Lateral Variations of the Mantle Transition Zone Structure beneath the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau Revealed by P-wave Receiver Functions

The deep structure of the southeastern Tibetan plateau is of great scientific importance to a better understanding of the India-Eurasia collision as well as the evolution of the magnificent Tibetan plateau. In this study, we collected 566 permanent and temporary seismic stations deployed in SE Tibet, with a total of 77853 high quality P-wave receiver functions been extracted by maximum entropy deconvolution method. On the basis of the Common Conversion Point (CCP) stacking technique, we mapped the topography of the 410km and 660km discontinuities (hereinafter called the `410' and the `660'), and further investigated the lateral variation of the mantle transition zone (MTZ) thickness beneath this region. The background velocity model deduced from H-κ stacking results and a previous body-wave tomographic research was applied for the correction of the crustal and upper mantle heterogeneities beneath SE Tibet for CCP stacking. Our results reveal two significantly thickened MTZ anomalies aligned nearly in the south-north direction. The magnitude of both anomalies are 30km above the global average of 250km. The southern anomaly located beneath the Dianzhong sub-block and the Indo-China block is characterized by a slightly deeper `410' and a greater-than-normal `660', while the northern anomaly beneath western Sichuan has an uplifted `410' and a depressed `660'. Combining with previous studies in the adjacent region, we suggest that slab break-off may occurred during the eastward subduction of the Burma plate, with the lower part of the cold slab penetrated into the MTZ and stagnated at the bottom of the `660' which may cause the southern anomaly in our receiver function images. The origin of the Tengchong volcano is probably connected to the upwelling of the asthenospheric material caused by the slab break-off or to the ascending of the hot and wet material triggered by the dehydration of stagnant slab in the MTZ. The anomaly in the north, on the other hand, might be the consequence of the delamination of the overlying lithosphere sinking into the MTZ. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 41474040, 41125015 and 41274002).