Seismic imaging of the crust and upper mantle beneath Taiwan using full-waveform inversion of teleseismic body waves
Journal
Tectonophysics
Journal Volume
936
Start Page
231301
ISSN
0040-1951
Date Issued
2026-09
Author(s)
Abstract
The arc-continent collision and orogenic processes beneath Taiwan result from complex interactions between the Eurasian and Philippine Sea plates, yet the detailed slab morphology and associated crustal tectonic and magmatic processes remain controversial due to the resolution limits of classical travel-time tomography. Here, we present high-resolution tomographic models of density, VP[jls-end-space/], VS[jls-end-space/], and (Formula presented) for Taiwan, obtained by inverting complete teleseismic P and SH waveforms. Beyond the well-documented thickened crust beneath the Central Range, our 3D models reveal fine-scale structural heterogeneities across the crust and upper mantle beneath Taiwan. The (Formula presented) ratios further illuminate the rheological architecture of the orogen. A distinct low-velocity, high-(Formula presented) anomaly in the southern Central Range coincides with an aseismic zone, suggesting thermally and fluid-weakened ductile crust. In the shallow crust of northern Taiwan, pronounced low-VS and high-(Formula presented) anomalies delineate the geometries of magma reservoirs beneath the Tatun Volcanic Group and Turtle Island, providing the first tomographic image of a crustal magma reservoir beneath offshore Turtle Island. In the shallow crust of eastern Taiwan, we image an east-dipping high-velocity structure beneath the eastern Central Range, which is interpreted as the underthrusted forearc basement of the Luzon Arc. At upper-mantle depths north of 24°N, the models reveal a distinct slab gap at depths of 130–200 km, underlain by a detached high-velocity Eurasian slab, establishing a structural window for toroidal mantle flow around the slab edge. These new tomographic models provide improved constraints on the three-dimensional crustal and upper-mantle architecture and slab dynamics of the Taiwan orogen, highlighting the potential of teleseismic full-waveform inversion for imaging complex convergent margins in tectonically challenging, limited-aperture settings.
Subjects
Full-waveform inversion
Seismic tomography
Taiwan
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Type
journal article