The Continental Lithosphere

Seismology Group
IIT Kharagpur
 Complex Continents

• Age: 4200 Ma old.

• Oldest material at their center flanked by younger
materials: representing many events of mountain building,
collision, rifting and plate convergence and subsidence.
• Direct Observations limited to exposures at or near
the surface.
• Depth information demands conjecture which
cannot be tested directly.
 Matters of Current Debate

• Composition of the Lower Crust

• Nature of the Moho and upper mantle
• Strength of the Lithosphere
• Mountain Building, support and destruction
Geophysical Characteristics of Continents
• Average Thickness: 38 km. (range 30-45 km)

Difficult to define a ‘standard’ continental crustal structure

- Generally thicker beneath younger mountain belts

- Moderately thick beneath ancient Shields
- Thin beneath young basins and rifts
 Geophysical Characteristics of Continents
• Average Seismic Wave velocities (from long seismic
refraction lines, deep reflection lines and receiver
function):
- Pg in crystalline, continental basement: 5.9 – 6.2 km/s
- P-wave in the upper crust (top 10 km): 6.0 – 6.3 km/s
- middle to lower crust: > 6.5 km/s
- Some regions: lower crustal layer of Vp > 7.0 km/s
• Conrad Discontinuity (between upper and lower crust) is not
a universal feature.
• Low velocity zones at various locations at all depths.
 Cross-section across an idealised continent showing the
average Vp of the crust in various tectonic regions

The variability in seismic velocity reflects the bulk composition,

its thermal state and metamorphic history
Laboratory measurement of P-wave velocity in various rock types

Felsic Æ Mafic ÆUltramafic

Ranges of laboratory measurement of P-wave velocity in various rock types

 The composition of the continental crust
The continental crust: Formed from the mantle material over the
lifespan of the Earth by a series of melting, crystallization,
metamorphic, erosional, depositional, subduction and endless
reworking events.
Compound Continental (%) Oceanic (%)
Si02 57.3 49.5
Ti02 0.9 1.5
Al203 15.9 16.0
FeO 9.1 10.5
MgO 5.3 7.7
CaO 7.4 11.3
Na2O 3.1 2.8
K2O 1.1 0.15

Estimated composition of the bulk continental and oceanic crust

 Age of the continental crust

Only 30% of the current basement rocks younger than 450 Ma; 70% older
Oldest material concentrated in the center: Cratons
Flanked by the accreted terranes – continental, oceanic, island-arc origin
Growth of Continents
a. Volcanism at subduction zones
The descending slab - dehydration of the crust
The decending slab - heating
The overriding mantle wedge
The base of the continental crust
Growth of Continents
b. Sediments at
subduction zones
Stages of development of subduction zone with thick sediments
on oceanic plate
Growth of Continents
c. Continent-continent collision

The Himalayas
The Himalayas and Tibet
 Major tectonic blocks and their sutures

ITSZ
TIBET INDIA
One attempt to explain the overall evolution of the region
 Balanced restored north-south section across Nepal at ~88°E
•Probable (?) sequence of thrusting events that gave rise to the Himalayas as
observed today
• Shortening of the crust since 16-25Ma occurred in 2 stages as location of active
thrust moved progressively to the south:

Total amount of shortening ~200-250 km, with 40-70 km during stage 2 and 3
Crustal shear-wave velocity images across Southern Tibet

North
Section across Southern Tibet along Yadong-Gulu rift at 89-91°E
Deformation of the Indian plate south of the Himalayas
Earthquakes in the continental lithosphere (seismogenic thickness)
 Strength of the continental lithosphere

"jelly sandwich" or "crème-brûlé"?

• The strength of the continental lithosphere and how it responds to long-term

geological loads is a topic of much current interest in the Earth Sciences.
• Flexure studies suggest a rheological model, dubbed the "jelly sandwich"
model, in which the strength of the lithosphere is attributed to both the upper
crust and mantle.
• Studies of the thickness of the seismogenic zone, however, suggest a model,
dubbed the "crème-brûlé" model, in which the strength resides in the crust, but
that the mantle has no strength.
This lecture will review the evidence in support of each model and will attempt
to reconcile between these fundamentally different views of the mechanical
behaviour of the lithosphere.
 Strength envelopes
Oceanic Continental
Strength Strength
0 water
crust
Moho
0
Crust
Depth (km)

Moho

50 Mantle
50
Mantle

100 100
Brittle-Ductile Properties of the Lithosphere

We all know that rocks near the surface of the Earth

The Jelly-Sandwich
behave in a brittle manner. Crustal rocks are
composed of minerals like quartz and feldspar
which have high strength, particularly at low
pressure and temperature. As we go deeper in the
Earth the strength of these rocks initially increases.
At a depth of about 15 km we reach a point called
the brittle-ductile transition zone. Below this point
rock strength decreases because fractures become
closed and the temperature is higher, making the
rocks behave in a ductile manner. At the base of the
crust the rock type changes to peridotite which is
rich in olivine. Olivine is stronger than the
minerals that make up most crustal rocks, so the
upper part of the mantle is again strong. But, just as
in the crust, increasing temperature eventually
predominates and at a depth of about 40 km the
brittle-ductile transition zone in the mantle occurs.
Below this point rocks behave in an increasingly
ductile manner.
 Earthquake Focal Depths and Seismogenic Strength

Figure 1. Histograms of earthquake focal depths determined by modeling of long-period teleseismic P (primary) and SH (secondary
horizontal) seismograms (solid bars). White bar in North India (G) is depth determined from short period depth phases in Shillong Plateau
by Chen and Molnar (1990). White bars in Tibet (C) are subcrustal earthquakes, but not necessarily in mantle of continental origin.
Approximate Moho depths are indicated by dashed lines. Focal depth and Moho data are from various sources, including Nelson et al.
(1987), Molnar and Lyon-Caen (1989), Foster and Jackson (1998), Mangino et al. (1999), and Maggi et al. (2000). Focal depths based on
arrival times recorded at local seismic networks have also found seismicity throughout crust in several parts of North America (e.g., Wong
and Chapman, 1990).