Crustal Structure Beneath Northwest Iran Using Teleseismic Converted Waves

We compute p receiver functions (RF) to investigate the crustal thickness and Vp/Vs ratio beneath the northwest of Iran and map out the lateral variation of Moho depth under this region. We selected data from teleseismic events (Mb≥5.5, 30˚>r > 95˚) recorded since 2000 to present at 8 three component short period stations from Tabriz teleseismic network. RF method is now a well-known tool for studying crustal thickness when such a complete data set is available. As the p-to-s conversion points at the Moho is laterally close to the stations, the Moho depth estimation is less affected by lateral velocity variations and thus provides a good point measurement. First of all, we calculated RFs for each station and then the Moho depth will be estimated only from the delay time of the Moho p-to-s conversion phases. Then we used an H-Vp/Vs stacking algorithm (Zhu & Kanamori, 2000) to estimate crustal thickness and Vp/Vs ratio under each station from P-to-S converted waves in receiver functions. The best value for H and Vp/Vs ratio is found when the three phases (Ps and crustal multiples) are stacked coherently. The average Moho depth is approximately 48 km and varies from 38.5 1 to 53.5 1 km. Deeper and shallower Moho is found under the western and eastern stations beneath SHB and SRB stations respectively. The northwest Iran's crust has an average Vp/Vs ratio of 1.76, with higher ratio of 1.82 0.03 in Tabriz station and lower ratio of 1.73 0.03 in Azarshahr station.