A study of the crustal structure of the Himalaya in the Kingdom of Bhutan

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) operated a temporary seismic network in the Kingdom of Bhutan between January 2002 and March 2003. This network consisted of five three-component, broadband instruments. Preliminary analysis of the data, in combination with supplemental data from regional seismic stations, indicates that many small magnitude earthquakes occur throughout Bhutan. Approximately 2,100 teleseismic, regional, and local events were recorded, ∼900 of which do not appear in the global National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) catalog. I have reviewed these 900 events and timed the P- and S-wave arrivals manually. Out of this, I found that ∼200 events were located within Bhutan. Creating a sub-catalog for these 200 local events, I further constrained their quality to include direction of first motion and a quality weighting for each phase arrival estimate. With this data, I have compared several 1-D velocity models that were used for the surrounding region in the development of a 1-D velocity model specific to Bhutan. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)