A study on 660 km discontinuity beneath northeast China

It is highly debated on whether the subduction Pacific slab becomes stagnant in the transition zone and extends horizontally or it penetrates into the lower mantle when the leading of the Pacific slab reaches to a depth of 660 km beneath northeast China. Taking advantage of the sensitivity of P--SV conversions to the velocity discontinuities， we employ receiver function method to constrain the topography variation of the 660 km discontinuity beneath northeast China using common conversion point (CCP) stacking. The teleseismic data recorded by 136 permanent stations operated by CDSN in northeast China are used in this study. Our results show that the 660 km discontinuity deepening more than 20 km was observed in the region to the south of 44°N with length about 400 km in the east-west direction. The local depression of the 660 km discontinuity supports that the Pacific subduction slab has reached northeast China and it may penetrates into the lower mantle locally.