Gondwana Research 41 (2017) 390–399

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Gondwana Research

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Focal depths and mechanisms of shallow earthquakes in the

Himalayan–Tibetan region
Ling Bai ⁎, Guohui Li, Nangyal G. Khan, Junmeng Zhao, Lin Ding
Key Laboratory of Continental Collision and Plateau Uplift, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The complexity of the Himalayan–Tibetan lithospheric deformation is evident from widespread seismicity and
Received 25 April 2015 diverse focal mechanism solutions. Here we investigate the focal depths and fault plane solutions of 97 moderate
Received in revised form 30 June 2015 and shallow earthquakes in the Himalayan–Tibetan region by modeling teleseismic P-wave and its tailing surface
Accepted 4 July 2015
reflections pP and sP. Earthquakes in central Tibet are restricted to the upper crust and originate dominantly by
Available online 14 August 2015
strike-slip faulting, in agreement with the low P-wave velocity layers in the lower crust and the strong S-wave
Keywords:
attenuation zones in the uppermost mantle. In northern and southern Tibet, where the Asian and Indian plates
Tibetan plateau descend beneath central Tibet, earthquakes appear to be distributed throughout the thickness of the crust and
Earthquake focal depths exhibit dominantly reverse faulting. We incorporate well-estimated focal depths of 127 additional earthquakes
Focal mechanisms from previous studies to estimate the seismogenic thickness (Ts) of the study region. The resulting pattern of
Seismogenic thickness Ts is found to be rather flat for central and northeastern Tibet and highly variable along the strike of the Himala-
yan foreland.
© 2015 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The significant differences between earthquake catalogs illustrate

that the routine measurements of earthquake source parameters are
The collision between the Indian and Eurasian Plates followed by the highly uncertain, especially for shallow earthquakes (Fig. 3). The catalog
subduction and closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean formed the Himalayas from China Earthquake Network Center (CENC) relies on arrival times of
and the Tibetan plateau, the world's largest orogenic belt and highest regional seismic network which provides a good constraint on focal
plateau (Fig. 1). The elevation of the Tibetan plateau exceeds 5 km with- depths for earthquakes within the network. However, differences in
in an area of 2,500,000 km2 (Amante and Eakins, 2009). Its crust is 50– depth estimates for nearly 15% of earthquakes are larger than 20 km
80 km thick, nearly twice as much as the average Moho depth of the due to scarce station coverage and complex velocity structure in the
world (Shin et al., 2009). From north to south the Kunlun, Songpan- Himalayan–Tibetan region (Fig. 3(a1)). The USGS preliminary determi-
Ganze, Qiangtang, and Lhasa terranes exemplify the remarkable hori- nation of epicenters (PDE) provides earthquake catalog based on arrival
zontal inhomogeneity of the plateau (Yin and Harrison, 2000). times of teleseismic body waves. This catalog is as much accurate as that
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) earthquake catalog of CENC catalog because the combination of later phases improves the
includes about 1500 shallow (H ≤ 50 km) earthquakes and 700 accuracy of the earthquake locations (Fig. 3(b1)). The global Centroid
intermediate-depth (50 b H ≤ 300 km) earthquakes with MW N 5.0 from Moment Tensor (gCMT) locations are updated USGS PDE locations
the past 50 years (Fig. 2). Since 1900, 8 earthquakes of MW ≥ 8.0 and 52 using low-pass-filtered long-period waveforms (Ekström et al., 2012)
earthquakes of 7.0 ≤ MW b 8.0 have occurred (Hatzfeld and Molnar, (Fig. 3(c1)). The EHB catalog provides the best depth estimates based
2010). The whole region of the plateau accommodates shallow earth- on various teleseismic arrival times for earthquakes up to the end of
quakes, while intermediate-depth seismicity is concentrated at the 2008 (Engdahl et al., 1998). Focal depths are better constrained by
Indo-Burma and Pamir-Hindu Kush subduction zones, which are located modeling the broadband waveforms as the depth phases are easily
at the eastern and western Himalayan syntaxes, respectively. The diversi- distinguishable than in long-period records.
ty of focal mechanism solutions for both shallow and intermediate-depth Location accuracy of focal depths directly affects our understanding
earthquakes indicates intricacy of the current stress field beneath the about the physical mechanism of the seismicity and the deep structure
Himalayan–Tibetan region. of the Earth. The controversy on the lower crustal or upper mantle
earthquakes beneath the Himalayan region comes from the measure-
ment uncertainty of the earthquake location and the crustal thickness
(Chen and Yang, 2004; Jackson et al., 2008). A detailed investigation of
⁎ Corresponding author. the crustal flow layer, which is distinguished from the seismogenic
E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Bai). zone, requires accurate knowledge of the earthquake location

