Seismic scattering at the top of the mantle Transition Zone

We document strong seismic scattering from around the top of the mantle Transition Zone in all available high resolution explosion seismic profiles from Siberia and North America. This seismic reflectivity from around the 410 km discontinuity indicates the presence of pronounced heterogeneity in the depth interval between 320 and 450 km in the Earth’s mantle. We model the seismic observations by heterogeneity in the form of random seismic scatterers with typical scale lengths of kilometre size (10-40 km by 2-10 km) in a 100-140 km thick depth interval. The observed heterogeneity may be explained by changes in the depths to the α-β-γ spinel transformations caused by an unexpectedly high iron content at the top of the mantle Transition Zone. The phase transformation of pyroxenes into the garnet mineral majorite probably also contributes to the reflectivity, mainly below a depth of 400 km, whereas we find it unlikely that the presence of water or partial melt is the main cause of the observed strong seismic reflectivity. Subducted oceanic slabs that equilibrated at the top of the Transition Zone may also contribute to the observed reflectivity. If this is the main cause of the reflectivity, a substantial amount of young oceanic lithosphere has been subducted under Siberia and North America during their geologic evolution. Subducted slabs may have initiated metamorphic reactions in the original mantle rocks.     

俄罗斯贝加尔湖-日本石卷地学断面西段地质-地球物理基本特征

对于贝加尔湖-石卷地学断面(BAMSIP)的西段俄罗斯贝加尔湖-中国满洲里断面城内的地质构造背景、地震剖面波类型和基本特征等研究发现：(1)断面域中贝加尔裂谷带地震波速度结构存在异常地幔带；结晶地壳物质成分基性程度较高；基底顶面和Moho界面未观察到明显的镜象关系；(2)西伯利亚南部的复杂相故基底由古生代和前寒武纪岩层所组构；区域构造由古褶皱系、中生代沉积盆地、裂谷带构成。     

Geoid determination using adapted reference field, seismic Moho depths and variable density contrast

 The traditional remove-restore technique for geoid computation suffers from two main drawbacks. The first is the assumption of an isostatic hypothesis to compute the compensation masses. The second is the double consideration of the effect of the topographic–isostatic masses within the data window through removing the reference field and the terrain reduction process. To overcome the first disadvantage, the seismic Moho depths, representing, more or less, the actual compensating masses, have been used with variable density anomalies computed by employing the topographic–isostatic mass balance principle. In order to avoid the double consideration of the effect of the topographic–isostatic masses within the data window, the effect of these masses for the used fixed data window, in terms of potential coefficients, has been subtracted from the reference field, yielding an adapted reference field. This adapted reference field has been used for the remove–restore technique. The necessary harmonic analysis of the topographic–isostatic potential using seismic Moho depths with variable density anomalies is given. A wide comparison among geoids computed by the adapted reference field with both the Airy–Heiskanen isostatic model and seismic Moho depths with variable density anomaly and a geoid computed by the traditional remove–restore technique is made. The results show that using seismic Moho depths with variable density anomaly along with the adapted reference field gives the best relative geoid accuracy compared to the GPS/levelling geoid. Received: 3 October 2001 / Accepted: 20 September 2002 Correspondence to: H.A. Abd-Elmotaal     

3-D structural reconstruction of Moho in the Tangshan earthquake area by using inversion of curved interface

３ＤｓｔｒｕｃｔｕｒａｌｒｅｃｏｎｓｔｒｕｃｔｉｏｎｏｆＭｏｈｏｉｎｔｈｅＴａｎｇｓｈａｎｅａｒｔｈｑｕａｋｅａｒｅａｂｙｕｓｉｎｇｉｎｖｅｒｓｉｏｎｏｆｃｕｒｖｅｄｉｎｔｅｒｆａｃｅＸＩＡＯＬＩＮＧＬＡＩ（赖晓玲）ＸＩＡＮＫＡＮＧＺＨＡＮＧ...     

