Upper crustal structure under Jingtai–Hezuo profile in Northeastern Tibet from topography-dependent eikonal traveltime tomography

The Northeastern Tibetan plateau records Caledonian Qilian orogeny and Cenozoic reactivation by continental collision between the Indian and Asian plates. In order to provide the constraint on the Qilian orogenic mechanism and the expansion of the plateau, wide-angle seismic data was acquired along a 430 km-long profile between Jingtai and Hezuo. There is strong height variation along the profile, which is dealt by topography flattening scheme in our crustal velocity structure reconstruction. We herein present the upper crustal P-wave velocity structure model resulting from the interpretation of first arrival dataset from topography-dependent eikonal traveltime tomography. With topography flattening scheme to process real topography along the profile, the evenness of ray coverage times of the image area (upper crust) is improved, which provides upper crustal velocity model comparable to the classic traveltime tomography (with model expansion scheme to process irregular surface). The upper crustal velocity model shows zoning character which matches with the tectonic division of the Qaidam-Kunlun-West Qinling belt, the Central and Northern Qilian, and the Alax blocks along the profile. The resultant upper crustal P-wave velocity model is expected to provide important base for linkage between the mapped surface geology and deep structure or geodynamics in Northeastern Tibet.