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2015.07.009
1342-937X/© 2015 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 L. Bai et al. / Gondwana Research 41 (2017) 390–399 391

40˚ Ha
iyu
an
Fa
Tarim Basin Qaidam
ult

ault Basin
aghF Kunlu
Alty
nT n Terr
Song ane Ku
pan-G nlun

Ka
Kunlun Su
anzi Fault ture

w
35˚ Terra

ak
ne

or
Qian

a
Jin
gtang

m
Xi
an sh
aS

Fa
Terra sh utu

ult
ne uo
he re
Ba Fa
Lha ngo ult
sa ng-
Nu
Ter Jiali lian
30˚ ran Fau
lt
gS
Him e utu
re
ala Indus-Tsangp
o Suture
ya

Main Boundary Thrust

25˚
Indian Plate

Sagaing Fault
Scale of length
km
0 500
20˚
70˚ 75˚ 80˚ 85˚ 90˚ 95˚ 100˚
km
−6 −4 −2 0 2 4 6

Fig. 1. Tectonic map of the Himalayan–Tibetan region. Red and black lines are plate and terrane boundaries, respectively.

(Klemperer, 2006). Similarly, understanding the structure of subducted using teleseismic P-wave modeling. These 97 events account for more
slab requires constrains from earthquake location and focal mechanism than 95% of moderate earthquakes (5.4 ≤ MW b 7.0) occurred since
solutions (Bai and Zhang, 2015). 1990. These events occurred at different regions hence suitable for pro-
In this paper, we estimate focal depths and focal mechanism solu- viding constrains for various tectonic implications. The manifold impli-
tions of 97 shallow earthquakes in the Himalayan–Tibetan region cations of this study would provide new constrains on the deep

Longitude/˚
70 75 80 85 90 95 100
40
Erasian Plate
˚

35
de/
titu
La

30

25 Ind
ian
Pla
te

20
0
Depth/km

100

200

300

Fig. 2. Distribution of earthquakes of Mw ≥ 5.0 that occurred in the past 50 years. Gray and black circles show shallow and intermediate-depth earthquakes, respectively. The depth scales
in cross-sections are twice of the actual size.
392 L. Bai et al. / Gondwana Research 41 (2017) 390–399

H < 50 km H > 50 km structures of the Earth beneath the Himalayan–Tibetan region in more
(a1) This study−CENC (a2) Bai&Zhang(2015)−CENC detail.
30 20
20
10 2. Waveform data and modeling
10

0 0 We collected data for all earthquakes in the Himalayan–Tibetan re-

(b1) This study−PDE (b2) Bai&Zhang(2015)−PDE gion with waveforms available at the Incorporated Research Institutions
30 20 for Seismology (IRIS) Data Management Centre. We examined vertical-
20 component recordings from stations at epicentral distances between
10 30° and 90° (Fig. 4) in order to avoid interference from core phases
Number of event

10
and upper mantle triplications. We acquired the earthquakes with rela-
0 0 tively simple source time functions but sufficiently high signal-to-noise
30 (c1) This study−gCMT (c2) Bai&Zhang(2015)−gCMT ratios. Waveforms are band-pass-filtered from 0.03 to 1 Hz and
20
deconvolved from the station response.
20 We employed teleseismic waveform inversion methods developed
10
10 by Kikuchi and Kanamori (1982), which involve matching of complete
P waveforms to synthetic waveforms. This procedure assumes that the
0 0
source can be represented as a point (the centroid) in space and a series
30 (d1) This study−EHB (d2) Bai&Zhang(2015)−EHB of overlapping triangles in time. We calculate synthetic waveforms
20
using four-layer velocity and density model for the upper, middle,
20
lower crust and mantle structures along with variable Moho depth of
10
10 35–80 km based on CRUST2.0 (Bassin et al., 2000), except for the struc-
tures that have been imaged in more detail through seismic experi-
0 0
−50 0 50 −50 0 50 ments (Maggi et al., 2000; Mejia, 2001; Rai et al., 2006). Amplitudes
Depth difference (km) are corrected for geometrical spreading using attenuation t* operator
with a value of 1.0 s. As the reflection points of pP and sP phases are lo-
Fig. 3. Comparison of focal depths between different catalogs. (a1)–(d1) show depth dif-
cated on the surface of the Earth, the topography is corrected in order to
ferences of shallow earthquakes between those obtained in this study and those listed in
CENC, USGS PDE, gCMT, and EHB catalogs. (a2)–(d2) show depth differences of interme-
obtain focal depths relative to the sea level.
diate-depth earthquakes between those obtained in Bai and Zhang (2015) and listed in Based on our experiment on the velocity structure, we found that
above catalogs. source depth estimates are primarily controlled by the pP-P and sP-P

