Velocity structure of uppermost mantle beneath North China from Pn tomography and its implications

20301 Pn arrival time data are collected from the seismological bulletins of both national and regional seismic networks. Pn travel time residuals are tomographically inverted for the Pn velocity structure of uppermost mantle beneath North China. The result indicates that the average Pn velocity in North China is 7.92 km/s, and the velocity varies laterally from −0.21 to +0.29 km/s around the average. The approximately NNE trending high and low velocity regions arrange alternatively west-eastward. From west to east we can see high velocity in the middle Ordos region, the Shanxi graben low, the Jizhong depression high, the west Shandong uplift and Bohai Sea low, and the high velocity region to the east of the Tanlu fault. In the southern boundary zone of the North China block, except for the high velocity in the Qingling Mountains region, the velocity is generally lower than the average. Obvious velocity anisotropy is seen in the Datong Cenozoic volcanic region, with the fast velocity direction in NNE-SSW. Notable velocity anisotropy is also seen around the Bay of Bohai Sea, and the fast velocity directions seem to show a rotation pattern, possibly indicating a flow-like deformation in the uppermost mantle there. The Pn velocity variations show a reversed correlation with the Earth”s heat flow. The low Pn velocity regions generally show high heat flow, e.g., the Shanxi graben and Bohai Sea region. While the high Pn velocity regions usually manifest low heat flow, e.g., the region of Jizhong depression. This indicates that the Pn velocity variation in the study region is mainly aroused by the regional temperature difference in the uppermost mantle. Strong earthquakes in the crust tend to occur in the region with the abnormal low Pn velocity, or in the transition zone between high and low Pn velocity regions. The earthquakes in the low velocity region are shallower, while that in the transition zone are deeper.