Mapping the thickness of crust and lithosphere of South America

Time frame: 2006 - 2008

Summary
South America is an assembly of all classified types of the plate tectonic units. The most prominent morphological feature is the elongated Andean orogenic belt. The thickness of the lithospheric plates provides one of the most important keys to understand the tectonics of the South American continent. Within this project we have merged all available seismological data in South America into an S receiver function study to determine the thickness of the crust and mantle lithosphere beneath South America. Our results have complemented the existing models of the South American lithosphere.

Contact
Dr. Xiaohui Yuan (GFZ Potsdam)
Dr. Benjamin Heit (GFZ Potsdam)

Principle Investigators
Dr. Xiaohui Yuan (GFZ, Section 2.4)
Rainer Kind (GFZ, Section 2.4)
Benjamin Heit (GFZ, Section 2.4)

Collaborations
Prof. Marcelo Assumpção (University of São Paulo)

Publications

• Heit, B., F. Sodoudi , X. Yuan , M. Bianchi and R. Kind, 2007, An S- Receiver Function Analysis of the Lithospheric Structure in South America, Geophyical. Resarch Letters, 34, L14307, doi:10.1029/2007GL030317.

• Heit, B, X. Yuan, M. Bianchi, F. Sodoudi and R. Kind, 2008, Crustal thickness estimation beneath the southern central Andes at 30°S and 36°S from S- receiver function analysis, Geophysical Journal International, 174, 249-254.