Subsidence in the super-deep Pattani and Malay basins of Southeast Asia: a coupled model incorporating lower-crustal flow in response to post-rift sediment loading

Two Early Cenozoic rifts in Southeast Asia (beneath the Pattani and Malay basins) experienced only limited upper-crustal extension (β≤1.5); yet very thick post-rift sequences are present, with 6–12 km of Late Cenozoic terrestrial and shallow-marine sediment derived from adjacent sources. Conventional post-rift backstripping requires depth-dependent lithospheric thinning by β=2–4 to explain these tremendous thicknesses. We assess an alternative explanation for this post-rift subsidence, involving lower-crustal flow from beneath these basins in response to lateral pressure-gradients induced by the sediment loads and the negative loads arising from the erosion of their sediment sources. We calculate that increased rates of erosion in western Thailand in the Early Miocene placed the crust in a non-steady thermal state, such that the depth (and thus, the pressure) at the base of the brittle upper crust subsequently varied over time. Following such a perturbation, thermal and mass-flux steady-state conditions took millions of years to re-establish. In the meantime, the lateral pressure-gradient caused net outflow of lower crust, thinning the crust beneath the depocentre by several kilometres (mimicking the isostatic effect of greater crustal extension having occurred beforehand) and thickening it beneath the sediment source region. The local combination of hot crust and high rates of surface processes, causing lower-crustal flow to be particularly vigorous and thus making its effects more readily identifiable, means that the Pattani and Malay basins represent a set of conditions different from basins in many other regions. However, lower-crustal flow induced by surface processes will also occur to some extent, but less recognisably, in many other continental crustal provinces, but its effects may be mistaken for those of other processes, such as larger-magnitude stretching and/or depth-dependent stretching.     

A wide-angle seismic traverse through the Variscan of southwest Ireland

A wide-angle seismic profile across the western peninsulas of SW Ireland was performed. This region corresponds to the northernmost Variscan thrust and fold deformation. The dense set of 13 shots and 109 stations along the 120  km long profile provides a detailed velocity model of the crust.
  The seismic velocity model, obtained by forward and inverse modelling, defines a five-layer crust. A sedimentary layer, 5–8  km thick, is underlain by an upper-crustal layer of variable thickness, with a base generally at a depth of 10–12  km. Two mid-crustal layers are defined, and a lower-crustal layer below 22  km. The Moho lies at a depth of 30–32  km. A low-velocity zone, which coincides with a well-defined gravity low, is observed in the central part of the region and is modelled as a Caledonian granite which intruded upper-crustal basement. The granite may have acted as a buffer to northward-directed Variscan thrusting. The Dingle–Dungarvan Line (DDL) marks a major change in sedimentary and crustal velocity and structure. It lies immediately to the north of the velocity and gravity low, and shows thickness and velocity differences in many of the underlying crustal layers and even in the Moho. This suggests a deep, pre-Variscan control of the structural development of this area. The model is compatible with thin-skinned tectonics, which terminated at the DDL and which incorporated thrusts involving the sedimentary and upper-crustal layers.     

Numerical models of ductile rebound of crustal roots beneath mountain belts

Crustal roots formed beneath mountain belts are gravitationally unstable structures, which rebound when the lateral forces that created them cease or decrease significantly relative to gravity. Crustal roots do not rebound as a rigid body, but undergo intensive internal deformation during their rebound and cause intensive deformation within the ductile lower crust. 2-D numerical models are used to investigate the style and intensity of this deformation and the role that the viscosities of the upper crust and mantle lithosphere play in the process of root rebound. Numerical models of root rebound show three main features which may be of general application: first, with a low-viscosity lower crust, the rheology of the mantle lithosphere governs the rate of root rebound; second, the amount of dynamic uplift caused by root rebound depends strongly on the rheologies of both the upper crust and mantle lithosphere; and third, redistribution of the rebounding root mass causes pure and simple shear within the lower crust and produces subhorizontal planar fabrics which may give the lower crust its reflective character on many seismic images.     

