Moho Depth Derived from Gravity Data in the Taiwan Strait Area

We have constructed are gional Bouguer gravity anomaly map using marine and land data from Tai wan and the Chinese province of Fuchien, as well as SEASAT altimetry-de rived gravity data for the Tai wan Strait and its surrounding area. The map shows isogals trending generally in a NE-SW direction, conforming with the over all shallower geo logical strike of the strait. Removing gravity effects generated by the water layer and seafloor to pography, the regional Bouguer gravity anomaly is obtained, reflecting the subsurface structure. Moho depth is then computed by the Parker-Oldenburg iterative method from the regional Bouguer gravity data set. Over the strait area, the geometry of the Moho relief is smooth with an average depth of about 30 km, except for the Penghu up lift. Moho depth is shallower in the Taiwan Strait and thickens to ward both sides of the strait. The relatively shallower Moho depth, reaching up to 28 km, is convex up ward underneath the Penghu uplift

New free-air and Bouguer gravity fields of Taiwan from multiple platforms and sensors

We construct 1' × 1' grids of free-air and Bouguer gravity anomalies around Taiwan with well-defined error estimates for quality assessment. The grids are compiled from land, airborne and shipborne gravity measurements, augmented with altimeter gravity at sea. Three sets of relative land gravity measurements are network-adjusted and outlier-edited, yielding accuracies of 0.03–0.09 mGal. Three airborne gravity sets are collected at altitudes 5156 and 1620 m with accuracies of 2.57–2.79 mGal. Seven offshore shipborne gravity campaigns around Taiwan and its offshore islands yield shallow-water gravity values with 0.88–2.35 mGal accuracies. All data points are registered with GPS-derived geodetic coordinates at cm–dm accuracies, allowing for precise gravity reductions and computing gravity disturbances. The various datasets are combined by the band-limited least-squares collocation in a one-step procedure. In the eastern mountainous (or offshore) region, Bouguer anomalies and density contrasts without considering the oceanic (or land) topographic contribution are underestimated. The new grids show unprecedented tectonic features that can revise earlier results, and can be used in a broad range of applications

Investigating the kinematics of mountain building in Taiwan from the spatiotemporal evolution of the foreland basin and western foothills

The Taiwanese range has resulted from the collision between the Luzon volcanic arc and the Chinese continental margin, which started about 6.5 Myr ago in the north, and has since propagated southward. The building of the range has been recorded in the spatiotemporal evolution of the foreland basin. We analyze this sedimentary record to place some constraints on the kinematics of crustal deformation. The flexure of the foreland under the load of the growing wedge started with a 1.5 Myr long phase of rapid subsidence and sedimentation, which has migrated southward over the last 3.5 Myr at a rate of 31 +10/−5 mm/yr, reflecting the structural evolution of the range and the growth of the topography during the oblique collision. Isopachs from the Toukoshan (~0 to 1.1 Ma) and Cholan (~1.1 to 3.3 Ma) formations, as well as the sedimentation rates retrieved from a well on the Pakuashan anticline, indicate that the foreland basement has been moving toward the center of mass of the orogen by ~45–50 mm/yr during the development of the basin. From there, we estimate the long-term shortening rate across the range to 39.5–44.5 mm/yr. By considering available data on the thrust faults of the foothills of central Taiwan, we show that most (if not all) the shortening across the range is accommodated by the most frontal structures, with little if any internal shortening within the wedge. The range growth appears therefore to have been essentially sustained by underplating rather than by frontal accretion. In addition, only the upper ~7 to 9 km of the underthrusted crust participates to the growth of the orogen. This requires that a significant amount of the Chinese passive margin crust is subducted beneath the Philippine Sea plate

Spatial variations in the effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere in Southeast Asia