Study on the Gravity Field and Deep-Seated Crustal Structure at the North Margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

1.I~ductionThenorthernmarginoftheQinghai-TibetplateauincludestheAltllnMis.,theQilianMis.,KunlunMis.,theQaidambasinandthesouthernTarimbasin.ThisareaistCctonicallycharacterizedbyintensiveCenozoicdeformationwithcomplicateddeformationalmechedsm(Molnaretal.,1987;Zheng,1991;Culetal.,1994;Ding,1995andXuetal.,1996).Thedeformationalmechanismsincludethrust-napping,strike-slipping,extensionandblockrotation,aswellassimultaneousupliftingandtypicalbasin-rangetectonics(CulandXu,1996).IntermsofCenozoi…     

Influence of the Load Wavelength on the Permeability of a Viscosity Interface in the Mantle

Assuming a radially stratified Newtonian mantle in a steady-state approximation, we demonstrate that the permeability of a viscosity interface at 660-km depth strongly depends on the wavelength of buoyancy forces driving the flow. The flow induced by long-wavelength loads penetrates through the boundary freely even if the viscosity increases by two orders. In contrast, the boundary is practically impermeable for short-wavelength loads located in the upper mantle. Thus, a stepwise increase of viscosity is a significant obstacle for small descending features in the upper mantle, but huge upper mantle downwellings, or upwellings formed in the-lower mantle can overcome it easily. This indicates that certain care is necessary in interpreting the seismic structure of the mantle by means of flow models. The global tomographic image includes only the first few degrees of the harmonic series and, consequently, its interpretation in terms of a present-day flow field results in a predominantly whole-mantle circulation even for extreme viscosity contrasts.     

青藏高原东北缘及其邻区的地壳结构与地震关系初探

用人工地震测深资料及天然地震反演结果给出了东经９６°～１０８°，北纬３２°～４０°范围内的莫霍面埋深图，并讨论了莫霍面轮廓与中强地震发生的关系。结果表明，中强地震多发生在地壳厚度急剧变化、陡变带拐弯处及中地壳顶部存在低速层的区域内     

三维分块倾斜界面的反演及其应用

介绍了利用反射波走时反演介质层速度和包含直立断层的三维界面的计算方法．对各层界面利用多个倾斜或平界面方程来描述．给出了数值计算实例．结果表明，反演解与真模型很接近，说明计算方法是有效的．利用该方法处理了唐山地震区的ＰｍＰ反射波资料，获得了该区域莫霍界面的三维分块形态．唐山附近莫霍界面错断与该区域１９７６年唐山地震及一系列余震的发生有密切的联系．     

关于大陆与陆缘的深部地震探查的进展──1994、1996年两届国际学术讨论会综述

连续两届国际深部地震讨论会成果累累。对深部地震的资料采集、处理、解释技术以及几类专门地质地球物理问题的研究进行了综述。研究成果在理论、方法方面是该领域的世界先进水平：在地震学应用于陆缘、陆壳与壳幔过渡带等地质问题方面有明显的提高。提出了值得讨论的问题，最后探讨了发展趋势     

Mapping the crustal thickness in southwest Japan using Moho-reflected waves

In this work we have tried to detect and collect later phases associated with the Moho discontinuity and use them to study the lateral variations of the crustal thickness in southwest (SW) Japan. We first compute synthetic seismograms for local earthquakes taking into account the focal mechanism solutions estimated from first motion polarity data. Then we compare the synthetics with the observed waveforms to detect the major later phases in seismograms of shallow crustal earthquakes in SW Japan. Taking the advantage of the high quality and great quantity of Hi-net waveform data now available throughout the entire Japan Islands, we have detected 1659 Moho-reflected phases (PmP and SmS) from shallow events in SW Japan. We estimated the crustal thickness in the study area using travel time differences between these later phases and the first P and S arrivals. Our results show that the Moho is deep in Chubu district and becomes shallower along the coastlines of the Japan Sea and the Pacific Ocean. A thinner crust appears in Osaka Bay and Awajii Island where the 1995 Kobe earthquake (M7.2) occurred.