Upper‐mantle tomography and dynamics beneath the North China Craton

Abstract

A high‐resolution tomographic model of the upper mantle beneath the North China Craton (NCC) is determined using a large number of precisely hand‐picked teleseismic P wave arrival times. The results are generally consistent with previous results but high‐quality arrivals provide new insights into the dynamics beneath the NCC. Obviously north‐south trending low‐velocity (low‐V) zones are revealed down to ∼300–400 km depth under the Shanxi rift and Tanlu fault zone, while a north‐south trending high‐velocity (high‐V) zone representing the remainder of detached lithosphere is visible down to ∼200 km depth under the western portion of eastern NCC. High‐V anomalies representing the detached lithosphere are detected at 200–400 km depth under central and eastern NCC. Under the Ordos block high‐V anomalies are visible above ∼400 km depth, indicating intact lithosphere. Broad high‐V anomalies representing the stagnant Pacific slab are imaged with a low‐V anomaly from Datong volcano to the edge of Bohai Sea in the mantle transition zone beneath eastern and central NCC, suggesting that the Pacific slab has subducted to central NCC but with a gap. A continuously Y‐shaped low‐V structure is clearly imaged under Datong volcano and Bohai Sea from the lower mantle through this gap in the mantle transition zone to the upper mantle, indicating the existence of a lower mantle plume. These results suggest that in addition to the subduction of the Pacific plate, the plume has also played an important role in lithospheric destruction by thermal erosion of the asthenosphere and detachment of the lithosphere beneath the NCC.