CRUST-MANTLE BOUNDARIES IN THE TAIWAN – LUZON ARC-CONTINENT COLLISION SYSTEM DETERMINED FROM LOCAL EARTHQUAKE TOMOGRAPHY AND LAYERED VP MODELS

We performed 3D mapping of crust-mantle boundaries in the Taiwan-Luzon arc-continent collision zone using a local earthquake tomographic (LET) model. These crust-mantle discontinuities included three tectonically distinct Mohos. Furthermore, a crust-mantle boundary marks the eastern limit of the Eurasian lower crust against the mantle of the Philippine Sea plate. It dips steeply to the east underneath eastern and southern Taiwan and steepens progressively towards north until it becomes vertical at 23.7°N. From there it continues northward in a slightly overturned orientation, where the limit of the tomographic model at the northern tip of the island prevents further mapping. In order to map several Moho discontinuities, we contoured a surface of constant Vp = 7.5 km s^-1 constrained from LET and confined to regions with a minimum of 500 rays per tomography cell. Additional constraints for the Moho were derived from layered (1D) Vp models using P-wave arrivals of local earthquakes recorded at 52 seismic stations, employing a genetic algorithm. The Moho of the Eurasian and the Philippine Sea plates are topologically disconnected across the plate boundary. Beneath southern Taiwan, the Eurasian Moho dips to the E at 50–60°, following the orientation of the plate boundary and continuous with the Benioff zone. Towards north, the Eurasian Moho twists to become subvertical, again together with the plate boundary. At the same time, it steps westward into a more external position underneath the thrust belt, giving way to the north-dipping Philippine Sea plate. The Philippine Sea plate Moho shallows towards the surface along the Longitudinal Valley suture. It forms a synform-like crustal root with an axis parallel to the trend of geological units at surface and it is interpreted as the base of the magmatic Luzon arc. Towards the north, the crustal root deepens from 30 km to about 70 km underneath the Ryukyu trench. In northeasternmost Taiwan, a subhorizontal Moho lies at about 30–35 km depth and is topologically disconnected from the main eastward subducting Eurasian Moho. It lies above the north-dipping Philippine Sea slab and is interpreted to be a newly formed Moho established by delamination of the Eurasian mantle lithosphere and lowermost crust.