Fig. 4. Distribution of earthquakes (blue circles) and stations (red triangles) used in the study.
 L. Bai et al. / Gondwana Research 41 (2017) 390–399 393

times, hence the average wave velocity in the source region. The typical regions: northern Tibet, central Tibet, southern Tibet, and eastern and
values of crustal Vp and Vs range between 6.2 to 6.6 km/s and between western Himalayan syntaxes.
3.5 to 3.9 km/s. If the velocity reduces by 5% and the thickness of the
crust increases by 5 km (Kennett et al., 1995; Mejia, 2001), the focal
depth will move up by 2 km. There are some additional errors in arrival 3.1. Northern Tibet
time readings and gCMT solutions. We infer that the uncertainties in
focal depth determination are predominately within ±3 km. Northern Tibet is defined as the region north of the Kunlun Suture
Fig. 5 shows two examples of seismic waveform modeling. Event S7 and its western extension, including the Kunlun terrane, Tarim Basin,
is a normal-faulting earthquake that occurred in the Lhasa terrane. The and Tien Shan mountain belt (Fig. 7). The Asian lithospheric mantle
focal depth estimated from waveform modeling is 9 km. Corrections of underplates southward beneath the northern Tibetan plateau with in-
5 km for the topography give the focal depth of 4 km (Fig. 5(a)). Event creasing angles from east to west (Willett and Beaumont, 1994; Kind
S8 is a reverse-faulting earthquake with a strike-slip component. The et al., 2002; Schneider et al., 2013). The descending fronts marked by
final depth calculated is 40 km, which is 25 km deeper than the depth different studies vary. Nevertheless, it reaches far beneath the Kunlun
listed in the gCMT catalog (Fig. 5(b)). Suture (blue region in Fig. 6; Zhao et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2011).
Fault plane solutions of most earthquakes indicate thrust faulting,
distinguishing northern Tibet from central Tibet.
3. Results The Kunlun terrane is bounded by large-scale left-lateral strike-slip
faults, the Altyn–Tagh fault to the northwest, Haiyuan fault to the north-
The focal depths and source parameters of 97 earthquakes investigat- east, and Kunlun fault to the south (Peltzer et al., 1989). However, thrust-
ed are given in Table 1 and Fig. 6. The focal depths of these earthquakes faulting earthquakes are typical characteristic of Kunlun terrane. Tarim
range from 2 to 49 km. All the earthquakes with focal depths greater and Qaidam Basins occupy a major portion of the region so that the
than 20 km are located at the margin of the plateau. There is shortening crust below northern Tibet is rather old and tough. The Moho depths be-
in the north, shearing in the center, and underthrusting in the south, neath northern Tibet range from 50 to 60 km. Most earthquakes in this re-
representing the Asian, Indian, and Tibetan lithospheric mantle, respec- gion are shallower than 30 km and thus located in the upper or middle
tively. Therefore, we divide the study area into several different sub- crust.

Fig. 5. Two examples of waveform modeling. The waveforms are (from top to bottom) the raw data, the synthetics at the preferred depth, and the synthetics at the depth listed in the gCMT
catalog. The numbers in parentheses following the depth are least-squares misfit between observed and synthetic seismograms (see Bai et al., 2014 for the identification of the depth
phases).
394 L. Bai et al. / Gondwana Research 41 (2017) 390–399

Table 1
Source parameters of 97 earthquakes obtained from teleseismic waveform modeling.