As a proxy for long-term lithospheric strength, detailed information on lateral effective elastic thickness (Te) variations can aid in understanding the distribution pattern of surface deformation and its response to long-term forces. Here we present high-resolution maps of spatial variations of Te for the complex SE Asian region by analyzing the coherence of topography and Bouguer gravity anomaly data. We find that after considering the gravity deficit of less dense sediment, the recovered Te maps are more representative of the geology, particularly in elongated rift basins. The results show that the Te variation pattern in SE Asia, in general, agrees well with its tectonic provinces and major tectonic boundaries. The oceanic basins, the Indosinian suture zones between the Indochina and Sibumasu blocks, and the Makassar Strait are characterized by low Te, while moderate and high Te values are recovered in the Khorat plateau, West Burma, the Singapore Ridge, the Con Song Swell, Borneo, the northern Australian margin and the Molucca Sea. The Te pattern in the south Indonesian margin is complicated by the approach and collision of oceanic plateaus and seamounts with the fore-arc region. The heterogeneous strength features are consistent with the complex assemblage of different tectonic units, and significant deformation during Cenozoic tectonic events. In the Indochina Peninsula, the extruded displacement during the India-Eurasia collision might have been partitioned and absorbed by the combined mechanism of the extrusion and viscous tectonic models. As a result, the offshore displacements of the major strike-slip faults in the South China Sea are much smaller than originally assumed, thus having less effect on the development of the South China Sea than other mechanisms such as the slab pull of the proto-South China Sea. Since the displacement driven by the boundary tectonic forces has been greatly absorbed and decreased by subduction and deformation in the active margins and adjacent weak regions, the motion velocity of the interior regions is greatly lower than the boundary active margins, and they are largely free of seismicity and volcanism. Our results suggest that East Borneo might share a similar crustal basement, and represent a broad tectonic zone of the destroyed Meso-Tethys Ocean extending from West-Middle Java, through East Borneo to northern Borneo of the Sarawak and Sabah. The Indosinian zones between the Indochina and Sibumasu blocks might extend further southeastward across Billiton Island to offshore of southern Borneo, and the Singapore platform and SW Borneo might belong to the same block. The results also show that the internal load fraction F is high in the coastal area of South China, the northern margin of the South China Sea, and the coastal area of Indochina, which, in general, agrees with the distribution of a high-velocity lower crustal layer and Late Cenozoic basaltic rocks

Tectonic variation and structural evolution of the West Greenland continental margin

The study sets out to unravel the tectonic evolution and lateral structural variation of the West Greenland (Baffin Bay, Davis Strait and Labrador Sea) and to consider its hydrocarbon potential in light of this new evaluation. The study follows a multidisciplinary approach by using 2D seismic, gravity, magnetic, depth-dependent stretching data combined with heat flow and petroleum system modelling. The Western Greenland margin evolved through a complex combination of processes that included multiple phases of extension, varying degrees of subsidence and margin uplift. Basin fill architecture indicates that the margin changes dramatically laterally along the margin. Two rift events were recognized based on architecture of syn-rift sediments. The complex structural variation along the margin is revealed by: the presence of a clear magnetic lineament indicating formation of oceanic crust in Labrador Sea at Chron 31; a good correlation between gravity anomalies in areas of oceanic crust where the extinct spreading axis between Canada and Greenland was identified; areas of continental crust with greater uncertainty in the structure of the continental lithosphere; and greater extension accommodated by the lithosphere in its entirety, rather than by the upper crust alone as indicated by depth-dependent stretching along the margin This study therefore demonstrates that understanding the complex processes involved in multiple-rifting and depth-dependent stretching is important to constraining hydrocarbon potential of passive margin basins

A Study of Models and Controls for Basin Formation During Continental Collision: (1) Australian Lithosphere Along Banda Orogen (Indonesia) and (2) Alboran Sea Basin (Western Mediterranean).

