Variations of Moho Depth in Zagros, Central Iran and Alborz Zones Using P and S Receiver Functions

Abstract

The current tectonics of the Iranian plateau resulted from the collision of the Arabian and Eurasian Plates have made different seismotectonic zones with various geological formations within Iranian plateau. The study of the Moho depth variations leads us to determine tectonic setting process in the study region. P and S receiver functions techniques were used in this work as popular methods to detect the Moho depth variations within Iranian plateau. Due to the different deformation zones existed in the study region, our results show significant variations of the Moho beneath the Iranian plateau. Moho depth beneath Central Alborz is observed around 55±2 km, which is interpreted related to the shortening of the collision of Arabian–Eurasian plate. Moho depth decreases to 37±2 km beneath Central Iranian Plateau indicating less affected by the lithospheric thickening resulted from the collision. Our observations depict the increasing of the crustal thickness beneath the UDAM and SSZ zones along the lower latitudes, which implies that the convergent rate increases from NW to SE across the Zagros collision zone.