New Uppermost Mantle Pn Velocity and Anisotropy Model of the Eastern Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Lü ◽  
Jiaqi Liu ◽  
Yuhui He ◽  
Yurui Guan
Keyword(s):  
Uppermost Mantle ◽  
Pn Velocity ◽  
Eastern Caribbean ◽  
Anisotropy Model

scholarly journals Modelling Pn Wave Speeds Beneath the Central North Island, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anya Mira Seward
Keyword(s):  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Least Square ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Moho Depth ◽  
Strain History ◽  
Uppermost Mantle ◽  
Wave Speeds ◽  
Partial Melt ◽  
Volcanic Region ◽  
Pn Velocity

<p>A new method of modelling Pn-wave speeds is created. The method allows the predominant wavelength features of P-wave speeds in the uppermost mantle to be modelled, as well as estimating values of mantle anisotropy and irregularities in the crust beneath stations, using least-square collocation. A combination of National Network seismometers, local volcanic seismic monitoring networks and temporary deployments are used to collect arrival times from local events, during the period of 1990-2006. The dataset consists of approximately 11200 Pn observations from 3000 local earthquakes at 91 seismograph sites. The resulting model shows distinct variations in uppermost mantle Pn velocities. Velocities of less than 7.5 km/s are found beneath the back-arc extension region of the Central Volcanic Region, and under the Taranaki Volcanic Region, indicating the presence of water and partial melt. The region to the east shows extremely high velocities of 8.3-8.5 km/s, where the P-waves are traveling within the subducting Pacific slab. Slightly lower than normal mantle velocities of 7.8-8.1 km/s are found in the western North Island, suggesting a soft mantle. Pn anisotropy estimates throughout the North Island show predominately trench parallel fast directions, ceasing to nulls in the west. Anisotropy measurements indicate the strain history of the mantle. For the observed upper mantle Pn velocity of 7.3 km/s is one of the lowest seen in the world. Ray-tracing modelling indicate that this region extends to depths of at least 65 km, suggesting an area of elevated heat (700 - 1100 degrees C) at Moho depth. Elevated temperatures can be caused by the presence partial melt (0.4 % to 2.1 % depending on the amount of water present). Beneath the western North Island, the observed slower than normal mantle velocities, indicate a material of lowered shear modulus, susceptible to strain deformation. However, anisotropy estimations in this region, show no significant anisotropy, suggesting that this is a region of young mantle that hasn't had time to take up the signature of deformation. These observations can be explained by a detachment of the mantle lithosphere through a Rayleigh-Taylor instability more than 5 Ma.</p>

scholarly journals Uppermost mantle (Pn) velocity model for the Afar region, Ethiopia: an insight into rifting processes

2013 ◽  
Vol 193 (1) ◽  
pp. 321-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Stork ◽  
G. W. Stuart ◽  
C. M. Henderson ◽  
D. Keir ◽  
J. O. S. Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Velocity Model ◽  
Uppermost Mantle ◽  
Afar Region ◽  
Pn Velocity ◽  
Insight Into

Radial anisotropy in Europe from surface waves ambient noise tomography and transdimensional hierarchical inversion

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloé Alder ◽  
Eric Debayle ◽  
Thomas Bodin ◽  
Anne Paul ◽  
Laurent Stehly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Group Velocity ◽  
Shear Wave ◽  
Rayleigh Waves ◽  
3D Model ◽  
Joint Inversion ◽  
Shear Velocity ◽  
Dispersion Curves ◽  
Uppermost Mantle ◽  
Radial Anisotropy ◽  
Anisotropy Model