Mechanisms for the formation of a foreland basin at the beginning of continental collision (Pliocene-Recent Australian continental foreland along the Banda orogen) and a post-orogenic, continental, Miocene extensional basin (Alboran Sea) are studied. Such a study investigates the controls on the basin formation during the start of the Wilson cycle and later during the break up of a thickened continent in a collisional environment. Effective Elastic Thickness (EET) of the Australian continental lithosphere from Roti to the Kai Plateau ({\sim}121\sp\circ{-}137\sp\circE longitude) are estimated using an elastic-half beam model to match the sea floor bathymetry and the Bouguer gravity anomalies. Range of constant EET values from 27-75 km across the shelf of Australian lithosphere shows a variation of 64% with the highest value in the vicinity of central Timor where the collision is most advanced. Downdip on the Australian continental lithosphere from shelf to beneath the Banda orogen, the reduction in EET is from $\sim$90 km-$\sim$30 km (66%). Variations in EET can be explained by inelastic yielding (brittle and plastic failure, crust-mantle decoupling in the lower crust and brittle-ductile decoupling in the upper-middle crust) in the Australian lithosphere. Change in EET occurred at the start of continental subduction due to change in curvature, both in map and cross-sectional view. Oroclinal bending of the continental Australian lithosphere increased the inelastic failure in the eastern end. Different mechanisms of basin formation at a site of post-orogenic collapse are studied by constraining the timing of rifting in the western, eastern, and northern parts of the Alboran Sea basin on seismic reflectors via synthetic seismograms using ODP Leg 161 and Andalucia A-1 data. Regions of adjacent coeval compression and extension are found in the Alboran Sea basin. Normal faulting continues in parts of the eastern Alboran Sea basin later than in the western Alboran Sea basin. The development of the Alboran Sea basin is envisioned through a southeasterly migration of the delaminating continental lithosphere to explain younger extension in the eastern Alboran Sea basin. The rate of the migration of the delamination front is of the range of millimeters-centimeters/year

An analysis of subduction related tectonics offshore southern and eastern Taiwan

textArc-continent collision is associated with vigorous mountain building and terrane accretion on relatively short (<10 Ma) geologic timescales. It is believed to be an important mechanism for the growth of continents. Taiwan represents one of the few active examples of this process. As such, is the perfect natural laboratory to investigate the nature of the continent ocean boundary and the uncertain behavior of the accretionary prism and extended, transitional rifted margin crust during the collision process. Taiwan also provides a unique opportunity to investigate structures in the backarc, yielding key insights into the still controversial tectonic conditions that were responsible for the unique subduction-collision system observed today. The obliquity of the collision between the North Luzon Arc and the Chinese rifted margin allows for examination of different temporal stages of collision at different locations. Recently acquired seismic reflection and wide-angle seismic refraction data, offshore Taiwan, document the crustal structure of the incipient mountain belt and of the Philippine Sea Plate in the backarc domain to the east. Geophysical profiles offshore southern Taiwan show evidence for a transition from the subduction of ocean crust to highly extended, transitional continental crust of the northern South China Sea distal margin. During oceanic subduction, accretion and underplating of thick sedimentary cover sequences create a large 13-15 km thick accretionary prism. Prior to the encroachment of the continental shelf, there is evidence for further underplating of transitional distal margin crust to the base of the prism. These findings support a multi-phase collisional model in which early growth of the mountain belt is driven by structural underplating of the previously sedimentary-only accretionary prism with blocks of transitional crust from the distal rifted margin. Geophysical profiles offshore eastern Taiwan show evidence for asymmetric crustal thickening, from 12-18 km, along the entire length of the Gagua Ridge suggesting the West Philippine Basin oceanic crust is underthust beneath that of the Huatung Basin. In this interpretation, the Gagua Ridge was the result of a failed subduction initiation event during the early Miocene that may have existed simultaneously and, for a short time, competed with the Manila subduction zone in accommodating convergence between the Eurasia and Philippine Sea plates.Geological Science

Investigating the crustal and upper mantle structure of the central Java subduction zone with marine wide-angle seismic and gravity data

