The continuous collision and convergence between the Indian and Eurasian plates have caused strong uplift and deformation within the Tibetan plateau and the surrounding areas. The eastern Tibetan plateau, as an important channel for the eastward and south-eastward expansion of plateau materials, is an critical area for understanding the interaction between the Tibetan plateau and the eastern tectonic blocks and for understanding the eastward escape of plateau deep materials, which is of great significance for studying the uplift and deformation mechanism of the Tibetan plateau. A large number of studies on the eastern Tibetan plateau have provided an important basis for revealing the uplift mechanism of this region. However, its complex geology makes it difficult in understanding the uplift mechanism from the single geophysical interpretation. The gravity field reflects the density properties of the subsurface material, and can be related to the wave velocity properties of the seismic data by certain translation relationships. In addition, gravity data can improve the crustal model of the area not adequately covered by seismic data, which can not only provide the three-dimensional crustal density structure of the area, but also reflect the relationship between the spatial distribution of earthquakes and the crustal structure from a gravity perspective. In this paper, based on the previous research results, we selected field survey gravity data of nine intersecting lines and used the deep seismic reflection as the constraint to invert the density interface depth distribution of each line by using human-computer interaction mode, and then used the kriging interpolation method to obtain the three-dimensional Moho depth and basement depth in the area, and then we obtained the sediment thickness by analyzing the difference between the topography and the basement depth. The inversion results show that the overall trend of Moho depth is deep in the west and shallow in the east, with the deepest depth in the west being 61km and the shallowest in the east being about 40km. There is a large difference between the two sides of the arc belt formed by the Longmenshan-Anninghe-Xiaojinhe fault, with the northwest side of the arc belt basically above 52km, among which the Moho depth is about 58km in the Bayankara block and the northern part of the Chuan-Dian rhombus block, and about 53km in the Chuan-Dian rhombus block and the southern part of the Indo-China block. The Moho depth is about 42km in the Sichuan Basin on the east side of the arc belt, which constitutes a gradient zone of Molio depth around the Tibetan plateau. There also exists a depressional zone of Moho in the Bayankara block, which may be related to the eastward flow of plateau material and the blockage of Sichuan Basin, so that part of the asthenosphere material accumulates and squeezes, thus forming a relatively thicker crust and the sinking of Moho. Part of the eastward overflowing asthenosphere material turns to the south and south-east direction, resulting in the thickness of the crust in the southwest of the Chuan-Dian rhombus block is greater than the east and west sides. At the same time, the late Paleozoic mantle column activity led to the uplift of the lithosphere and the intrusion of high-density material into the lithosphere, which also blocked the southward flow of material from part of the Tibetan plateau. From the inverted sediment thickness, the sediment on the eastern Tibetan plateau is relatively thicker in the center of several tectonic blocks, up to 7km thick, while the sediment at the edges of the blocks is relatively thinner, and even bedrock is exposed in some areas. Combined with the spatial distribution characteristics of earthquakes in this area, the Moho depth and sediment thickness distribution in the eastern Tibetan plateau are strongly correlated with the distribution of earthquakes in this area, which has important reference value for future earthquake prediction. © 2023 State Seismology Administration. All rights reserved.
