Crustal thickness variation across the northeast Iran continental collision zone from teleseismic converted waves

Abstract

For the first time, we present the variation of crust–mantle boundary beneath the northeast Iran continental collision zone which is genetically part of the Alpine–Himalayan orogeny and beneath Central Iran which is a less-deformed tectonic block. The boundary was imaged by stacking teleseismic P–S converted phases and shows a strong variation of Moho from 27.5 km under Central Iran to 55.5 km beneath the Binalud foreland basin. The thickest crust is not located beneath the high topography of the Kopeh Dagh and Binalud mountain ranges suggesting that these mountain ranges are not supported by a crustal root. The simple gravity modeling of the Bouguer anomaly supports this idea.