&lt;p&gt;We present a 3D probabilistic model of shear wave velocity and radial anisotropy of the European crust and uppermost mantle mainly focusing on the Alps and the Apennines.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The model is built using continuous seismic noise recorded between 2010 and 2018 at 1521 broadband stations, including the AlpArray network (Hete&amp;#769;nyi et al., 2018).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We use a large dataset of more than 730&amp;#160;000 couples of stations representing as many virtual source-receiver pairs. For each path, we calculate the cross-correlation of continuous vertical- and transverse-components of the noise records in order to get the Green&amp;#8217;s function. From the Green&amp;#8217;s function, we then obtain the group velocity dispersion curves of Love and Rayleigh waves in the period range 5 to 149 s.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our 3D model is built in two steps. First, the dispersion data are used in a linearized least square inversion providing 2D maps of group velocity in Europe at each period. These maps are obtained using the same coverage for Love and Rayleigh waves. Dispersion curves for both Love and Rayleigh waves are then extracted from the maps, at each geographical point. In a second step, these curves are jointly inverted to depth for shear velocity and radial anisotropy. The inversion in done within a Bayesian Monte-Carlo framework integrating some a priori information coming either from PREM (Dziewonski and Anderson 1961) or the recent 3D shear wave model of Lu et al. 2018 performed for the same region.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, this joint inversion of Rayleigh and Love data allows us to derive a new 3D model of shear velocity and radial anisotropy of the European crust and uppermost mantle. The isotropic part of our model is consistent with the shear velocity model of Lu et al. 2018. The 3D radial anisotropy model of the region adds new constraints on the deformation of the lithosphere in Europe. Here we present and discuss this new radial anisotropy model, with particular emphasis on the Apennines.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Seismic velocity and anisotropy of the uppermost mantle beneath Madagascar from Pn tomography

2020 ◽  
Vol 224 (1) ◽  
pp. 290-305
Author(s):  
Fenitra Andriampenomanana ◽  
Andrew A Nyblade ◽  
Michael E Wysession ◽  
Raymond J Durrheim ◽  
Frederik Tilmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Anisotropy ◽  
Seismic Velocity ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Active Regions ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Uppermost Mantle ◽  
Lithospheric Deformation ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Pn Velocity

SUMMARY The lithosphere of Madagascar records a long series of tectonic processes. Structures initially inherited from the Pan-African Orogeny are overprinted by a series of extensional tectonic and magmatic events that began with the breakup of Gondwana and continued through to the present. Here, we present a Pn-tomography study in which Pn traveltimes are inverted to investigate the lateral variation of the seismic velocity and anisotropy within the uppermost mantle beneath Madagascar. Results show that the Pn velocities within the uppermost mantle vary by ±0.30 km s–1 about a mean of 8.10 km s–1. Low-Pn-velocity zones (&lt;8.00 km s–1) are observed beneath the Cenozoic alkaline volcanic provinces in the northern and central regions. They correspond to thermally perturbed zones, where temperatures are estimated to be elevated by ∼100–300 K. Moderately low Pn velocities are found near the southern volcanic province and along an E–W belt in central Madagascar. This belt is located at the edge of a broader low S-velocity anomaly in the mantle imaged in a recent surface wave tomographic study. High-Pn-velocity zones (&gt;8.20 km s–1) coincide with stable and less seismically active regions. The pattern of Pn anisotropy is very complex, with small-scale variations in both the amplitude and the fast-axis direction, and generally reflects the complicated tectonic history of Madagascar. Pn anisotropy and shear wave (SKS) splitting measurements show good correlations in the southern parts of Madagascar, indicating coherency in the vertical distribution of lithospheric deformation along Pan-African shear zone as well as coupling between the crust and mantle when the shear zones were active. In most other regions, discrepancies between Pn anisotropy and SKS measurements suggest that the seismic anisotropy in the uppermost mantle beneath Madagascar differs from the vertically integrated upper mantle anisotropy, implying a present-day vertical partitioning of the deformation. Pn anisotropy directions lack the coherent pattern expected for an incipient plate boundary within Madagascar proposed in some kinematic models of the region.

scholarly journals Regional site response and uppermost mantle seismic structure of central and eastern united states

