Upper Mantle beneath the Myanmar and Surrounding Tomography: New Insight into Plate Subduction and Volcanism

Abstract

Myanmar and its surrounding areas have complex topography and strong tectonic movement, which has always been a challenge to most geoscientists. We used teleseismic tomography to study the subsurface velocity structure in this area. We present a new P-wave tomographic model beneath Myanmar and the surrounding areas by inverting 129,788 arrival-time data recorded by 372 stations. We found an inclined high-velocity subducting plate beneath central Myanmar, where the dip angle becomes smaller near 25°~26°N, and the seismic depth is limited below 200 km. The Indian oceanic lithosphere is being detached from the Indian continental lithosphere, which limits the depth of the earthquake. The active Tengchong volcano is underlain by a prominent low-velocity (low-V) anomaly in the shallow mantle, which may be caused by the subduction and dehydration of the Burma microplate (or Indian plate). The formation of the Singu volcano is related to the mantle flow of the Qinghai–Tibet plateau and the tearing of the Indian plate. The Yangtze craton (beneath the Sichuan Basin) shows a high-velocity anomaly, and both the shallow and deep parts have been destroyed, which may be related to the upwelling of deep heat flow.

Keywords

• Myanmar
• Yangtze craton
• seismic tomography
• Tengchong volcano
• P-wave
• plate tearing