Mapping the thickness of crust and lithosphere of South America

• Applicant: Dr. Xiaohui Yuan
• Subject Area: Geophysics
• Term: from 2005 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 13287169

• Final Report Year: 2009

Final Report Abstract

South America is an assembly of all classified types of the plate tectonic units. The most prominent morphological feature is the enlongate Andean orogenic belt. The thickness of the lithospheric plates provides one of the most important keys to understand the tectonics of the South American continent. Within this project we have merged all available seismological data in South America into an S receiver function study to detarmine the thickness of the crust and mantle lithosphere beneath South America. Our results have complimented the existed models of the South American lithosphere.

Publications

• 2006, The S receiver functions: synthetics and data example, Geophysical Journal International, 165, 555-564
  Yuan, X., R. Kind, X. Li and R. Wang
  
• 2007, An S- Receiver Function Analysis of the Lithospheric Structure in South America, Geophyical. Research Letters, 34, L14307
  Heit, B., F. Sodoudi, X. Yuan , M. Bianchi and R. Kind
  
• 2008, Crustal thickness estimation beneath the southern central Andes at 30°S and 36°S from S- receiver function analysis, Geophysical Journal International, 174, 249-254
  Heit, B, X. Yuan, M. Bianchi, F. Sodoudi and R. Kind