospheric deformation involving (1) southward subduction of the Tibetan lithospheric mantle along the Bangong-Nujiang suture and (2) thickening of the central Tibetan crust through a thick-skinned, crustal accretionary thrust-wedge structure in response to the India's collision with Asia.

Key Words: receiver function • lithospheric structure • continental collision • Tibetan Plateau

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