TIPAGE Seismology (2008

TIPAGE Seismology

Cross section through the Earth's crust and mantle in the Pamir. The Pamir mountains are located in the northernmost part of the India-Eurasia collision zone. In this collision zone occur both shallow and deep earthquakes (depicted as white dots). The deep earthquakes are caused by the subduction of lower Eurasian crust. Black triangles: location of the linear seismometer array. (Fig.: GFZ)

Tienshan Pamir Geodynamics Project (TIPAGE)

Time frame: 2008 - 2012

Summary
We study deep structures and geodynamic processes in the Tien Shan and Pamir collision zones, central Asia, with passive source seismic experiments in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In 2008, a total of 40 seismic stations were deployed predominantly along a 350 km long N-S profile and partly as a sparse 2D seismic network covering an area of 300x300 km of the central Pamir plateau. In 2009, the array was rearranged into a 2D network with higher station density. The proposed scientific tasks to study the crust and upper mantle with seismic methods include (i) teleseismic P and S receiver functions, (ii) shear wave splitting, (iii) location of local earthquakes and waveform inversion for source mechanism, (iv) seismic tomography using local and teleseismic earthquakes, and (v) tomography of surface waves and ambient noise.

Contact:
Dr. Xiaohui Yuan (GFZ Potsdam)
Felix Schneider (GFZ potsdam)

Principle Investigators
Dr. Xiaohui Yuan (GFZ, Section 2.4)
Dr. James Mechie (GFZ, Section 2.2)
Dr. Bernd Schurr (GFZ, Section 3.1)
Felix Schneider (GFZ, Section 2.4)
Christian Sippl (GFZ, Section 3.1)

Collaborations
Dr. Oliver Ritter (GFZ, Section 2.2)
Prof. L. Ratschbacher (University of Freiberg)
Dr. Vladislav Minaev, Dr. Ilhomjon Oimahmadov, Dr. Mustafo Gadoev, Mr. Negmat Radjabov (Institute of Geology, Tajik Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe)
Dr. B. Moldobekov, Mr. U. Abdybachaev, Mr. S. Orunbaev (Central Asian Institute for Applied Geosciences, Bishkek)
Dr. Sobit K. Negmatullaev (PMP International, Dushanbe)

Publications

Mechie, J., X. Yuan, B. Schurr, F. Schneider, C. Sippl, L. Ratschbacher, V. Minaev, M. Gadoev, I. Oimahmadov, U. Abdybachaev, B. Moldobekov, S. Orunbaev and S. Negmatullaev, 2012, Crustal and uppermost mantle velocity structure along a profile across the Pamir and southern Tien Shan as derived from project TIPAGE wide-angle seismic data, Geophys. J. Int., 188, 385-407, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2011.05278.x.
Sippl, C., B. Schurr, X. Yuan, J. Mechie, F.M. Schneider, M. Gadoev, S. Orunbaev, I. Oimahmadov, C. Haberland, U. Abdybachaev, V. Minaev, S. Negmatullaev, N. Radjabov, 2013, Geometry of the Pamir-Hindu Kush intermediate-depth earthquake zone from local seismic data. Journal of Geophysical Research, 118, 4, 1438-1457. doi: 10.1002/jgrb.50128
Schneider, F. M., X. Yuan, B. Schurr, J. Mechie, C. Sippl, C. Haberland, V. Minaev, I. Oimahmadov, M. Gadoev, N. Radjabov, U. Abdybachaev, S. Orunbaev, S. Negmatullaev, 2013, Seismic imaging of subducting continental lower crust beneath the Pamir. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 375, 101-112. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.05.015

overview