Tomographic image of the crust and upper mantle beneath the western Tien Shan from the MANAS broadband deployment: Possible evidence for lithospheric delamination

We combine teleseismic P arrival times from the recent MANAS deployment of broadband sensors with P and S arrival times from local events recorded by the GENGHIS deployment and analog observations from the Kyrgyz Institute of Seismology to generate a high resolution (similar to 20 km) image of elastic wavespeeds in the crust and upper mantle beneath the western Tien Shan. The total data set consists of 29,006 P and 21,491 S arrivals from 2176 local events recorded at 144 stations along with 5202 P arrivals from 263 teleseismic events recorded at 40 stations. The most significant feature in our image of the mantle beneath the Tien Shan is a pair of large, elongated high wavespeed regions dipping in opposite directions from the near surface to depths of at least 400 km. These regions appear to be continuous and extend upwards to bounding range fronts where the Tarim Basin is being overthrust by the Kokshal range on the south side, and the Kazach shield underthrusts; the Kyrgyz range on the north side. While it is tempting to interpret these high wavespeed anomalies as evidence for contemporary subduction of continental lithosphere, such a scenario is difficult to reconcile with both the timing of the orogen and the size of the wavespeed anomaly. We suggest instead that they represent downwelling side-limbs of a lithospheric delamination beneath the central part of the Tien Shan, possibly by siphoning of the bordering continental lithosphere as the central part descends. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.