Seismic Character of Moho Beneath the NW Himalaya and Ladakh Inferred from Regional Earthquakes Travel Time Data

Abstract

We study the uppermost mantle velocities and dip of Indian Moho beneath the NW Himalaya and Ladakh using 42 regional waveform data recorded on 15 seismographs along a ~600 km-long profile. We use the two-way travel time and interstation velocity methods. The apparent Pn and Sn velocities beneath the NW Himalaya are 8.08 ± 0.04 and 4.64 ± 0.07 km/s for earthquakes occurring south of the profile (downdip, western Indian shield) and 8.70 ± 0.13 and 4.76 ± 0.12 km/s for earthquakes from north (updip, western Tibet). Similarly, these velocities beneath Ladakh are 7.18 ± 0.07 and 4.32 ± 0.05 km/s for earthquakes due south (downdip, north Indian shield) and 8.50 ± 0.10 and 4.39 ± 0.12 km/s for earthquakes due north (updip, western Tibet). These velocity variations constrain the Moho dip at ~2.4 ± 0.14o beneath the NW Himalaya and ~6.6 ± 0.54o beneath Ladakh. Considering the varying dips along the profile, we observe that the true Pn (8.37 ± 0.07 km/s) and Sn (4.70 ± 0.1 km/s) velocities are higher for the NW Himalaya than for Ladakh (7.73 ± 0.08 and 4.33 ± 0.09 km/s). The large variation in interstation Pn velocity is observed between the station pairs near the Indus Zangpo Suture zone due to steep dipping (~7.1o to 6.26o) of the Indian Moho. In the Himalaya region, the interstation and average values of the velocities and Moho dip are comparable, whereas a variation is observed in different segments of the Ladakh region. The results show that the Indian Moho is underthrusting at a shallow angle (~2.5o) beneath the Himalaya, steepens abruptly (~6.6o) further north of the Southern Tibetan Detachment and continues at a shallow angle (~3.8o) beneath Ladakh.