Extension and Strike-Slips in the Crust of the Yellow Sea (Probabilistic Gravity Model)

Distributions of the density contrast and velocity of seismic waves into the crust and upper mantle in the Yellow Sea region are considered. The rheological section of the tectonosphere of the Yellow Sea consists of two rigid (crystal crust and lower layer of the lithosphere) and two viscous (subcrustal and asthenospheric) layers. The crust of the Yellow Sea is shattered and decreased in density. Processes of stretching and shifting are depicted as crustal shift duplexes as a result of which the Liaodong and Korean peninsulas were torn off from the continent and moved, respectively, in the northeast and east directions. In the central region of the Yellow Sea, manifestations of a central type mantle structure, screened by the lower layer of a lithosphere, have been revealed. This structure was disturbed by the neotectonic rifting processes.