Contribution of serpentinized ultramafics to marine magnetic anomalies at slow and intermediate spreading centres: insights from the shape of the anomalies

Detailed characteristics of marine magnetic anomalies 33r and 20r suggest that the magnetization of the deeper magnetic layers, including the lower crust and possibly the uppermost mantle, is horizontally displaced with respect to that of the upper crust. We examine the possibility that serpentinization of ultramafics in the lower crust and possibly the uppermost mantle delays the acquisition of magnetization and introduces a shift between the upper- and lower-crustal magnetization patterns. Thermal evolution models and the resulting magnetization patterns of the oceanic lithosphere are calculated for a wide range of physical parameters such as the Nusselt number and the depth of hydrothermal circulation in the crust, and the temperature range of serpentinization. The models with moderate hydrothermal cooling of the whole crust and serpentinization temperatures ranging between 200 and 300 C successfully explain the anomalous skewness and the 'hook shape' of observed sea-level magnetic anomalies created at slow and intermediate spreading rates.     

Crustal thickening under the palaeo-meso-Proterozoic Delhi Fold Belt in northwestern India: evidence from deep reflection profiling

The results of deep reflection profiling studies carried out across the palaeo-meso-Proterozoic Delhi Fold Belt (DFB) and the Archaean Bhilwara Gneissic Complex (BGC) in the northwest Indian platform are discussed in this paper. This region is a zone of Proterozoic collision. The collision appears to be responsible for listric faults in the upper crust, which represent the boundaries of the Delhi exposures. In these blocks the lower crust appears to lie NW of the respective surface exposures and the reflectivity pattern does not correspond to the exposed blocks. A fairly reflective lower crust northwest of the DFB exposures appears to be the downward continuation of the DFB upper crust. The poorly reflective lower crust under the exposed DFB may be the westward extension of the BGC upper crust at depth. Thus, the lower crust in this region can be divided into the fairly reflective Marwar Basin (MB)-DFB crust and a poorly reflective BGC crust. Vertically oriented igneous intrusions may have disturbed the lamellar lower-crustal structure of the BGC, resulting in a dome-shaped poorly reflective lower crust whose base, not traceable in the reflection data, may have a maximum depth of about 50 km, as indicated by the gravity modelling.
The DFB appears to be a zone of thick (45-50 km) crust where the lower crust has doubled in width. This has resulted in three Moho reflection bands, two of which are dipping SE from 12.5 to 15.0 s two-way time (TWT) and from 14.5 to 16.0 s TWT. Another band of subhorizontal Moho reflections, at ≈ 12.5 s TWT, may have developed during the crustal perturbations related to a post-Delhi tectonic orogeny. The signatures of the Proterozoic collision, in the form of strong SE-dipping reflections in the lower crust and Moho, have been preserved in the DFB, indicating that the crust here has not undergone any significant ductile deformation since at least after the Delhi rifting event.     

LISPB — V. Studies of crustal shear waves

Summary. Many shots in the LISPB profiles produced shear waves with large amplitudes which were recorded by three-component stations. However, S waves seem to be strongly attenuated when they propagate through complex velocity structures. Upper crustal refractions (mainly land shots) and wide-angle reflections (mainly sea shots) were picked with the help of particle motion plots. S to P travel-time ratios ( t_s/t_p ) were used to calculate the distribution of Poisson's ratios in a crustal model. The results were generally close to σ= 0.25 except in the upper crust south of the Southern Uplands Fault (σ= 0.231) and in the middle crust under the Midland Valley (σ= 0.224).     

East African earthquakes below 20 km depth and their implications for crustal structure

We report source parameters for eight earthquakes in East Africa obtained using a number of techniques, including (1) inversion of long-period P and SH waves for moment tensors and source-time functions, (2) forward modelling of first-motion polarities and P and pP amplitudes on short-period seismograms, and (3) determination of pP-P and sP-P differential traveltimes from short-period records. The foci of these earthquakes lie between depths of 24 and 34 km in Archean and Proterozoic lithosphere, and all but one fault-plane solution indicates normal faulting (primarily E-W extension), consistent with the regional stress regime in East Africa. Because many of these earthquakes occurred in areas where the crust may have been thinned by rifting, it is difficult to ascertain whether or not their foci lie within the lower crust or upper mantle. Some of them, however, occurred away from rift structures in Proterozoic crust that is possibly 35–40 km thick or thicker, and thus they probably nucleated within the lower crust. Strength profile calculations suggest that in order to account for seismogenic (i.e. brittle) behaviour at sufficient depths to explain lower crustal earthquakes in East Africa, the lower crust must not only be composed of mafic lithologies, as suggested by previous investigators, but also that significantly more heat (∼100 per cent) must come from the upper crust than predicted by the crustal heat source distribution obtained from a 1-D interpretation of the linear relationship between heat flow and heat production observed in Proterozoic terrains within eastern and southern Africa. Precambrian mafic dike swarms throughout East Africa provide evidence for magmatic events which could have delivered large amounts of mafic material to the lower crust over a very broad area, thus explaining why the lower crust in East Africa might be mafic away from the volcanogenic rift valleys.     

