Three-dimensional seismic structure of the upper mantle beneath the central part of the Eurasian continent

This work is a study of the upper-mantle seismic structure beneath the central part of the Eurasian continent, including the northern Mongolia, Altai and Sayan orogenic areas and the Baikal rift zone. Seismic velocity models are reconstructed using the inverse teleseismic scheme. This scheme uses information from earthquakes located within the study area recorded by the Worldwide Network. The seismic anomaly structure is obtained for different volumes in the study area that partially overlap one another. Special attention has been paid to the reliability of the results: several noise and resolution comparisons are made.
The main results are as follows. (1) A cell structure of anomalies is observed beneath the Altai–Sayan region: positive, cold anomalies correspond to regions of recent orogenesis, negative anomalies are located beneath the depression of the Great Lakes in Mongolia and Hubsugul Lake. (2) A large negative anomaly is observed beneath the Hangai dome in Mongolia. (3) Strong velocity variations are obtained in a zone around Baikal Lake. A large negative anomaly is traced beneath the southern margin of the Siberian craton down to a depth of 700 km. Contrasting positive anomalies (4–5 per cent) are observed at a depth of 100–300 km beneath the Baikal rift. Our geodynamical interpretation of the velocity structure obtained beneath central Asia involves the existence of two processes in the mantle: thermal convection with regular cells, and a narrow plume beneath the southern border of the Siberian plate.     

The shear-wave velocity structure in the upper mantle beneath Eurasia

We develop an approach that allows us to invert for the mantle velocity structure within a finely parametrized region as a perturbation with respect to a low-resolution, global tomographic model. We implement this technique to investigate the upper-mantle structure beneath Eurasia and present a new model of shear wave velocity, parametrized laterally using spherical splines with ∼2.9° spacing in Eurasia and ∼11.5° spacing elsewhere. The model is obtained from a combined data set of surface wave phase velocities, long-period waveforms and body-wave traveltimes. We identify many features as narrow as few hundred kilometres in diameter, such as subducting slabs in eastern Eurasia and slow-velocity anomalies beneath tectonically active regions. In contrast to regional studies in which these features have been identified, our model encompasses the structure of the entire Eurasian continent. Furthermore, including mantle- and body-wave waveforms helped us constrain structures at depths larger than 250 km, which are poorly resolved in earlier models. We find that up to +9 per cent faster-than-average anomalies within the uppermost ∼200 km of the mantle beneath cratons and some orogenic regions are separated by a sharp gradient zone from deeper, +1 to +2 per cent anomalies. We speculate that this gradient zone may represent a boundary separating the lithosphere from the continental root, which might be compositionally distinct from the overlying lithosphere and remain stable either due to its compositional buoyancy or due to higher viscosity compared with the suboceanic mantle. Our regional model of anisotropy is not significantly different from the global one.     

A three-dimensional radially anisotropic model of shear velocity in the whole mantle

We present a 3-D radially anisotropic S velocity model of the whole mantle (SAW642AN), obtained using a large three component surface and body waveform data set and an iterative inversion for structure and source parameters based on Non-linear Asymptotic Coupling Theory (NACT). The model is parametrized in level 4 spherical splines, which have a spacing of ∼ 8°. The model shows a link between mantle flow and anisotropy in a variety of depth ranges. In the uppermost mantle, we confirm observations of regions with   V_SH > V_SV   starting at ∼80 km under oceanic regions and ∼200 km under stable continental lithosphere, suggesting horizontal flow beneath the lithosphere. We also observe a   V_SV > V_SH   signature at ∼150–300 km depth beneath major ridge systems with amplitude correlated with spreading rate for fast-spreading segments. In the transition zone (400–700 km depth), regions of subducted slab material are associated with   V_SV > V_SH   , while the ridge signal decreases. While the mid-mantle has lower amplitude anisotropy (<1 per cent), we also confirm the observation of radially symmetric   V_SH > V_SV   in the lowermost 300 km, which appears to be a robust conclusion, despite an error in our previous paper which has been corrected here. The 3-D deviations from this signature are associated with the large-scale low-velocity superplumes under the central Pacific and Africa, suggesting that   V_SH > V_SV   is generated in the predominant horizontal flow of a mechanical boundary layer, with a change in signature related to transition to upwelling at the superplumes.     

