An Asthenospheric Upwelling Beneath Central Mongolia — Implications for Intraplate Surface Uplift and Volcanism

Abstract

Intraplate processes, such as continental surface uplift and intraplate volcanism, are enigmatic and the underlying mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. Central Mongolia is an ideal natural laboratory for studying such processes because of its location in the continental interior far from tectonic plate boundaries, its high-elevation plateau, and its widespread, low-volume, basaltic volcanism. The processes responsible for developing this region remain largely unexplained — due in part to a lack of high-resolution geophysical studies — and thus are open questions. A recent project undertaken to map the crust and upper mantle structure of central Mongolia has collected a large magnetotelluric array (~700 km x ~450 km).