Upper-mantle S-velocity structure across the Zagros collision zone resolved by nonlinear teleseismic tomography

• Non-linear teleseismic S-phase tomography across the Zagros collision zone in southwestern Iran is used to determine a high-resolution image of the upper-mantle structure. The inversion was done using 41 high-quality earthquakes recorded by 19 broad-band and medium-band stations along a 620 km long profile across the collision zone. Smearing from strong crustal velocity anomalies into the upper-mantle is suppressed by travel-time corrections calculated based on a 3D crustal model for the study area. Our results show that the relatively old and cold Arabian shield has a higher velocity (up to 6% faster, at depths between 70 and 300 km) than the younger lithosphere farther north in Central Iran. These two upper-mantle domains are separated by a sharp near-vertical transition whose surface expression coinciding with the Main Zagros Thrust.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Body waves

Teleseismic tomography

Upper-mantle structures

Zagros collision zone

Earth sciences

Geovetenskap

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)