Three-dimensional image of the anisotropic bodies beneath central Honshu, Japan

Shear-wave splitting from local deep earthquakes is investigated to clarify the volume and the location of two anisotropic bodies in the mantle wedge beneath central Honshu, Japan. We observe a spatial variation in splitting parameters depending on the combination of sources and receivers, nearly N–S fast in the northern region, nearly E–W fast in the southern region and small time delays in the eastern region. Using forward modelling, two models with 30 and 10 per cent anisotropy are tested by means of a global search for the locations of anisotropic bodies with various volumes. The optimum model is obtained for 30 per cent anisotropy, which means a 5 per cent velocity difference between fast and slow polarized waves. The northern anisotropic body has a volume of 1.00° (longitude) × 0.5° (latitude) × 75 km (depth), with the orientation of the symmetry axis being N20°E. The southern anisotropic body has a volume of 1.25° × 1.25° × 100 km with the symmetry axis along N95°E. Our results show that the anisotropic bodies are located in low-velocity and low- Q regions of the mantle. This, together with petrological data and the location of volcanoes in the arc, suggests that the possible cause of the anisotropy is the preferred alignment of cracks filled with melt.     

Three-dimensional seismic structure beneath the Australasian region from refracted wave observations

The earthquakes in the seismicity belt extending through Indonesia, New Guinea, Vanuatu and Fiji to the Tonga–Kermadec subduction zone recorded at the 65 portable broad-band stations deployed during the Skippy experiment from 1993–1996 provide good coverage of the lithosphere and mantle under the Australian continent, Coral Sea and Tasman Sea.
The variation in structure in the upper part of the mantle is characterized by deter-mining a suite of 1-D structures from stacked record sections utilizing clear P and S arrivals, prepared for all propagation paths lying within a 10° azimuth band. The azimuth of these bands is rotated by 20° steps with four parallel corridors for each azimuth. This gives 26 separate azimuthal corridors for which 15 independent 1-D seismic velocity structures have been derived, which show significant variation in P and S structure.
The set of 1-D structures is combined to produce a 3-D representation by projecting the velocity values along the ray path using a turning point approximation and stacking into 3-D cells (5° by 50 km in depth). Even though this procedure will tend to underestimate wave-speed perturbations, S -velocity deviations from the ak135 reference model exceed 6 per cent in the lithosphere.
In the uppermost mantle the results display complex features and very high S -wave speeds beneath the Precambrian shields with a significant low-velocity zone beneath. High velocities are also found towards the base of the transition zone, with high S -wave speeds beneath the continent and high P -wave speeds beneath the ocean. The wave-speed patterns agree well with independent surface wave studies and delay time tomography studies in the zones of common coverage.     

Localized velocity anomalies in the lower mantle

Summary. Two localized regions of velocity heterogeneity in the lower mantle with scale lengths of 1000–2000 km and 2 per cent velocity contrasts are detected and isolated through comparison of S, ScS, P and PcP travel times and amplitudes from deep earthquakes in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and the Sea of Okhotsk. Comparison of the relative patterns of ScS-S differential travel times and S travel-time residuals across North American WWSSN and CSN stations for the different source regions provides baselines for interpreting which phases have anomalous times. A region of low S and P velocities is located beneath Northern Brazil and Venezuela at depths of 1700–2700 km. This region produces S -wave delays of up to 4 s for signals from deep Argentine events recorded at eastern North American stations. The localized nature of the anomaly is indicated by the narrow bounds in azimuth (15°) and take-off angle (13°) of the arrivals affected by it. The long period S -waves encountering this anomaly generally show 30–100 per cent amplitude enhancement, while the short-period amplitudes show no obvious effect. The second anomaly is a high-velocity region beneath the Caribbean originally detected by Jordan and Lynn, who used travel times from deep Peruvian events. The data from Argentine and Bolivian events presented here constrain the location of the anomaly quite well, and indicate a possible short- and long-period S -wave amplitude diminution associated with it. When the travel-time data are corrected for the estimated effects of these two anomalies, a systematic regional variation in ScS-S station residuals is apparent between stations east of and west of the Rocky Mountains. One possible explanation of this is a long wavelength lateral variation in the shear velocity structure of the lower mantle at depths greater than 2000 km beneath North America.     

