Effective elastic thicknesses of the lithosphere in the Central Iberian Peninsula from heat flow: Implications for the rheology of the continental lithospheric mantle

The traditional view of the rheology of the continental lithosphere, sometimes known as the “jelly sandwich model”, consists of a strong upper crust, a weak lower crust, and a strong upper lithospheric mantle. Some authors argue, however, that the lithospheric mantle is weak and contributes little to the total strength and the effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere; this weakness is claimed to be due to the mantle being wet or subjected to temperatures higher than usually believed. This paper uses the relationship between rheology of the lithosphere and heat flow to calculate theoretical effective elastic thicknesses for three regions of the central Iberian Peninsula (the Duero Basin, the Spanish Central System and the Tajo Basin), taking into account the contribution of the crust and the lithospheric mantle, for dry and wet rheologies. We found that a wet peridotite rheology for the lithospheric mantle is generally consistent with independent (based on Bouguer coherence or flexural modeling) estimates of the effective elastic thickness for the study area, whereas a dry peridotite rheology cannot be reconciled with them. Moreover, the contribution of the mantle to the bending moment of the lithosphere, and therefore to both the effective elastic thickness and the total strength of the lithosphere, is important, and it may even be the dominant contribution. Therefore, the jelly sandwich model may be considered valid for the central Iberian Peninsula.     

震后GPS观测数据揭示的日本M_W9.0地震周边地区地幔黏滞性结构垂向变化

本文利用大范围的震后GPS数据和黏弹性球形地球位错理论,定量研究了日本M_W9.0地震周边地区地幔黏滞性结构的垂向变化.首先结合陆地和海底的GPS观测数据,以及基于球形地球位错理论格林函数和贝叶斯反演方法,反演了该地震的同震滑动分布,发现其最大错动量高达59m.然后在均一地幔黏滞性结构的假设前提下,确定了震源周边地区地幔黏滞因子的最优解,发现依据该地幔黏滞因子获得的理论远场震后位移和GPS观测结果之间的均方根误差高达0.81cm,不能解释远场观测结果.为解决上述问题,本文对震中周边地区地幔黏滞性结构沿垂向方向进行分层,建立了一个随深度变化的地幔黏滞性构造模型,然后综合利用远近场的GPS数据对该地区地幔黏滞因子进行反演研究,结果表明,震源周边地区岩石圈弹性层厚度最优解为40km,40～220km深度的地幔黏滞因子最优解为6×10~(18)Pa·s,220～670km深度之间的地幔黏滞因子最优解为1.5×10~(19)Pa·s.上述地幔黏滞性构造使远场的均方根误差降为0.12cm,仅为利用均一地幔黏滞性构造所得均方根误差值的15%,大大提高了远场模拟结果的准确性.最后,观测值和模拟值之间的均方根误差分析表明,近场震后形变数据主要约束浅层的地幔黏滞性结构,而远场震后形变数据主要约束深部的地幔黏滞性结构.