S-WAVE RESIDUALS FROM EARTHQUAKES IN THE TIBETAN REGION AND LATERAL VARIATIONS IN THE UPPER MANTLE

Mean S-wave residuals from 46 earthquakes within and on the margins of the Tibetan Plateau exhibit systematic lateral variations that do not correlate well with elevation or with simple aspects of the geologic history. The earliest S waves come from earthquakes in western Tibet, the Karakorum, and the western Himalaya, and the latest come from earthquakes in north-central Tibet. Although S-waves from earthquakes in the Himalaya tend to be early, the east-west variation in residuals across Tibet is at least as large as the north-south difference between the Himalaya and northern Tibet. If the variations in residuals are a reflection of temperature variations in the upper mantle associated with convection, then upwelling beneath north-central Tibet seems to be flanked by downwelling in western, eastern, and probably southern Tibet. This convective flow might reflect the detachment and removal of thickened mantle lithosphere beneath Tibet. © 1990.