Three-dimensional lithospheric modelling at NORSAR: linearity of the method and amplitude variations from the anomalies

Summary. A modification of the Aid et al . technique for three-dimensional lithospheric modelling is used to find smoothly varying models for the P -wave velocity structure beneath NORSAR. The method includes ray tracing and calculation of geometrical spreading in the anomalies. The results of linear inversion of the travel-time data compare well with those of previous investigators. The assumption of linearity, which removes the need to ray trace through the anomalies, is tested with iterative solutions for both synthetic and real data. A model with an rms velocity perturbation of 3 per cent, extending to 120 km depth, is found to be reasonably linear. In fact the procedure leads to two models which satisfy the same amount of the real data but which differ by far more than the standard errors. However, these differences are not significant once the imperfect resolution is accounted for by using the total estimation error of the stochastic inverse.
The depth of major anomalies appears to be greater than the array diameter and is therefore not well constrained. Comparing the geometrical spreading produced by these models with the amplitude variations observed at the array indicates that structure deeper than 120 km but shallower than 200 km makes an important contribution to the observations. None of the models used can produce variations as large as those in the amplitude data. For deep, essentially two-dimensional, anomalies the fit to these data is much better for sources to the NE of the array than for sources in other quadrants.     

Seismic Modelling of Lateral Heterogeneity At the Base of the Mantle

Summary. Results from several recent studies suggest that there are lateral heterogeneities of up to a few per cent in the lowermost 150–200 km of the mantle (Bullen's D " region). Inferred anomaly sizes span the range from less than 50 km to greater than 1000 km.
In this study differences in the velocity structure among regions at the base of the mantle were inferred from an analysis of amplitude ratios of PKPAB and PKPDF for given earthquake-station pairs at distances greater than 155° (Sacks, Snoke & Beach). We distinguish two kinds of regions: A (anomalous) regions in which the mean, median and spread in AB/DF amplitude ratios are significantly higher (> 50 per cent) than for a reference radial earth model and N (normal) regions in which the distribution of the amplitude ratios is as expected.
The AB branch has near-grazing incidence to the core and therefore maximum sensitivity to velocity structure compared to the near-normal incident DF phases. Using an iterative, forward-modelling approach, we have determined general characteristics of the velocity structure for regions at the base of the mantle which can produce amplitude-ratio distributions similar to those for an A region. Agreement between model and data is obtained over the period range from 0.5 s to greater than 10 s using a laterally heterogeneous model for the D " region. the model consists of cells which are 200 km in lateral extent with velocity variations of up to ±1 per cent. This structure is modulated by a region-wide (1000km) perturbation which increases smoothly from zero at the edges of the region to a negative 1 per cent at the centre. Small cells (∼40 km) cannot produce anomalously large amplitude, long-period AB arrivals, and larger cells (∼1000km) cannot match the observed scatter. the ∼200 km scale anomalies could be small-scale convection cells confined to the D " region.     

Mantle transition zone thickness beneath Afar: implications for the origin of the Afar hotspot

The velocity spectrum stacking method is applied to receiver functions from stations ATD and AAE to image P -to- S converted phases originating at the 410 and 660 km discontinuities beneath Afar. A transition zone thickness of 244 ± 19 km is obtained, similar to the global average transition zone thickness. This result suggests that any broad thermal anomaly beneath Afar probably does not extend as far down as the transition zone. However, because of the 19 km uncertainty in the thickness estimate, a small thermal anomaly of ~100–150 K at mantle transition zone depths cannot be ruled out.     

