Crustal velocity structure in northwest edge of the Central Iran zone

Summary In this study, crustal velocity structure beneath two broadband seismic stations of Iran National Seismic Network (INSN), Ashtian-Arak (ASAO) and Naein (NASN) located in northwest of the Central Iran seimotectonic zone near the Ashtian and Nain cities have been investigated by joint inversion of P receiver function and of Rayleigh wave phase and group velocity dispersion curves. To determine the receiver functions, we have used iterative deconvolution in time domain proposed by Ligorria and Ammon (1999). which is more stable with noisy data in comparison to frequency domain. The fundamental mode Rayleigh wave group and phase velocities dispersion curves have been provided by the study of Rahimi et al. (2014) on the structure of crust and upper mantle of the Iranian Plateau for the period interval of 10-100 sec. The result of this study suggests that Moho discontinuity depth beneath Ashtian-Arak station (ASAO is 50 ± 2 km and beneath Naein station (NASN), it is 56 ± 2 km. Relative high crustal thickness beneath NASN station in comparison to other regions of central Iran can be attributed to abut the region to the Sanandaj–Sirjan zone (SSZ) and Urumieh– Dokhtar magmatic assemblage (UDMA). It can also attributed to the existence of thick Magma masses in Urumieh– Dokhtar magmatic assemblage and increase of the density and relative thickness of the area based on the isostasy theory. The average Moho depth in northwest edge of Central Iran is 53 ±2 km.
Introduction Iran is situated in one of the world seismic regions and the possibility of occurring destructive earthquakes in most regions of the country has given a great significance to recognition of Iranian seismic nature from a seismotectonic standpoint. The seismicity within Iran suggests that much of the deformation is concentrated in the Zagros, Alborz and Kopeh Dagh mountains, and also, in east Iran, surrounding Central Iran and the Lut desert, which are virtually aseismic and behave as relatively rigid . The aim of this research is the study of the crustal structure and Moho discontinuity of the northwest of the Central Iran from analysis of receiver function and surface waves dispersion.
Methodology and Approaches Receiver functions are the response of the local earth structure to the near-vertical arrival of p waves under a threecomponent seismogram and are susceptible to shear wave velocity contrasts. The depth-velocity trade-off in receiver function causes non-uniqueness in the inverse problem. However, by incorporating information of absolute shear wave from dispersion estimates and joint inversion of these two datasets, this shortcoming can be compromised. In this study, crustal velocity structure beneath two broadband seismic stations of INSN, i.e. ASAO and NASN located in northwest of the Central Iran seimotectonic zone near the Ashtian and Nain cities have been investigated by joint inversion of P receiver function and of Rayleigh wave phase and group velocity dispersion curves. To determine the receiver functions, we use iterative deconvolution in time domain proposed by Ligorria and Ammon (1999) which is more stable with noisy data in comparison with frequency domain and teleseismic events with source-receiver great circle paths larger than 30° and smaller than 90° with magnitudes more than 5.0 that are recorded at time period of 2009 to 2013. The 210 desired RFs have been recorded at two permanent stations. To remove high frequencies, Gaussian parameter 1.0 has been used. In order to eliminate the source, path and instrument effects, deconvolution of the vertical component from the horizontal components of the seismograms is used. For increasing signal to noise ratio, RFs have been clustered in 20˚ azimuthal and less than 15˚ epicentral distance ranges. Finally, the RFs are stacked. The fundamental mode Rayleigh wave group and phase velocities dispersion curves have been provided by the study of Rahimi et al. (2014) on the structure of crust and upper mantle of the Iranian Plateau for the period interval of 10-100 sec. In this way, more accurate information about the crustal structure can be obtained. Joint inversion of two independent data sets has been performed by considering combination of appropriate weighting parameter from Herrmann and Ammon program (2003). Minimizing standard error between real and predicted data is the criteria for getting to desired final and close to earth real model.
Results and Conclusions The result of this study suggests that Moho discontinuity depth beneath ASAO is 50 ± 2 km and beneath NASN is 56 ± 2 km. Relative high crustal thickness beneath NASN station in comparison to other regions of central Iran can be attributed to abut the region to the Sanandaj–Sirjan zone (SSZ) and Urumieh–Dokhtar magmatic assemblage (UDMA). It can also attributed to existence of thick Magma masses in Urumieh–Dokhtar magmatic assemblage and increase the density and relative thickness of the area based on the isostasy theory. The average Moho depth in northwest edge of Central Iran is 53 ± 2 km.