Crust and Upper Mantle Electrical Resistivity Structure in the Panxi Region of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau and Its Significance

AbstractThe Panxi region is located in the frontal zone of positive squeezing subduction and side squeezing shearing between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate. The long‐period magnetotelluric (LMT) and broadband magnetotelluric (MT) techniques are both used to study the deep electrical conductivity structure in this region; magnetic and gravity surveys are also performed along the profile. According to the 2‐D resistivity model along the Yanyuan‐Yongshan profile, a high‐conductivity layer (HCL) exists widely in the crust, and a high‐resistivity block (HRB) exists widely in the upper mantle in general, as seen by the fact that a large HCL exists from the western Jinpingshan tectonic zone to the eastern Mabian tectonic zone in the crust, while the HRB found in the Panxi tectonic zone is of abnormally high resistivity in that background compared to both sides of Panxi tectonic zone. In addition, the gravity and magnetic field anomalies are of high value. Combined with geological data, the results indicate that there probably exists basic or ultrabasic rock with a large thickness in the lithosphere in the Panxi axial region, which indicates that fracture activity once occurred in the lithosphere. As a result, we can infer that the high‐resistivity zone in the Panxi lithosphere is the eruption channel for Permian Emeishan basalt and the accumulation channel for basic and ultrabasic rock. The seismic sources along the profile are counted according to seismic record data. The results indicate that the most violent earthquake sources are located at the binding site of the HRB and the HCL, where the tectonic activity zone is generally acknowledged to be; however, the earthquakes occurring in the HCL are not so violent, which reflects the fact that the HCL is a plastic layer, and the fracture threshold of a plastic layer is low generally, making high stress difficult to accumulate but easy to release in the layer. As a result, a higher number of smaller earthquakes occurred in the HCL at Daliangshan tectonic zone, and violent earthquakes occurred at the binding site of high‐ and low‐resistivity blocks at the Panxi tectonic zone.