The Canary Islands swell: a coherence analysis of bathymetry and gravity

The Canary Archipelago is an intraplate volcanic chain, located near the West African continental margin, emplaced on old oceanic lithosphere of Jurassic age, with an extended volcanic activity since Middle Miocene. The adjacent seafloor does not show the broad oceanic swell usually observed in hotspot-generated oceanic islands. However, the observation of a noticeable depth anomaly in the basement west of the Canaries might indicate that the swell is masked by a thick sedimentary cover and the influence of the Canarian volcanism. We use a spectral approach, based on coherence analysis, to determine the swell and its compensation mechanism. The coherence between gravity and topography indicates that the swell is caused by a subsurface load correlated with the surface volcanic load. The residual gravity/geoid anomaly indicates that the subsurface load extends 600 km SSW and 800 km N and NNE of the islands. We used computed depth anomalies from available deep seismic profiles to constrain the extent and amplitude of the basement uplift caused by a relatively low-density anomaly within the lithospheric mantle, and coherence analysis to constrain the elastic thickness of the lithosphere ( T_e ) and the compensation depth of the swell. Depth anomalies and coherence are well simulated with T_e =28–36 km, compensation depth of 40–65 km, and a negative density contrast within the lithosphere of ∼33 kg m⁻³. The density contrast corresponds to a temperature increment of ∼325°C, which we interpret to be partially maintained by a low-viscosity convective layer in the lowermost lithosphere, and which probably involves the shallower parts of the asthenosphere. This interpretation does not require a significant rejuvenation of the mechanical properties of the lithosphere.     

The seismic anomaly beneath Iceland extends down to the mantle transition zone and no deeper

A 3-D teleseismic tomography image of the upper mantle beneath Iceland of unprecedented resolution reveals a subvertical low wave speed anomaly that is cylindrical in the upper 250 km but tabular below this. Such a morphological transition is expected towards the bottom of a buoyant upwelling. Our observations thus suggest that magmatism at the Iceland hotspot is fed by flow rising from the mantle transition zone. This result contributes to the ongoing debate about whether the upper and lower mantles convect separately or as one. The image also suggests that material flows outwards from Iceland along the Reykjanes Ridge in the upper 200 km, but is blocked in the upper 150 km beneath the Tjornes Fracture Zone. This provides direct observational support for the theory that fracture zones dam lateral flow along ridges.     

Preliminary Results on the 3-dimensional Seismic Structure of the Lithosphere under the USGS Central California Seismic Array

About 1500 readings of teleseismic P -time residuals obtained from the US Geological Survey seismograph network in central California have been used to obtain a three-dimensional image of seismic velocity anomalies for this area by the method of Aki, Christoffersson & Husebye We found that the California network is less suitable than the LASA and NORSAR arrays for this kind of studies because of its greater proportion of peripheral blocks in which the resolution is very poor for the stochastic inverse solution and the random error effect is severe for the generalized inverse solution. Nevertheless, the resultant velocity anomalies show a remarkable correlation with the San Andreas fault zone to a depth of 75 km. The anomaly pattern changes drastically as the depth exceeds 75 km, suggesting that the asthenosphere has been reached.     

Temporal and three-dimensional spatial analyses of the frequency–magnitude distribution near Long Valley Caldera, California

The 3-D distribution of the b value of the frequency–magnitude distribution is analysed in the seismically active parts of the crust near Long Valley Caldera, California. The seismicity is sampled in spherical volumes, containing N =150 earthquakes and centred at nodes of a grid separated by 0.3  km. Significant variations in the b value are detected, with b ranging from b ≈0.6 to b ≈2.0. High b -value volumes are located near the resurgent dome, and at depths below 5  km at Mammoth Mountain. b values are found to be much lower south of the Long Valley Caldera. We interpret this to indicate that an active magma body has advanced from depths below 8  km to depths of 4 to 5  km beneath Mammoth Mountain in 1989, and that anomalous crust, either highly fractured or containing unusually high pore pressure, such as is the case in the vicinity of active magma bodies, exists north of the seismically active area beneath the resurgent dome at all depths. We also investigate the spatial distribution of temporal variations of the frequency–magnitude distribution by introducing differential b -value maps. b values increased from b ≈0.8 to b ≈1.5 underneath Mammoth Mountain at the onset of the 1989 earthquake swarm and remained high thereafter. This suggests that an intrusion permanently altered the average distribution of cracks at 5–10  km depth, or that the pore pressure permanently increased. We propose that high b values are a necessary (but not sufficient) condition near a magmatic body, and therefore spatial b -value mapping can be used to aid in the identification of active magma bodies.     