ID Date yyyy-mm-dd Time (GMT) λE ψN H MW Fault plane Misfit Moho

hh:mm /° /° /km Strike/Dip/Rake /km

Northern Tibet
N1 1993-10-02 08:42 88.66 38.17 11 6.1 326/42/146 0.28 50
N2 1997-04-05 23:46 76.88 39.54 18 5.9 161/78/(−172) 0.49 55
N3 1997-04-06 04:36 77.00 39.54 15 5.9 253/43/−36 0.31 55
N4 1997-04-11 05:34 76.95 39.56 17 6.1 240/37/(−82) 0.31 55
N5 1997-04-15 18:19 76.98 39.62 18 5.8 170/66/−162 0.42 55
N6 1998-03-19 13:51 76.73 39.92 26 5.6 243/23/(67) 0.64 55
N7 1998-05-28 21:11 78.87 37.39 14 5.6 95/9/63 0.52 53
N8 1998-08-02 04:40 77.03 39.57 16 5.6 231/30/(−91) 0.29 55
N9 1998-08-27 09:03 77.34 39.58 32 6.3 240/78/(−44) 0.53 55
N10 2000-09-12 00:27 99.37 35.37 6 6.1 343/80/−170 0.56 60
N11 2003-02-24 02:03 77.23 39.61 30 5.7 239/33/69 0.50 55
N12 2003-03-12 04:47 77.43 39.36 12 5.4 245/33/79 0.42 55
N13 2003-04-17 00:48 96.48 37.53 9 6.2 294/29/91 0.35 60
N14 2003-09-01 23:16 75.32 38.60 4 5.7 107/47/−153 0.60 60
N15 2008-11-10 01:22 95.83 37.56 17 6.0 252/28/63 0.58 60
N16 2009-08-28 01:52 95.68 37.72 11 6.1 295/31/95 0.27 60
N17 2012-03-08 22:50 81.31 39.38 45 5.9 132/46/128 0.45 53

Central Tibet
C1 1994-06-29 18:22 93.69 32.56 4 5.9 9/40/−105 0.20 75
C2 1996-11-19 10:44 78.20 35.31 14 6.8 180/71/170 0.51 65
C3 1997-11-08 10:02 87.37 35.12 10 7.5 348/88/(−168) 0.58 65
C4 2001-03-05 05:50 86.90 34.37 13 5.6 170/64/−153 0.52 65
C5 2003-07-07 06:55 89.47 34.61 15 5.7 60/81/6 0.53 70
C6 2004-03-27 18:47 89.18 33.95 7 5.9 187/44/−78 0.47 75
C7 2007-05-05 08:51 81.97 34.25 4 6.1 220/88/−36 0.64 65
C8 2008-01-09 08:26 85.17 32.29 8 6.3 206/46/−78 0.19 75
C9 2008-01-16 11:54 85.16 32.33 6 5.8 23/44/−102 0.46 75
C10 2010-03-24 02:06 92.70 32.50 8 5.6 162/74/−108 0.47 75
C11 2010-04-13 23:49 96.63 33.27 10 6.7 210/67/−164 0.35 70
C12 2010-05-29 02:30 96.25 33.25 20 5.6 75/88/11 0.69 70
C13 2012-08-12 10:47 82.52 35.67 12 6.2 215/47/−52 0.32 65
C14 2013-08-11 21:23 97.96 30.05 2 5.8 90/54/−40 0.42 65
C15 2013-08-31 00:04 99.35 28.24 4 5.7 97/42/−95 0.40 55
C16 2014-02-12 09:19 82.59 35.91 6 6.9 332/85/(−161) 0.55 65

