[1] Behind the sedimentary Ryukyu arc lies the Okinawa Trough, whose termination is located at the tip of the Ilan plain ( northern Taiwan), just above the Ryukyu slab edge. The present-day active volcanic front is located 80 - 100 km above the Ryukyu slab and extends from Japan to Kueishantao Island, an islet situated 10 km offshore the Ilan plain. Between December 1990 and May 1999, 3370 earthquakes recorded in northern Taiwan by 65 seismic land stations were used to determine the three-dimensional V-p and V-s velocity structures and V-p/V-s ratios. A low V-s but high V-p/V-s sausage-like body, similar to 30 km in diameter, lies within the Eurasian mantle wedge, on top of the western Ryukyu slab extremity, at depths ranging between 20 and 100 km. We... |