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Rayleigh wave group velocity tomography of Gujarat region, Western India and its implications to mantle dynamics

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Abstract

In the present study, fundamental Rayleigh waves with varying period from 10 to 80 s are used to obtain group velocity maps in the northwest Deccan Volcanic Province of India. About 350 paths are obtained using 53 earthquakes (4.8 ≤ M ≥ 7.9) recorded by the SeisNetG (Seismic Network of Gujarat). Individual dispersion curves of group velocity of Rayleigh wave for each source-station path are estimated using multiple filter technique. These curves are used to determine lateral distribution of Rayleigh wave group velocity by tomographic inversion method. Our estimated Rayleigh group velocity at varying depths showed conspicuous corroboration with three tectonic blocks [Kachchh Rift Basin (KRB), Saurashtra Horst (SH), and Mainland Gujarat (MG)] in the region. The seismically active KRB with a thicker crust is characterized as a low velocity zone at a period varying from 10 to 30 s as indicative of mantle downwarping or sagging of the mantle beneath the KRB, while the SH and MG are found to be associated with higher group velocities, indicating the existence of the reduced crustal thickness. The trend of higher group velocity was found prevailed adjacent to the Narmada and Cambay rift basins that also correspond to the reduced crust, suggesting the processes of mantle upwarping or uplifting due to mantle upwelling. The low velocities at periods longer than 40 s beneath the KRB indicate thicker lithosphere. The known Moho depth correlates well with the observed velocities at a period of about 30 s in the Gujarat region. Our estimates of relatively lower group velocities at periods varying from 70 to 80 s may correspond to the asthenospheric flow beneath the region. It is interesting to image higher group velocity for the thinner crust beneath the Arabian Sea adjacent to the west coast of Gujarat at the period of 40 s that may correspond to the upwarped or upwelled mantle beneath the Arabian Sea. Our results have better resolution estimated by a radius of equivalent circular averaging area for each period.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank Dr. M. Ravi Kumar, the Director General, ISR, for all supports and encouragement for carrying this research and for the permission to publish the work. We also thank Dr. Y. J. Gu, Associate Editor, and two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments which improved the manuscript significantly. APS is thankful to Dr. Cédric P. Legendre, IES, Academia Sinica, Taipei, for his many useful suggestions. The authors are grateful to Dr. T. B. Yanovskaya of the Institute of Physics, Leningrad, Russia, for the computer program of the surface wave tomographic inversion. This study is fully supported by the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, under a Fast Track Research Project program vide Reference No. SR/FTP/ES-69/2013, dated 22.04.2014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Seismological Research (ISR), Gandhinagar, Gujarat, 382009, India

    Mayank Dixit & A. P. Singh

  2. National Centre for Seismology (NCS), ESSO - Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Lodi Road, New Delhi, 110003, India

    O. P. Mishra

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  1. Mayank Dixit
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Correspondence to A. P. Singh.

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Dixit, M., Singh, A.P. & Mishra, O.P. Rayleigh wave group velocity tomography of Gujarat region, Western India and its implications to mantle dynamics. J Seismol 21, 809–823 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-016-9636-y

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