Southern Tibet
S1 1991-11-08 15:13 70.66 26.38 26 5.4 56/43/46 0.69 35
S2 1992-05-20 12:20 71.33 33.36 12 6.0 237/5/79 0.25 46
S3 1992-07-30 08:24 90.18 29.57 7 6.1 10/42/−94 0.32 70
S4 1993-01-18 12:42 90.38 30.84 5 5.9 25/48/−57 0.25 75
S5 1993-03-20 14:51 87.33 29.03 16 6.2 161/46/−121 0.50 70
S6 1996-04-01 08:08 73.46 31.46 40 5.2 98/33/101 0.76 50
S7 1996-07-03 06:44 88.19 30.11 4 5.6 172/45/−102 0.21 75
S8 1997-02-27 21:08 68.20 29.96 40 7.1 85/77/82 0.29 41
S9 1997-03-20 08:50 68.02 30.13 21 5.9 76/7/−91 0.47 41
S10 1997-05-08 02:53 92.28 24.89 36 5.9 347/86/(−167) 0.54 41
S11 1997-05-21 22:51 80.04 23.08 38 5.8 283/26/129 0.36 43
S12 1998-07-20 01:06 88.25 30.18 17 5.7 16/32/−83 0.54 75
S13 1998-08-25 07:41 88.16 30.27 20 5.8 14/46/−67 0.62 75
S14 1999-02-11 14:08 69.24 34.31 18 6.0 194/66/(−30) 0.66 38
S15 1999-03-28 19:05 79.42 30.51 16 6.5 280/7/75 0.57 70
S16 1999-06-26 21:54 69.45 30.05 15 5.5 18/47/41 0.62 60
S17 1999-07-12 03:42 69.46 29.99 19 5.6 269/60/152 0.53 41
S18 2001-01-28 01:02 70.52 23.51 14 5.7 286/43/100 0.24 35
S19 2002-07-13 20:06 69.98 30.80 30 5.5 171/66/18 0.42 41
S20 2004-07-11 23:08 83.67 30.69 4 6.3 359/45/−96 0.48 75
S21 2005-04-07 20:04 83.66 30.49 6 6.3 170/43/−67 0.25 75
S22 2005-06-01 20:06 94.63 28.88 19 5.6 209/6/28 0.34 65
S23 2005-10-08 10:46 73.10 34.73 8 6.1 328/39/77 0.46 60
S24 2005-10-08 12:25 73.12 34.77 3 5.9 96/47/39 0.85 60
S25 2005-10-09 08:30 73.18 34.67 6 5.7 344/37/122 0.27 60
S26 2008-08-25 13:21 83.52 30.90 14 6.3 30/48/−93 0.59 75
S27 2008-09-25 01:47 83.47 30.83 14 5.6 208/75/12 0.81 75
S28 2008-10-05 22:56 69.47 33.89 31 5.8 218/80/10 0.40 41
S29 2008-10-06 08:30 90.35 29.81 4 6.3 44/48/−75 0.30 70
S30 2009-07-24 03:11 85.86 31.12 20 5.4 318/74/170 0.67 75
S31 2009-09-21 08:53 91.42 27.35 13 6.0 281/6/99 0.52 65
S32 2011-09-18 12:40 88.15 27.80 49 6.9 216/72/(−8) 0.34 60
S33 2013-04-24 09:25 70.22 34.53 37 5.5 200/46/153 0.75 43
S34 2013-05-01 06:57 75.84 33.10 16 5.6 328/23/113 0.34 60
 L. Bai et al. / Gondwana Research 41 (2017) 390–399 395

Table 1 (continued)

ID Date yyyy-mm-dd Time (GMT) λE ψN H MW Fault plane Misfit Moho

hh:mm /° /° /km Strike/Dip/Rake /km

Western syntaxis
W1 1992-05-10 04:04 72.93 37.17 5 5.8 186/45/−55 0.68 60
W2 1998-05-30 06:22 70.12 37.15 19 6.5 291/83/(179) 0.75 50
W3 2002-03-25 14:56 69.32 36.06 5 5.9 16/39/98 0.38 41
W4 2002-04-12 04:00 69.42 35.96 5 5.7 204/46/96 0.46 38
W5 2002-11-20 21:32 74.51 35.41 6 6.0 204/30/−91 0.54 65
W6 2004-11-17 20:58 71.86 39.19 6 5.8 185/88/11 0.65 50
W7 2006-07-06 03:57 71.82 39.13 5 5.8 285/59/145 0.52 50
W8 2007-01-08 17:21 70.31 39.80 9 6.1 187/65/16 0.40 50
W9 2008-10-05 15:52 73.82 39.53 4 6.4 246/38/102 0.35 60
W10 2012-03-12 06:06 73.15 36.74 6 5.7 212/53/(−5) 0.63 60
W11 2012-05-12 23:28 70.35 38.61 12 5.7 62/34/139 0.49 50
W12 2012-06-11 05:29 69.35 36.02 16 5.7 329/71/17 0.69 41

Eastern syntaxis
E1 1992-04-23 14:18 98.93 22.43 9 6.1 354/77/−168 0.39 39
E2 1992-04-23 15:32 98.88 22.43 5 6.1 345/68/−173 0.61 39
E3 1992-06-15 02:48 95.97 24.00 15 6.3 8/69/−173 0.25 45
E4 1994-01-11 00:51 97.21 25.21 10 6.1 106/25/−85 0.60 43
E5 1994-04-06 07:03 96.84 26.16 11 5.8 96/57/26 0.55 55
E6 1994-05-29 14:11 94.18 20.54 12 6.5 316/86/−122 0.77 44
E7 1994-11-21 08:16 96.67 25.54 10 5.9 34/76/179 0.55 43
E8 1995-07-09 20:31 99.17 21.99 5 5.9 64/66/(−20) 0.58 45
E9 1995-07-11 21:46 99.20 21.98 20 6.8 330/89/(−164) 0.42 45
E10 1997-12-30 13:43 96.59 25.40 17 5.7 122/84/(−4) 0.68 43
E11 2000-06-07 21:46 97.19 26.80 13 6.3 290/38/41 0.52 55
E12 2008-08-21 12:24 97.68 25.04 9 5.9 7/80/173 0.40 43
E13 2012-11-11 10:54 95.83 22.72 5 5.9 91/75/14 0.49 43
E14 2012-11-11 18:19 95.87 23.13 28 5.6 358/71/167 0.61 43
E15 2013-09-20 12:24 95.96 22.93 10 5.7 95/74/(−2) 0.46 43
E16 2014-05-23 20:49 97.84 24.97 17 5.7 334/85/(−165) 0.70 43
E17 2014-05-30 01:20 97.85 25.00 7 5.9 82/79/(−8) 0.42 43
E18 2014-11-20 18:14 93.52 23.52 50 5.7 157/56/−150 0.58 41

