Distribution of the crustal low velocity zones beneath the central and northeastern Tibetan Plateau: Insights from joint analysis of receiver functions and surface wave dispersion observations

Abstract A crustal and uppermost mantle shear-wave velocity model beneath the central and northeastern Tibetan Plateau is obtained from the joint analysis of Rayleigh wave phase dispersions and teleseismic P-wave receiver functions at 188 broadband seismic stations deployed in this region. This newly presented model reveals wide-spread low velocity zones in the middle crust, and these zones are mainly confined to the region south of the Kunlun Fault. The velocities in the low velocity zones are extremely low (