Tienshan Pamir Geodynamics Project (TIPAGE)

We study deep structures and geodynamic processes in the Tien Shan and Pamir collision zones, central Asia, with passive source seismic experiments in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In 2008, a total of 40 seismic stations were deployed predominantly along a 350 km long N-S profile and partly as a sparse 2D seismic network covering an area of 300x300 km of the central Pamir plateau. In 2009, the array was rearranged into a 2D network with higher station density. The proposed scientific tasks to study the crust and upper mantle with seismic methods include (i) teleseismic P and S receiver functions, (ii) shear wave splitting, (iii) location of local earthquakes and waveform inversion for source mechanism, (iv) seismic tomography using local and teleseismic earthquakes, and (v) tomography of surface waves and ambient noise.