ID is the number of earthquake in origin time order in each region. The date and origin time are GMT time. The epicenter (λE, and ψN), moment magnitude (MW), strike and dip of the fault
plane are taken from the gCMT catalog. The rake of the fault plane is either from the gCMT or from this study (shown in the parentheses) if the station coverage is good and the gCMT value
is more than 10° different from this study. Misfit is least-square variance between observed and synthetic seismograms.

The event N17 in the Tarim basin presents an exception in that it stable and earthquakes are rare (Sloan et al., 2011), we can hypoth-
originated in the lower crust. The relocated focal depth for this event esize generation or reactivation of the fault because of the ongoing
is 46 km, which is only ca. 7 km above the Moho. As old basins are collision.

Scale of length
km
0 500

Fig. 6. Focal depths and focal mechanisms of shallow earthquakes obtained from waveform modeling. The black, red, and green beach balls are thrust, normal, and strike-slip faulting earth-
quakes, respectively. Gray beach balls are those taken from the gCMT catalog. The background marked by the blue, pink, and green show locations of the Asian, Tibetan, and Indian lith-
ospheres, respectively.
396 L. Bai et al. / Gondwana Research 41 (2017) 390–399

3.3. Southern Tibet

This region represents the area south of Bangong-Nujiang Suture, in-

cluding the Lhasa terrane, Himalayas, and northern part of the Indian
shield (Fig. 9). Its tectonics is primarily controlled by the descending pro-
cess of the Indian plate beneath southern Tibet (green area in Fig. 6). The
northward subduction of the Indian plate reaches up to 200 km beneath
0 500 Tibet, with a front located beneath the Bangong-Nujiang Suture (Kosarev
km
et al., 1999; Xu et al., 2015).
Although earthquakes certainly occur in the oceanic mantle, earth-
quakes in the continental lithospheric mantle are known to be rare
Fig. 7. Focal depths and mechanisms for earthquakes in northern Tibet. The black, red, and
green beach balls are thrust, normal, and strike-slip faulting earthquakes, respectively. The
(Chen and Yang, 2004; Priestley et al., 2008). Several earthquakes we
numbers beside them are the corresponding focal depths. studied are deeper than 35 km (No. S6, S8, S11, and S32). The deepest
one is a strike-slip earthquake, which is located in the northwest of
Himalayan main boundary thrust (No. S32). Its focal depth is 49 km,
3.2. Central Tibet which is ca. 10 km shallower than the average value of the mantle
depth estimated by wide-angle reflection and refraction studies
Central Tibet is defined as the region between the Bangong-Nujiang (Jackson et al., 2008). All these earthquakes are likely to be located in
and Kunlun Sutures, including Songpan-Ganzi and Qiangtang terranes the lower crust of the subducted Indian plate because there might be
(Fig. 8). This region is primarily composed of Tibetan lithosphere, hydrous materials at temperatures less than 600 °C (Jackson et al.,
which behaves like a deformable crush zone between the colliding 2008; Priestley et al., 2008; Craig et al., 2012).
plates (pink region in Fig. 6; Zhao et al., 2010). The dominant mode of Whether the crustal flow exists beneath the E–W trending central
crustal deformation in this region is pure shear thickening. Himalaya or not is still controversial (Beaumont et al., 2004; Copley
Crustal flow has been proposed as a mechanism for the southeast- et al., 2011). The topography in southern Tibet and Himalayas is great,
ward extrusion of the plateau (Solid arrows in Fig. 8; Royden et al., leading to different crustal structures from those in central Tibet. Most
1997; Beaumont et al., 2004; Klemperer, 2006). This model was origi- earthquakes in this region are shallower than 20 km and one earthquake
nally established on the basis of numerical simulation and later con- is located at 49 km (No. S32). We infer that if the crustal flow exists, it
