Imaging the Indian lithosphere beneath the Eastern Himalayan region

Abstract

SUMMARY Lithospheric thickness is an important parameter to understand the nature of collision and subduction between the Indian and Asian tectonic plates. In this study, we apply the S receiver function technique to data from a network of broad-band stations in the northeast India and Eastern Himalayan regions and image the geometry of Indian Plate collision. This analysis reveals clear S-to-p conversions from the Moho and Lithosphere–Asthenosphere boundary (LAB) in the various tectonic units of the study region. The Indian lithosphere is found to be only 90 km thick beneath the Shillong plateau deepening to 135 km on either side suggestive of a lithospheric upwarp related to the plateau uplift. The lithosphere thickens northward, with values reaching ∼180 km beneath the Eastern Himalaya. The trend of the LAB north of the foredeep region indicates that the Indian Plate plunges beneath the Eastern Himalaya. The consistent northward-dipping character of the Indian Plate suggests that the Indian Plate is traceable until it gets subducted beneath Tibet just south of Bangong suture zone. The deepening of the LAB and its correlation with the topographic elevation is in agreement with homogeneous thickening of the lithosphere in response to compressive forces due to the continental collision of India with Asia.