Offshore wide-angle seismic data recorded on ocean bottom instruments of a combined onshore- offshore investigation on the tectonic framework of central Java are presented in this study. The joint interdisciplinary project MERAMEX (Merapi Amphibious Experiment) was carried out to characterize the subduction of the Indo-Australian plate beneath Eurasia. Three marine wide-angle profiles are analyzed by combined forward- and inverse modeling of first and later arrival traveltimes and are integrated together with gravity data. The results of this study are compared with former investigations off southern Sumatra, western Java and eastern Java to obtain a detailed image of the Java margin. The subduction of the oceanic Roo Rise plateau, located south of central Java, with its thickened and buoyant crust, strongly influences subduction dynamics. The trench is retreated about 60 km in a landward direction. Large scale forearc uplift is manifested in isolated forearc highs, reaching water depths of only 1000 m compared to 2000 m water depth off western Java, and results from oceanic basement relief subduction. The dip angle of the underthrusting oceanic lithosphere is 10◦ underneath the marine forearc and its crustal thickness increases eastward from 9 - 10 km over a distance of 100 km between both dip profiles off central Java, which is thicker than the global average of 7.4 km. The incipient subduction of a broad band of seamounts off central Java causes frontal erosion of the margin here and leads to mass wasting due to oversteepening of the upper trench wall. The well-developed accretionary wedge off southern Sumatra and western Java diminishes into a small frontal prism with steep slope angles of the upper plate off central Java. This causes a persistent threat for generating tsunamis, which may also be triggered by smaller (Mw8) earthquakes. The rough surface of the Indo-Australian plate with its volcanic edifices strongly influences the interplate coupling. A subducted and dismembered seamount is revealed on the eastern profile at the toe of the backstop in 15 km depth. This seamount and similar features present on the megathrust may potentially act as asperities or as barriers to seismic rupture, limiting lateral rupture propagation in the co-seismic phase. Subduction earthquakes with a magnitude ≥ 8 are not observed, while smaller earthquakes frequently occur. A remarkable clustering of earthquakes in the forearc mantle wedge below the shallow forearc Moho may be the seismic expression of seamount detachement

PRISM3D: a 3-D reference seismic model for Iberia and adjacent areas

We present PRISM3D, a 3-D reference seismic model of P- and S-wave velocities for Iberia and adjacent areas. PRISM3D results from the combination of the most up-to-date earth models available for the region. It extends horizontally from 15°W to 5°E in longitude, 34°N to 46°N in latitude and vertically from 3.5 km above to 200 km below sea level, and is modelled on a regular grid with 10 and 0.5 km of grid node spacing in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. It was designed using models inferred from local and teleseismic body-wave tomography, earthquake and ambient noise surface wave tomography, receiver function analysis and active source experiments. It includes two interfaces, namely the topography/bathymetry and the Mohorovičić (Moho) discontinuity. The Moho was modelled from previously published receiver function analysis and deep seismic sounding results. To that end we used a probabilistic surface reconstruction algorithm that allowed to extract the mean of the Moho depth surface along with its associated standard deviation, which provides a depth uncertainty estimate. The Moho depth model is in good agreement with previously published models, although it presents slightly sharper gardients in orogenic areas such as the Pyrenees or the Betic-Rif system. Crustal and mantle P- and S-wave wave speed grids were built separately on each side of the Moho depth surface by weighted average of existing models, thus allowing to realistically render the speed gradients across that interface. The associated weighted standard deviation was also calculated, which provides an uncertainty estimation on the average wave speed values at any point of the grid. At shallow depths (<10 km), low P and S wave speeds and high VP/VS are observed in offshore basins, while the Iberian Massif, which covers a large part of western Iberia, appears characterized by a rather flat Moho, higher than average VP and VS and low VP/VS. Conversely, the Betic-Rif system seems to be associated with low VP and VS, combined with high VP/VS in comparison to the rest of the study area. The most prominent feature of the mantle is the well known high wave speed anomaly related to the Alboran slab imaged in various mantle tomography studies. The consistency of PRISM3D with previous work is verified by comparing it with two recent studies, with which it shows a good general agreement.The impact of the new 3-D model is illustrated through a simple synthetic experiment, which shows that the lateral variations of the wave speed can produce traveltime differences ranging from –1.5 and 1.5 s for P waves and from –2.5 and 2.5 s for S waves at local to regional distances. Such values are far larger than phase picking uncertainties and would likely affect earthquake hypocentral parameter estimations. The new 3-D model thus provides a basis for regional studies including earthquake source studies, Earth structure investigations and geodynamic modelling of Iberia and its surroundings