Crustal wide-angle reflection imaging along Lianxian-Gangkou profile in Guangdong province, China

A 400 km-long wide-angle seismic experiment along Lianxian-Gangkou profile in South China was carried out to study contact relationship between southeast continental margin of Yangtze block and northwest continental margin of Cathaysia block. We reconstructed crustal wide-angle reflection structure by the depth-domain pre-stack migration and the crustal velocity model constructed from the traveltime fitting. The wide-angle reflection section shows different reflection (from crystalline basement and Moho) pattern beneath the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks, and suggests the Wuchuan-Sihui fault is the boundary between them. A cluster of well-developed reflections on Moho and in its underlying topmost mantle probably comes from alternative thin layers, which may be seismic signature of strong interaction between crust and mantle in the tectonic environment of lithosphere extension.