Anisotropy of the mantle inferred from observations of P to S converted waves

Summary. Seismic anisotropy has been previously studied at depths usually not exceeding 100 or 150 km. In this paper we present a method of analysis of seismic records which is very sensitive to azimuthal anisotropy and is applicable at almost any depth range. The idea of the method is to detect and analyse the SH -component of the waves, converted from P to S in the mantle. The procedure of record processing includes frequency filtering, axis rotation, transformation of the record to a standard form, stacking the standardized SH -component records of many seismic events, and the harmonic analysis of amplitude as a function of the direction of wave propagation. When applied to the long-period records of NORSAR the procedure detected a converted wave with the properties implying the possibility of its propagation in a transversely isotropic medium with a horizontal axis of symmetry . Our preferred model postulates anisotropy of ∼ 1 per cent in a layer 50 km thick at the base of the upper mantle.     

Teleseismic delay-time tomography of the upper mantle beneath southeastern India: imprint of Indo–Antarctica rifting

A 3-D P -velocity map of the crust and upper mantle beneath the southeastern part of India has been reconstructed through the inversion of teleseismic traveltimes. Salient geological features in the study region include the Archean Dharwar Craton and Eastern Ghat metamorphic belt (EGMB), and the Proterozoic Cuddapah and Godavari basins. The Krishna–Godavari basin, on the eastern coastal margin, evolved in response to the Indo–Antarctica breakup. A 24-station temporary network provided 1161 traveltimes, which were used to model 3-D P -velocity variation. The velocity model accounts of 80 per cent of the observed data variance. The velocity picture to a depth of 120 km shows two patterns: a high velocity beneath the interior domain (Dharwar craton and Cuddapah basin), and a lower velocity beneath the eastern margin region (EGMB and coastal basin). Across the array velocity variations of 7–10 per cent in the crust (0–40 km) and 3–5 per cent in the uppermost mantle (40–120 km) are observed. At deeper levels (120–210 km) the upper-mantle velocity differences are insignificant among different geological units. The presence of such a low velocity along the eastern margin suggests significantly thin lithosphere (<100 km) beneath it compared to a thick lithosphere (>200 km) beneath the eastern Dharwar craton. Such lithospheric thinning could be a consequence of Indo–Antarctica break-up.     

Polarization anomaly of Love waves caused by lateral heterogeneity

We calculate surface waves propagating in a laterally heterogeneous structure beneath the Kuril trench, where significant Love-wave polarization anomalies, called quasi-Love waves, are generated. Since 3-D wave propagation in the two-dimensionally heterogeneous structure can be assumed, we apply the 2.5-D finite difference method to the surface-wave calculations. The calculations show that a velocity contrast of 7 per cent at depths of less than 210 km beneath the Kuril trench cannot generate quasi-Love waves, and that an unlikely contrast of 20 per cent is required to generate clear quasi-Love waves. The possible cause of the quasi-Love waves inferred from previous studies on coupled free oscillations is a lateral variation in azimuthal anisotropy. The lateral variation in azimuthal anisotropy beneath the Kuril trench suggests a change in the mantle flow induced by the subducting slab.     

