Shear‐Wave Velocity Contrast Across the Indian Moho: A New Perspective

ABSTRACT The Moho represents a crucial aspect of Earth's differentiated structure and is a pervasive feature in nature. It is key to addressing numerous contentious issues related to the evolution and dynamic processes of the Earth's interior. While many studies have focused on the crust, particularly its lower portion, a consensus on the nature and seismic velocity jump across the Moho remains elusive. A newly proposed technique is employed in this study to analyse seismological data from 45 stations within the Indian shield for estimating the shear wave velocity contrast across the Indian continental Moho (δ β M ). This method primarily utilises the amplitude information of P‐to‐S converted waves, considering the effects of dipping and anisotropic layers. It is observed that δ β M exhibits spatial variation from 0.2 to 1.1 km/s across the different geological provinces of the Indian Shield. Notably, there is a correlation between bulk crustal thickness and δ β M , while it shows an anti‐correlation with surface heat flow values. Thinner crusts have lower δ β M values and higher heat flow, while thicker crusts show higher δ β M and lower heat flow values. These scaling relationships suggest that varying temperature and pressure conditions may influence the formation of the crust–mantle boundary, and the initially formed sharp boundary becomes increasingly diffused over time due to the reworking of the Indian crust.