Wide-angle deep crustal reflections in the northern Appalachians

Summary. Seismic refraction data collected in the northern Appalachians provide an unusual opportunity to use wide-angle reflections to examine the lower crust and upper mantle. The PmP phase, clearly identified on several hundred records, has been used to construct an isopach map of the crust which shows a stepwise regional thickening of the crust beneath the axis of the Appalachians. The data have been examined to times of up to 40 s two-way travel time to investigate the possibility of coherent upper-mantle reflections such as those recently observed by BIRPS on near-vertical data northwest of Britain. Although substantial coherent energy appears after the PmP phase, synthetic seismogram modelling shows that all of these arrivals are explicable by S-phases, converted phases and multiples from within the crust. We conclude that in this region of the northern Appalachians we have not detected any significant regionally extensive reflecting horizons within the upper mantle.     

Anomalous seismic crustal structure of oceanic fracture zones

Summary. The seismic structure of crust found within fracture zones falls outside the range of velocity structures observed for normal oceanic crust in the North Atlantic. The crust in fracture zones is frequently very thin and is characterized by low crustal velocities and by the conspicuous absence of a refractor with a velocity typical of oceanic layer 3. Anomalous crust is present in both large- and small-offset fracture zones. Since they are among the most common tectonic features in the ocean basins, and are particularly closely spaced on slow-spreading ridges, fracture zones represent a major source of seismic crustal heterogeneity. We interpret the anomalous crust as a thin, intensely fractured, faulted and hydrothermally altered basaltic and gabbroic section overlying ultramafics that, in places, are extensively serpentinized. The unusually thin crust found within fracture zones and the gradual crustal thinning over a distance of several tens of kilometres on either side of the fracture zones can be explained by two main processes; firstly the cold lithosphere edge opposite the spreading centre at the ridgetransform intersection modifies the normal intrusive and extrusive processes of the spreading centre leading to the accretion of an anomalous and thin igneous section; and secondly each spreading ridge segment is fed from a separate subcrustal magma supply point, so as the magma flows laterally down the spreading centre it generates a crustal section of decreasing thickness, culminating in the very thin crust of the fracture zones at either end of the ridge segment.     

Oceanic crustal structure—Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 45° N

Summary. We present a velocity—depth model for the crust beneath the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 45° N which is derived from a comparison of waveforms corresponding to observed and synthetic seismograms. The model which best fits the observations includes a high-velocity layer at the base of the crust (layer 3B) and a velocity gradient in the upper mantle. These results are in agreement with other recent seismic studies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and indicate that the velocity structure is more complex than that obtained from travel-time analysis. There is no evidence for a low-velocity zone at the base of the crust.     

The crustal structure beneath the northwest fjords, Iceland, from receiver functions and surface waves

Five broad-band seismic stations were operated in the northwest fjords area of Iceland from 1996 to 1998 as part of the Iceland Hotspot project. The structures of the upper 35  km or so beneath these stations were determined by the modelling and joint inversion of receiver functions and regional surface wave phase velocities. More than 40 teleseismic events and a few regional events containing high-quality surface wave trains were used. Although the middle period passband of the seismograms is corrupted by oceanic microseismic noise, which hinders the interpretation of structural details, the inversions reveal the overall features. Many profiles obtained exhibit large velocity gradients in the upper 5  km or so, smaller zero gradients below this, and, at ~23  km depth, a zone 2–4  km thick with higher velocity gradients. The two shallower intervals are fairly consistent with the 'upper' and 'lower' crust, defined by Flovenz (1980 ). The deep zone of enhanced velocity gradient seems to correspond to the sharp reflector first reported by Bjarnason et al . (1993 ) and identified by them as the 'Moho'. However, this type of structure is not ubiquitous beneath the northwest fjords area. The distinctiveness of the three intervals is variable, and in some cases a structure with velocity gradient increasing smoothly with depth is observed. We term these two end-members structures of the first and second types respectively. Structures of the second type correlate with older areas. Substantial variation in fundamental structure is to be expected in Iceland because of the great geological heterogeneity there.     

