Crustal seismic structure beneath the West Philippine Sea, 17°–18° North

Crustal seismic structures beneath the West Philippine Sea are determined by using explosive sources (0.5–108.6 kg) and ocean bottom seismometers to measure refracted compressional waves. Total crustal thicknesses are shown to be thinner in the eastern part of the ocean basin, approaching only 3.5 km. Crustal thinning toward the east is consistent with the Palau Kyushu Ridge being a remnant transform fault connecting the Central Basin Ridge and the Kula Pacific Ridge in the past. A velocity-depth inversion from the westernmost refraction profile indicates the upper transitional crust layer to have strong velocity gradients which gradually decrease with depth; the lower crust is characterized by a nearly constant velocity gradient. The western part of the ocean basin is also shown to have more typical oceanic thicknesses, as is found in deep ocean basins of the Pacific. Spectral energy models using WKBJ synthetic seismograms suggest that there is a sharp seismic discontinuity between the crust and moho in the western part of the basin. Predicted water depths for the West Philippine Basin using an age-depth relation and corrected for an isostatic response to the measured crustal thicknesses, are still 300 meters shallower than observed depths. The depth anomaly can not be fully reconciled by thinner crust in the eastern part of the basin. This observation implies that a deeper seated anomaly is present beneath the West Philippine Basin.