Flat mantle reflectors in Eastern China: possible evidence of lithospheric thinning

Recent 24 s deep seismic reflection records revealed five flat reflectors in the lithospheric mantle in Eastern China. With increasing depth, they are named M1 to M5 and can be seen on both field single-shot and stacked records. Reflector M1 corresponds to the Moho discontinuity, whereas M5 may be the reflection from the bottom of the current lithosphere, which is about 78 km deep according to geothermal measurements. The other three reflectors seem peculiar and might result from interactions between the lithosphere and deeper mantle. Based on lithological and geochemical data, it is suggested that the lithosphere has been thinned from about 150 km to about 60 km in the Late Mesozoic, and then has been thickened to about 78 km during the Cenozoic. The thinning process produced a granulite layer in the old lower crust caused by magmatic underplating, whereas an eclogite layer formed beneath owing to the subduction of the Paleo-Tethys and Yangtze Craton during the Permian and Early Mesozoic. Reflector M2 at about 12 s two-way traveltime (TWT) might result from the Paleozoic Moho, which represents the boundary between the previous granulite and eclogite facies. Reflector M3 at about 14 s might correspond to the bottom of the eclogite layer, beneath which the old lithospheric mantle remained. The old and the newly developed mantle may have different compositions, resulting in reflector M4. The multi-layered mantle reflectors demonstrate a mantle structure that possibly correlates with the lithospheric thinning process that occurred in Eastern China during the Late Mesozoic. The discovery of multi-layered mantle reflectors in the studied areas indicates a high heterogeneity of the upper mantle. Reflection seismology with improved technology, together with velocity and resistivity imaging and rock-physics measurements, can provide more details of the heterogeneity and related dynamic processes that occurred in the lithospheric mantle.