Finite-frequency traveltime tomography of San Francisco Bay region crustal velocity structure

Seismic velocity structure of the San Francisco Bay region crust is derived using measurements of finite-frequency traveltimes. A total of 57 801 relative traveltimes are measured by cross-correlation over the frequency range 0.5–1.5 Hz. From these are derived 4862 'summary' traveltimes, which are used to derive 3-D P -wave velocity structure over a 341 × 140 km² area from the surface to 25 km depth. The seismic tomography is based on sensitivity kernels calculated on a spherically symmetric reference model. Robust elements of the derived P -wave velocity structure are: a pronounced velocity contrast across the San Andreas fault in the south Bay region (west side faster); a moderate velocity contrast across the Hayward fault (west side faster); moderately low velocity crust around the Quien Sabe volcanic field and the Sacramento River delta; very low velocity crust around Lake Berryessa. These features are generally explicable with surface rock types being extrapolated to depth ∼10 km in the upper crust. Generally high mid-lower crust velocity and high inferred Poisson's ratio suggest a mafic lower crust.     

The transition from subduction to continental collision: crustal structure in the North Canterbury region, New Zealand

The North Canterbury region marks the transition from Pacific plate subduction to continental collision in the South Island of New Zealand. Details of the seismicity, structure and tectonics of this region have been revealed by an 11-week microearthquake survey using 24 portable digital seismographs. Arrival time data from a well-recorded subset of microearthquakes have been combined with those from three explosions at the corners of the microearthquake network in a simultaneous inversion for both hypocentres and velocity structure. The velocity structure is consistent with the crust in North Canterbury being an extension of the converging Chatham Rise. The crust is about 27 km thick, and consists of an 11 km thick seismic upper crust and 7 km thick seismic lower crust, with the middle part of the crust being relatively aseismic. Seismic velocities are consistent with the upper and middle crust being composed of greywacke and schist respectively, while several lines of evidence suggest that the lower crust is the lower part of the old oceanic crust on which the overlying rocks were originally deposited.
The distribution of relocated earthquakes deeper than 15 km indicates that the seismic lower crust changes dip markedly near 43S. To the south-west it is subhorizontal, while to the north-east it dips north-west at about 10. Fault-plane solutions for these earthquakes also change near 43S. For events to the south, P -axes trend approximately normal to the plate boundary (reflecting continental collision), while for events to the north, T -axes are aligned down the dip of the subducted plate (reflecting slab pull). While lithospheric subduction is continuous across the transition, it is not clear whether the lower crust near 43S is flexed or torn.     

Magnetotelluric interpretation of crustal and mantle structure in the Grenville Province

Summary Accurate determinations of depths and conductivities of electrical structures in shield regions are often difficult because of the inhomogeneity of the uppermost crust. A magnetotelluric (MT) station (BAT) in the Grenville Province of the Precambrian Shield in eastern Canada has been in operation since 1975 for time-dependency studies of electrical resistivity changes related to earthquakes. The MT response of the station displays low skew with small to moderate anisotropy. One-dimensional inversion of the apparent resistivity and phase reveals two well-defined conductors in the crust, one at 10 km and the second at the base of the crust. The latter has a resistivity less than 50 Ω m. These results are substantiated by three additional MT stations located up to 40 km distant.
Data from other new MT stations and from stations previously published in the literature are compared with two-dimensional computer model results and with the three-dimensional analogue scale model results of Dosso et al. While additional data for periods less than 100 s would be desirable the results from a number of the MT stations are not inconsistent with a widespread occurrence of a conducting zone at the base of the crust in the Grenville. The inversion analysis also indicates the existence of a conductor at some depth greater than 100 km with a resistivity less than 30 Ω m. This may coincide with a seismic low-velocity zone observed in the mantle under the Canadian Shield.     

