2D density model of the Chinese continental lithosphere along a NW-SE transect

  • Barbora ŠIMONOVÁ Department of Applied and Environmental Geophysics, Faculty of Comenius University
  • Miroslav BIELIK Department of Applied and Environmental Geophysics, Faculty of Comenius University
  • Jana DÉREROVÁ Division of Geophysics, Earth Science Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
Keywords: gravity, deep seismic sounding, density, seismic velocity, modelling, continental crust, China

Abstract

This paper presents a 2D density model along a transect from NW to SE China. The model was first constructed by the transformation of seismic velocity to density, revealed by previous deep seismic soundings (DSS) investigations in China. Then, the 2D density model was updated using the GM-SYS software by fitting the computed to the observed gravity data. Based on the density distribution of anomalous layers we divided the Chinese continental crust along the transect into three regions: north-western, central and south-eastern. The first one includes the Junggar Basin, Tianshan and Tarim Basin. The second part consists of the Qilian Orogen, the Qaidam Basin and the Songpan Ganzi Basin. The third region is represented by the Yangtze and the Cathaysia blocks. The low velocity body (vp = 5.2 – 6.2 km/s) at the junction of the North-western and Central parts at a depth between 21 – 31 km, which was discovered out by DSS, was also confirmed by our 2D density modelling.

Author Biographies

Barbora ŠIMONOVÁ, Department of Applied and Environmental Geophysics, Faculty of Comenius University

Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 48 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Miroslav BIELIK, Department of Applied and Environmental Geophysics, Faculty of Comenius University

Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 48 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Jana DÉREROVÁ, Division of Geophysics, Earth Science Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences

Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 28 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Published
2015-06-30
How to Cite
ŠIMONOVÁ, B., BIELIK, M., & DÉREROVÁ, J. (2015). 2D density model of the Chinese continental lithosphere along a NW-SE transect. Contributions to Geophysics and Geodesy, 45(2), 135-148. https://doi.org/10.1515/congeo-2015-0017
Section
original research papers