Deep Background of Wenchuan Earthquake and the Upper Crust Structure beneath the Longmen Shan and Adjacent Areas

By analyzing the deep seismic sounding profiles across the Longmen Shan, this paper focuses on the study of the relationship between the upper crust structure of the Longmen Shan area and the Wenchuan earthquake. The Longmen Shan thrust belt marks not only the topographical change, but also the lateral velocity variation between the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin. A low‐velocity layer has consistently been found in the crust beneath the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and ends beneath the western Sichuan Basin. The low‐velocity layer at a depth of ～20 km beneath the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau has been considered as the deep condition for favoring energy accumulation that formed the great Wenchuan earthquake.