Thermal evolution of the oceanic crust; its dependence on spreading rate and effect on crustal structure

Summary. The temperature field and rates of cooling and solidification of the oceanic crust and upper mantle at an ocean ridge have been calculated as a function of spreading rate. The thermal model of the accretion process incorporates latent heat release associated with solidification of the basalt. liquid forming the ocean crust and uses a heat supply boundary condition on the vertical ridge axis model boundary. It is assumed that while oceanic layer 2 cools rapidly by hydrothermal circulation, oceanic layer 3 cools predominantly by conduction. Basalt liquid injection into the upper part of oceanic layer 3 is shown to solidify instantaneously while that injected into lower crustal levels takes up to 0.4 Myr to solidify. Material solidifying instantaneously is interpreted as corresponding to the dolerite unit of the ocean crust while that taking a finite time to cool is interpreted as corresponding to the gabbroic unit. The rate of cooling of the crust is shown to be faster for slower spreading rates and consequently the thicknesses of the dolerite and gabbro units are predicted to thin and thicken respectively with increase in spreading rate. The width of the molten region, or magma chamber, within the crust at the ridge axis is shown to be approximately proportional to spreading rate with chamber half widths of 1.5 and 10.0 km for half spreading rate of 1.0 and 6.0 cm yr⁻¹. Below a critical half spreading rate of about 0.65 cm yr⁻¹ no molten region exists and the crust is entirely doleritic.     

Reflectivity of the crystalline crust: hypotheses and tests

Summary. The nature of reflectors within the crystalline basement remains the subject of inference except where reflections have been traced directly to outcrop. Geological models of basement reflectors need to be developed which incorporate geophysical constraints obtained from measurements on seismograms, but most geological information still comes from speculative interpretations of seismic experiments run in different regimes. Pronounced lower-crustal reflectivity, detected worldwide, is ascribed in various geological hypotheses to primary lithologic layering, to ductile strain banding, or to trapped fluids. A BIRPS deep crustal profile across the Atlantic continental margin suggests that the observed reflectivity is not related in any simple way to the amount of extensional strain undergone. Study of worldwide crustal profiles shows that exposed high-pressure terranes are not as reflective as in situ lower crust at high pressure, suggesting either that these granulite terranes are not representative of the lower crust or that physical properties, possibly the presence of fluids or thermally controlled ductile strain banding, are more likely responsible for observed reflectivity than are simple lithologic boundaries. The argument for the importance of physical properties in causing observed lower-crustal reflectivity is strengthened by an observed negative correlation between depth to the reflective lower crust and regional surface heat-flow.     

The influence of upper-crust lithology on topographic development in the central Coast Ranges of California

A fundamental geological tenet is that as landscapes evolve over graded to geologic time, geologic structures control patterns of topographic distribution in mountainous areas such that terrain underlain by competent rock will be higher than terrain underlain by incompetent rock. This paper shows that in active orogens where markedly weak and markedly strong rocks are juxtaposed along contacts that parallel regional structures, relatively high topography can form where strain is localized in the weak rock. Such a relationship is illustrated by the topography of the central Coast Ranges between the Pacific coastline and the San Andreas fault zone (SAFZ), and along the length of the Gabilan Mesa (the “Gabilan Mesa segment” of the central Coast Ranges). Within the Gabilan Mesa segment, the granitic upper crust of the Salinian terrane is in contact with the accretionary-prism mélange upper crust of the Nacimiento terrane along the inactive Nacimiento fault zone. A prominent topographic lineament is present along most of this lithologic boundary, approximately 50 to 65 km southwest of the SAFZ, with the higher topography formed in the mélange on the southwest side of the Nacimiento fault.This paper investigates factors influencing the pattern of topographic development in the Gabilan Mesa segment of the central Coast Ranges by correlating shortening magnitude with the upper-crust compositions of the Salinian and Nacimiento terranes. The fluvial geomorphology of two valleys in the Gabilan Mesa, which is within the Salinian terrane, and alluvial geochronology based on optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL) age estimates, reveal that the magnitude of shortening accommodated by down-to-the-southwest tilting of the mesa since 400 ka is less than 1 to 2 m. Our results, combined with those of previous studies, indicate that at least 63% to 78% of late-Cenozoic, northeast-southwest directed, upper-crustal shortening across the Gabilan Mesa segment has been accommodated within the Nacimiento terrane. This is significant because perpendicular to orogenic strike the Nacimiento terrane constitutes less than ¼ of the distance between the coast and the SAFZ, and the other ¾ (or greater) of the distance between the coast and the SAFZ is underlain by the granitic upper crust of the Salinian terrane. We propose that strain and mountain building are localized within the Nacimiento terrane because it consists predominantly of the relatively weak Franciscan Complex mélange, and because the upper crust of the Salinian terrane is composed of relatively strong granitic rocks. Our hypothesis is supported by the distribution of post-seismic surface uplift associated with the 2003, 6.5 M_W San Simeon earthquake, which mimics the topography of the southwestern part of the Gabilan Mesa segment of the central Coast Ranges.     