Seismic moment release during slab rupture beneath the Banda Sea

The highest intermediate depth moment release rates in Indonesia occur in the slab beneath the largely submerged segment of the Banda arc in the Banda Sea to the east of Roma, termed the Damar Zone. The most active, western-part of this zone is characterized by downdip extension, with moment release rates (∼10¹⁸ Nm yr^–1 per 50 km strike length) implying the slab is stretching at ∼10⁻¹⁴ s⁻¹ consistent with near complete slab decoupling across the 100–200 km depth range. Differential vertical stretching along the length of the Damar Zone is consistent with a slab rupture front at ∼100–200 km depth beneath Roma propagating eastwards at ∼100 km Myr^–1. Complexities in the slab deformation field are revealed by a narrow zone of anomalous in-plane P -axis trends beneath Damar, where subhorizontal constriction suggests extreme stress concentrations ∼100 km ahead of the slab rupture front. Such stress concentrations may explain the anomalously deep ocean gateways in this region, in which case ongoing slab rupture may have played a key role in modulating the Indonesian throughflow in the Banda Sea over the last few million years.     

Signature of remnant slabs in the North Pacific from P-wave tomography

A 3-D ray-tracing technique was used in a global tomographic inversion in order to obtain tomographic images of the North Pacific. The data reported by the Geophysical Survey of Russia (1955–1997) were used together with the catalogues of the International Seismological Center (1964–1991) and the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center (1991–1998), and the recompiled catalogue was reprocessed. The final data set, used for following the inversion, contained 523 430 summary ray paths. The whole of the Earth's mantle was parametrized by cells of 2° × 2° and 19 layers. The large and sparse system of observation equations was solved using an iterative LSQR algorithm.
A subhorizontal high-velocity anomaly is revealed just above the 660 km discontinuity beneath the Aleutian subduction zone. This high-velocity feature is observed at latitudes of up to ~70°N and is interpreted as a remnant of the subducted Kula plate, which disappeared through ridge subduction at about 48 Ma. A further positive velocity perturbation feature can be identified beneath the Chukotka peninsula and Okhotsk Sea, extending from ~300 to ~660 km depth and then either extending further down to ~800 km (Chukotka) or deflecting along the 660 km discontinuity (Okhotsk Sea). This high-velocity anomaly is interpreted as a remnant slab of the Okhotsk plate accreted to Siberia at ~55 Ma.     

Older crust underlies Iceland

The oldest rocks outcropping in northwest Iceland are ∼16 Myr old and in east Iceland ∼13 Myr. The full plate spreading rate in this region during the Cenozoic has been ∼2 cm a⁻¹, and thus these rocks are expected to be separated by ∼290 km. They are, however, ∼500 km apart. The conclusion is inescapable that an expanse of older crust ∼210 km wide underlies Iceland, submerged beneath younger lavas. This conclusion is independent of any considerations regarding spreading ridge migrations, jumps, the simultaneous existence of multiple active ridges, three-dimensionality, or subsidence of the lava pile. Such complexities bear on the distribution and age of the older crust, but not on its existence or its width. If it is entirely oceanic its maximum age is most likely 26–37 Ma. It is at least 150 km in north–south extent, but may taper and extend beneath south Iceland. Part of it might be continental—a southerly extension of the Jan Mayen microcontinent. This older crust contributes significantly to crustal thickness beneath Iceland and the ∼40 km local thickness measured seismically is thus probably an overestimate of present-day steady-state crustal production at Iceland.     

Seismic and electromagnetic evidence of dehydration as a free water source in the reactivated crust

According to recent estimates, the continental mid-crust contains 35–40 per cent amphibolites. Heating of the crust by an underlying mantle plume, for example beneath continental rifts, high plateaus, and areas of intraplate volcanic activity, releases water. Dehydration of amphibole-bearing rocks at depths of 20–40  km occurs mainly in the temperature range 650–700 °C, and this releases about 0.4  wt per cent of water.
  Seismic tomography studies of the crust in the Kirgyz Tien Shan Range, where the age of the tectonic activity is less than 30  Ma, revealed a low-velocity zone in the mid-crust. The velocity of P waves was 0.4  km  s⁻¹ lower than in normal crust. MT sounding data in the region show the existence of a low-resistivity layer with an average resistivity of about 25  Ω  m at the depth of the low-velocity layer. The spatial correlation of the observed anomalous layers and calculated effect of fluid phase on seismic and electric parameters of rocks suggests the presence of aqueous fluids released by the heating of the mid-crust.