firmed by the geophysical observations of low-velocity and high- takes place at the greater depths within the overriding Tibetan crust.
conductivity layers (Yuan et al., 1997; Bai et al., 2010; Yang et al.,
2012). The lithosphere is warm and weak marked as strong attenuation 3.4. Pamir-Hindu Kush and Indo-Burma deep subduction zones
of Sn wave traveling in the uppermost mantle and large seismic anisot-
ropy (dotted line in Fig. 8; McNamara et al., 1997; Soto et al., 2012; The Pamir-Hindu Kush is also called western Himalayan syntaxis,
Searle, 2013; Zhang et al., 2015). Cenozoic high potassic volcanic rocks which consists of Pamir to the north, Hindu-Kush to the west, and
and lower crustal xenoliths are rich in the middle and lower crust at Karakoram Fault to the east (upper left corner in Fig. 6). This region is
depths of 30–50 km (Hacker et al., 2000; Tilmann et al., 2003), suggest- characterized by extreme shortening of the upper crust and strong in-
ing partial melting in the lower crust caused by the elevated tempera- teraction of various layers of lithosphere. It is by far the most active re-
ture as a result of the plate convergence. gion of intermediate-depth seismicity in the world not obviously
In agreement with previous observations, we found no earthquakes associated with oceanic subduction (Pegler and Das, 1998; Bai and
located in the lower crust. The relocated focal depths for 17 earthquakes Zhang, 2015). The crustal shortening caused by the northward com-
range between 2 and 20 km. They are most likely concentrated within pression of the Pamir occurs mainly along the Main Pamir Thrust, par-
the upper layer of the crust because the Moho in this region ranges be- tially consuming a portion of energy of Indian and Asian plate
tween 65 and 80 km. The lower crust beneath central Tibet does not convergence (Reigber et al., 2001; Mohadjer et al., 2010; Zubovich
seem cold enough to allow the seismogenic zone to extend to such et al., 2010; Ischuk, 2011; Ischuk et al., 2013; Sui et al., 2015). Many
depths. shallow earthquakes occurred at the Main Pamir Thrust at focal depths
of 4–19 km, while intermediate-deep earthquakes are mostly located at
the Hindu-Kush below 75 km.
The Indo-Burma region is located south of the eastern Himalayan
syntaxis, where the strike of the plate boundary suddenly changes from
nearly E-W at the Himalayas to nearly NS at the Burma Arc (lower right
corner in Fig. 6; Reddy et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2012). The largest earth-
quake of the region ever recorded by China in the recording history is the
Assam–Tibet earthquake of Mw = 8.6 on August 15, 1950 (Khattri and
Wyss, 1987). The Burma arc subduction zone is a typical oblique plate
convergence zone (Chen and Molnar, 1990; Satyabala, 2003), the eastern
boundary is the north–south striking dextral Sagaing fault, which hosts
many of the shallow earthquakes. The focal depths are less than 22 km.
In contrast, focal mechanisms of the intermediate-depth earthquakes
along the subduction zone reflect east–west trending reverse faulting
(Chen and Molnar, 1990; Satyabala, 2003).
0 500
km
4. Discussion and conclusions

The Tibetan plateau is one of the most active regions of continental

Fig. 8. Focal depths and mechanisms for earthquakes in central Tibet. The solid arrows rep-
resent the direction and the strength of lower crustal flow (Klemperer, 2006; Cao et al.,
earthquakes in the world. Shallow seismicity is widespread over the
2013). The black dashed line indicates the strong Sn wave attenuation zone (McNamara plateau, while intermediate-depth earthquakes are dominant in the
et al., 1997). eastern and western Himalayan syntaxes. Published catalog locations
 L. Bai et al. / Gondwana Research 41 (2017) 390–399 397

o
35

o
30

o
25

0 500
km
o
20
o o o o o o
70 75 80 85 90 95

Fig. 9. Focal depths and mechanisms for earthquakes in southern Tibet. Numbers with red background show Moho depth imaged by seismic refraction or wide-angle reflection data.

