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Lithospheric Structure of the Northeastern North China Craton Imaged by S Receiver Functions

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Abstract

Lithosphere thickness variation is important for understanding the significant tectonic reactivation of the North China Craton (NCC) in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic time. Here, we determined the lithospheric structure in the northeastern NCC using S receiver functions from 305 teleseismic events recorded by 223 seismic stations. The Moho and lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) are imaged clearly beneath the region. The Moho depth decreases from ~45 km beneath the western NCC to ~25 km beneath the eastern NCC. We found that the lithospheric thickness varies from 60 to 80 km beneath the Trans-North China Orogen (TNCO) and eastern NCC with no significant change of the LAB depth. The lithosphere thickness beneath the northwestern Ordos plateau is 100–130 km. In addition, there is a mid-lithosphere discontinuity at a depth of 80 km beneath the plateau that is connected to the base of thinned lithosphere in TNCO and eastern NCC. We suggest that the mid-lithosphere discontinuity represents a mechanically weak zone in the original cratonic lithosphere of the NCC. The material in the lower lithosphere of the craton, when warmed and hydrated by water released from the subducting slab of Western Pacific, became weak due to decrease in viscosity and/or partial melting and was subsequently removed through small-scale mantle convections.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the participants of the North China Seismic Array of IGCEA for collecting the data. We thank Professors Wang Chunyong and Li Yonghua for the helpful discussion. We also thank Koji Uenishi and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions and comments. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant 41404069), NSF of USA (Grant EAS-1249701), the Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund (Grant DQJB13B14), and China National Special Fund for Earthquake Scientific Research in Public Interest (Grant 201308011). The Figures were produced using GMT (Wessel and Smith 1995) and Coreldraw.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, No 5, Minzudaxue Nanlu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China

    Xingchen Wang & Zhifeng Ding

  2. Key Laboratory of Seismic Observation and Geophysical Imaging, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Xingchen Wang & Zhifeng Ding

  3. Department of Earth and Atmos. Sciences, Saint Louis University, Missouri, 63108, USA

    Lupei Zhu

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Correspondence to Zhifeng Ding.

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Wang, X., Ding, Z. & Zhu, L. Lithospheric Structure of the Northeastern North China Craton Imaged by S Receiver Functions. Pure Appl. Geophys. 173, 2727–2736 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-016-1293-0

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