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rayan Yassminh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New England ◽  
Velocity Ratio ◽  
Site Amplification ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Seismic Structure ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Uppermost Mantle ◽  
Pn Velocity ◽  
Mantle Temperature

This dissertation examines seismological data from regional earthquake sources in order to examine the seismological character of the crust and uppermost mantle in central and eastern United States. Firstly, site amplification of regional highfrequency Lg seismic phases is estimate ed using a Reverse-Two Station (RTS) method. RTS results show topography and sediment thickness are likely to affect amplification and both factors likely frequency-dependent. There is a negative correlation between the RTS-measured amplification and shallow shear-wave velocity. It appears that both regional topography (i.e., long-wavelength topography) and deeper subsurface seismic structures (basins and sediments) have a large impact on site amplification. Subsequently, Pn and Sn travel time tomography is used to estimate the upper most mantle P-wave (Pn) velocity, S-wave (Sn) velocity, and the velocity ratio (VPn/VSn). In addition to velocity, effective attenuation of Sn phase (Q[superscript -1]sn) is also measured. The result shows regions of high velocity such as southern Georgia, eastern South Carolina and NMSZ and low Q[subscript Sn] values. The V[subscript Pn]/V[subscript Sn] ratio shows values higher than the average in regions such as the Mississippi Embayment, New England, and south Appalachian. V[subscript Pn]/V[subscript Sn] ratios are lower than the average in regions such as northwestern CEUS, South Georgia and eastern Texas. We estimated the uppermost mantle temperature by applying a constrained grid-search algorithm includes the observed V[subscript Sn], V[subscript Pn] and Q[subscript Sn] with the calculated velocities of specific compositional models. The uppermost mantle temperature result, [about]300-500C, beneath the northern mid-continent, and the highest temperature, 1100 C, beneath New England

scholarly journals Modelling Pn Wave Speeds Beneath the Central North Island, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anya Mira Seward
Keyword(s):  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Least Square ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Moho Depth ◽  
Strain History ◽  
Uppermost Mantle ◽  
Wave Speeds ◽  
Partial Melt ◽  
Volcanic Region ◽  
Pn Velocity

<p>A new method of modelling Pn-wave speeds is created. The method allows the predominant wavelength features of P-wave speeds in the uppermost mantle to be modelled, as well as estimating values of mantle anisotropy and irregularities in the crust beneath stations, using least-square collocation. A combination of National Network seismometers, local volcanic seismic monitoring networks and temporary deployments are used to collect arrival times from local events, during the period of 1990-2006. The dataset consists of approximately 11200 Pn observations from 3000 local earthquakes at 91 seismograph sites. The resulting model shows distinct variations in uppermost mantle Pn velocities. Velocities of less than 7.5 km/s are found beneath the back-arc extension region of the Central Volcanic Region, and under the Taranaki Volcanic Region, indicating the presence of water and partial melt. The region to the east shows extremely high velocities of 8.3-8.5 km/s, where the P-waves are traveling within the subducting Pacific slab. Slightly lower than normal mantle velocities of 7.8-8.1 km/s are found in the western North Island, suggesting a soft mantle. Pn anisotropy estimates throughout the North Island show predominately trench parallel fast directions, ceasing to nulls in the west. Anisotropy measurements indicate the strain history of the mantle. For the observed upper mantle Pn velocity of 7.3 km/s is one of the lowest seen in the world. Ray-tracing modelling indicate that this region extends to depths of at least 65 km, suggesting an area of elevated heat (700 - 1100 degrees C) at Moho depth. Elevated temperatures can be caused by the presence partial melt (0.4 % to 2.1 % depending on the amount of water present). Beneath the western North Island, the observed slower than normal mantle velocities, indicate a material of lowered shear modulus, susceptible to strain deformation. However, anisotropy estimations in this region, show no significant anisotropy, suggesting that this is a region of young mantle that hasn't had time to take up the signature of deformation. These observations can be explained by a detachment of the mantle lithosphere through a Rayleigh-Taylor instability more than 5 Ma.</p>

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