indicate a random distribution of shallow events, inconsistent with the geothermal gradient reversal caused by deep subduction of the Indian
proposed tectonic models for the evolution history of the Tibetan pla- plate (Shi and Zhu, 1993).
teau. A detailed investigation of moderate-sized earthquakes using Nearly 40% of earthquakes with waveforms available on the IRIS
waveform modeling indicates that only a few events are actually deeper DMC are intermediate-depth earthquakes, which are all located at the
than 20 km and all of them are located near the edges of the plateau. eastern and western Himalayan syntaxes. The issue of intermediate-
All the 97 earthquakes studied are located within the crust. Howev- depth earthquakes has been discussed in a separate study (Bai and
er, the variation patterns of focal depths and mechanisms are not exact- Zhang, 2015). In brief, the intermediate-depth earthquakes in the
ly consistent with the horizontal inhomogeneity marked by different Pamir-Hindu Kush and Indo-Burma regions reflect the ongoing defor-
terranes. Some of the sutures which separate each terrane are no longer mation along the plate interface. The continental slab beneath the
active and have been reconstructed by the plate collision and subduc- Indian-Eurasian collision zone deforms in a more complex manner
tion. The Asian plate passively subducts beneath northern Tibet, than the oceanic slab subduction, combining tension, shearing, and
where thrust-faulting earthquakes are dominant. These earthquakes oc- oblique convergence with plate subduction.
curred at the lower crust of the Tarim Basin and at the upper and middle To better constrain the seismogenic thickness (Ts) of the study re-
crust at the margins of the Tarim Basin. In central Tibet, which is primar- gion, we have incorporated focal depths of an additional 127 moderate
ily underlain by the Tibetan lithosphere, earthquakes are typically earthquakes into this study. These 127 earthquakes have either oc-
strike-slip and mostly located within the upper crust, in agreement curred before 1990 (Molnar and Chen, 1983; Baranowski et al., 1984;
with the low-velocity layers and strong Sn attenuation zones observed Molnar and Lyon-Caen, 1989; Chung, 1993; Fan et al., 1994; Chen and
previously at the lower crust. Earthquakes occurred beneath the Yang, 2004; Monsalve et al., 2006; Sloan et al., 2011), in the surround-
Himalaya tend to be as deep as 40–50 km, consistent with the idea of ings of the study region (Nelson et al., 1987; Sloan et al., 2011), or

70˚ 75˚ 80˚ 85˚ 90˚ 95˚ 100˚

40˚ 40˚

35˚ 35˚

30˚ 30˚

25˚ 25˚

Scale of length Seismogenic Thickness

0 50 0 0 20 40 60 80
20˚ 20˚
70˚ 75˚ 80˚ 85˚ 90˚ 95˚ 100˚

Fig. 10. Seismogenic thickness estimated based on relocated focal depths of 224 moderate earthquakes from this study (black circles) and from previous studies (black triangles).
398 L. Bai et al. / Gondwana Research 41 (2017) 390–399

after 1990 with waveforms unavailable on the IRIS website (Cotton Hatzfeld, D., Molnar, P., 2010. Comparisons of the kinematics and deep structures of the
zagros and himalaya and of the iranian and Tibetan plateaus and geodynamic implica-
et al., 1996; Ghose et al., 1998; Mitra et al., 2005; Sloan et al., 2011; tions. Reviews of Geophysics 48, RG2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009RG000304.
Craig et al., 2012). The pattern of Ts (Fig. 10) is plotted using GMT sur- Ischuk, A., 2011. Usoi rockslide dam and Lake Sarez, Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan. Natural
face (Wessel and Smith, 1995), based on a modified standard minimum and artificial rockslide dams. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 133, 423–440.
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curvature algorithm. A 0.1° radius has been used for sampling and Saydullaev, U., Ilyasova, Z., Schelochkov, G., Zubovich, A.V., 2013. Kinematics of the
gridding in order to eliminate large variations. The Ts is particularly Pamir and Hindu Kush regions from GPS geodesy. Journal of Geophysical Research
high for southern Tibet and the southeastern Tarim Basin compared to 118, 2408–2416. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jgrb.50185.
Jackson, J., McKenzie, D., Priestley, K., Emmerson, B., 2008. New views on the structure and
that of the typical values for central and northeastern Tibet. For central rheology of the lithosphere. Journal of the Geological Society, London 165, 453–465.
Tibet, the observed Ts is consistent with the effective elastic thickness Jordan, T.A., Watts, A.B., 2005. Gravity anomalies, flexure and the elastic thickness struc-
(Te) (Jordan and watts, 2005) and both the Ts and Te are less than ture of the India-Eurasia collisional system. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 236,
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Kennett, B.L.N., Engdahl, E.R., Buland, R., 1995. Constraints on seismic velocities in the
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This research is funded by the grants of the National Nature Science Tibetan lithosphere, and inferred patterns of active flow. Geological Society, London,
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