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Investigating the lithospheric velocity structures beneath the Taiwan region by nonlinear joint inversion of local and teleseismic P wave data: Slab continuity and deflection
Author(s) -
Huang HsinHua,
Wu YihMin,
Song Xiaodong,
Chang ChienHsin,
KuoChen Hao,
Lee ShiannJong
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl061115
Subject(s) - geology , slab , lithosphere , seismology , subduction , slab window , inversion (geology) , tectonics , deflection (physics) , geodesy , geophysics , oceanic crust , physics , optics
The interaction between two flipping subduction systems shapes the complicated lithospheric structures and dynamics around the Taiwan region. Whether and in what form the Eurasian Plate subducts/deforms under Taiwan Island is critical to the debate of tectonic models. Although an east dipping high‐velocity anomaly down to a depth below 200 km has been reported previously, its detailed morphology remains uncertain and leads to different interpretations. With a two‐step strategy of nonlinear joint inversion, the slab images of the Eurasian Plate were retrieved in a geometry that is hyperthin in the south, becoming massive and steeper in the central, and severely deformed in the north. The possible depth and dimension of a slab break were also investigated through synthetic tests of whether the slab had torn. Moreover, the slab deflection found at ~23.2°N latitude seems to correspond to where the nonvolcanic tremors and recent NW‐SE striking structures have occurred in southern Taiwan.