Seismic Evidence for Slab Tearing Beneath the Indo‐Myanmar Subduction Zone

Abstract Slab tearing has been increasingly recognized as a key geodynamic process influencing the evolution of the eastern Himalayan syntaxis. However, whether, where and how the subducted Indian slab beneath the Indo‐Myanmar subduction zone has been torn remains poorly constrained. Applying seismic tomography to new wide‐aperture data in and around Myanmar, we image the detailed architecture of the Indian slab. Our results especially show two high‐velocity anomalies with opposing dips in the upper mantle: an east‐dipping anomaly representing the subducting Indian slab and a west‐dipping body preferentially interpreted as a detached slab fragment. The intersection angle between the two anomalies decreases southward, and their along‐dip lengths vary inversely, indicating southward‐shallowing slab tearing likely induced by the oblique subduction setting. Tearing‐induced mantle upwelling may be impeded by the subducting Indian slab at shallow depths and the limited gap between slab segments, likely explaining the sporadic volcanism in Myanmar since the Mid‐Miocene.