Crustal structures beneath the Northern Jiangsu Basin and its surrounding areas: implications for geothermal prospecting

Abstract

Abstract Based on the recordings of 42 permanent seismic stations in Northern Jiangsu Basin (NJB) and its surrounding areas, we obtained both the sediment and crustal thickness in the region, using the nearest-neighbor algorithm and H–κ stacking method of receiver functions. We proposed a solution to use the sediment thickness to correct the depth of actual Moho discontinuity beneath the basin areas. Our results indicate that the sediment thickness in the northwest of the NJB is <1 km. We suggest that the southeastern border of the NJB should extend to the Yangzhou-Rudong area. The results of Moho variations show that the undulations of the Moho beneath the western NJB retains the traces of the sinistral shearing movement of the Tan-Lu Fault since the Miocene. Finally, we suggest the area around the Gaoyou city to be a prospective area for geothermal exploration.