Outlining tectonic inheritance and construction of the Min Shan region, eastern Tibet, using crustal geometry

The ongoing collision between India and Eurasia has created the Tibetan Plateau, which features high elevations and large crustal thicknesses. The easternmost portion of the plateau has long been a key region for studying the uplift mechanism of the Tibetan Plateau, especially after the 2008 Ms. 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake. However, previous studies have assumed that easternmost Tibet is tectonically homogeneous, and the tectonic significance of the Min Shan has been overshadowed by that of its more conspicuous neighbour, the Longmen Shan region. Here, we describe the crustal geometry of the Min Shan region using two newly obtained deep seismic reflection profiles. In this study, we identify an upper-lower crust mechanical decoupling within the Min Shan region; the Min Shan region is tectonically delineated by an inherited boundary fault zone, the Huya fault zone, which was responsible for triggering the 2017 Jiuzhaigou M 7.0 earthquake. Together with the gravity dataset and previous studies in this area, the outlined crustal geometry indicated that crustal-scale shortening at the eastern plateau margin is a primary mechanism driving uplift, although extensive uplift might have occurred due to the decoupled shortening between the upper and lower crust.