Earthquake processes of the Himalayan collision zone in eastern Nepal and the southern Tibetan Plateau

Focal mechanisms determined from moment tensor inversion and first motion polarities of the Himalayan Nepal Tibet Seismic Experiment (HIMNT) coupled with previously published solutions show the Himalayan continental collision zone near eastern Nepal is deforming by a variety of styles of deformation. These styles include strike-slip, thrust and normal faulting in the upper and lower crust, but mostly strike-slip faulting near or below the crust–mantle boundary (Moho). One normal faulting earthquake from this experiment accommodates east–west extension beneath the Main Himalayan Thrust of the Lesser Himalaya while three upper crustal normal events on the southern Tibetan Plateau are consistent with east–west extension of the Tibetan crust. Strike-slip earthquakes near the Himalayan Moho at depths >60 km also absorb this continental collision. Shallow plunging P -axes and shallow plunging EW trending T -axes, proxies for the predominant strain orientations, show active shearing at focal depths ∼60–90 km beneath the High Himalaya and southern Tibetan Plateau. Beneath the southern Tibetan Plateau the plunge of the P -axes shift from vertical in the upper crust to mostly horizontal near the crust–mantle boundary, indicating that body forces may play larger role at shallower depths than at deeper depths where plate boundary forces may dominate.     

Surface wave dispersion, crustal structure, and sediment thickness variations across the Barents shelf

Summary. Rayleigh and Love wave group velocities were determined for 21 paths across the Barents shelf. Those group velocities exhibit regional variations of 1.0 km^-1 or more at short periods, depending upon the location of the path within the shelf. Only two different crustal shear-velocity models beneath sedimentary layers are required, however, to explain all of the group velocity data. One model pertains to most of the shelf from a longitude near the eastern coast of Svalbard to Novaya Zemlya. The other pertains to a 200 or 300 km wide region at the western edge of the shelf. Shear velocities in the upper crust of the western region are significantly higher and the crust is much thinner than they are for the rest of the shelf. That region is known to have moved to its present prosition from a point several hundred kilometres to the north during the Caledonian orogeny.
Surface wave group velocities within each of the two regions are strongly influenced by sediments which have accumulated in basins within the Barents shelf. Some of these basins, in the southern portion of the shelf, may be 10km or more in thickness.     

The nature of deep crustal structures in the Mojave Desert, California

Summary. The character of multi-offset reflections from the deep crust in the Mojave Desert are examined to reveal the physical nature of the reflecting structures. We focus on distinguishing classical abrupt discontinuities, such as traditional models of the Conrad and Moho boundaries, from more unusual structures. Finite-difference modeling and simple interference relations show that pre-critical reflections exhibiting an increase in peak frequency with offset arise from thinly-layered horizontal structures, while reflections from step discontinuities show no change in frequency with offset. In the deep crust thin layers may result from sill intrusion or fault motion.
The sense of changes in Poisson's ratio and the relative strength of density changes determine whether reflection amplitudes will increase or decrease with offset. A simple linear regression on pre-critical reflection amplitudes against offset is adequate to separate reflections arising from increases in Poisson's ratio from those arising from decreases in Poisson's ratio and/or density changes. The latter condition may be the result of strong anisotropy or the presence of pore fluid. Comparisons of the properties of major deep reflectors across the Mojave Desert suggest that the effects of tectonic motion and fluid injection have penetrated all levels of the crust.