scholarly journals Lithosphere–asthenosphere interactions beneath northeast China and the origin of its intraplate volcanism

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anqi Zhang ◽  
Zhen Guo ◽  
Juan Carlos Afonso ◽  
Heather Handley ◽  
Hongkun Dai ◽  
...  

Northeast China hosts one of the largest Cenozoic intraplate volcanic regions in the world. However, the mechanisms that generate the volcanism, its spatial-temporal distribution, and compositional signatures remain highly debated due to the lack of high-resolution images of the mantle’s thermochemical structure. We jointly inverted new surface-wave dispersion data, surface heat flow, geoid height, and elevation data to image the fine-scale thermal and compositional structures beneath northeast China and infer regions of partial melting in the mantle. Our model reveals a complex circulation pattern in the asthenosphere and a highly variable lithospheric structure. Combining predictions from our model with independent geochemical data from recent basaltic volcanism, we demonstrate that the generation, location, and composition of intraplate volcanism in this region are controlled by the interaction between shallow asthenospheric circulation and lithospheric thickness. The modeling approach and correlations between basaltic composition and mantle state identified in our study are globally applicable to assessing mantle conditions over time in other continental regions.

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffry L. Stevens ◽  
David A. Adams ◽  
G. E. Baker ◽  
Mariana G. Eneva ◽  
Heming Xu

2020 ◽  
Vol 222 (3) ◽  
pp. 1639-1655
Author(s):  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Corinna Roy ◽  
Andrew Curtis ◽  
Andy Nowacki ◽  
Brian Baptie

SUMMARY Seismic body wave traveltime tomography and surface wave dispersion tomography have been used widely to characterize earthquakes and to study the subsurface structure of the Earth. Since these types of problem are often significantly non-linear and have non-unique solutions, Markov chain Monte Carlo methods have been used to find probabilistic solutions. Body and surface wave data are usually inverted separately to produce independent velocity models. However, body wave tomography is generally sensitive to structure around the subvolume in which earthquakes occur and produces limited resolution in the shallower Earth, whereas surface wave tomography is often sensitive to shallower structure. To better estimate subsurface properties, we therefore jointly invert for the seismic velocity structure and earthquake locations using body and surface wave data simultaneously. We apply the new joint inversion method to a mining site in the United Kingdom at which induced seismicity occurred and was recorded on a small local network of stations, and where ambient noise recordings are available from the same stations. The ambient noise is processed to obtain inter-receiver surface wave dispersion measurements which are inverted jointly with body wave arrival times from local earthquakes. The results show that by using both types of data, the earthquake source parameters and the velocity structure can be better constrained than in independent inversions. To further understand and interpret the results, we conduct synthetic tests to compare the results from body wave inversion and joint inversion. The results show that trade-offs between source parameters and velocities appear to bias results if only body wave data are used, but this issue is largely resolved by using the joint inversion method. Thus the use of ambient seismic noise and our fully non-linear inversion provides a valuable, improved method to image the subsurface velocity and seismicity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-120
Author(s):  
Kajetan Chrapkiewicz ◽  
Monika Wilde-Piórko ◽  
Marcin Polkowski ◽  
Marek Grad

AbstractNon-linear inverse problems arising in seismology are usually addressed either by linearization or by Monte Carlo methods. Neither approach is flawless. The former needs an accurate starting model; the latter is computationally intensive. Both require careful tuning of inversion parameters. An additional challenge is posed by joint inversion of data of different sensitivities and noise levels such as receiver functions and surface wave dispersion curves. We propose a generic workflow that combines advantages of both methods by endowing the linearized approach with an ensemble of homogeneous starting models. It successfully addresses several fundamental issues inherent in a wide range of inverse problems, such as trapping by local minima, exploitation of a priori knowledge, choice of a model depth, proper weighting of data sets characterized by different uncertainties, and credibility of final models. Some of them are tackled with the aid of novel 1D checkerboard tests—an intuitive and feasible addition to the resolution matrix. We applied our workflow to study the south-western margin of the East European Craton. Rayleigh wave phase velocity dispersion and P-wave receiver function data were gathered in the passive seismic experiment “13 BB Star” (2013–2016) in the area of the crust recognized by previous borehole and refraction surveys. Final models of S-wave velocity down to 300 km depth beneath the array are characterized by proximity in the parameter space and very good data fit. The maximum value in the mantle is higher by 0.1–0.2 km/s than reported for other cratons.


Geophysics ◽  
1951 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton B. Dobrin

A non‐mathematical summary is presented of the published theories and observations on dispersion, i.e., variation of velocity with frequency, in surface waves from earthquakes and in waterborne waves from shallow‐water explosions. Two further instances are cited in which dispersion theory has been used in analyzing seismic data. In the seismic refraction survey of Bikini Atoll, information on the first 400 feet of sediments below the lagoon bottom could not be obtained from ground wave first arrival times because shot‐detector distances were too great. Dispersion in the water waves, however, gave data on speed variations in the bottom sediments which made possible inferences on the recent geological history of the atoll. Recent systematic observations on ground roll from explosions in shot holes have shown dispersion in the surface waves which is similar in many ways to that observed in Rayleigh waves from distant earthquakes. Classical wave theory attributes Rayleigh wave dispersion to the modification of the waves by a surface layer. In the case of earthquakes, this layer is the earth’s crust. In the case of waves from shot‐holes, it is the low‐speed weathered zone. A comparison of observed ground roll dispersion with theory shows qualitative agreement, but it brings out discrepancies attributable to the fact that neither the theory for liquids nor for conventional solids applies exactly to unconsolidated near‐surface rocks. Additional experimental and theoretical study of this type of surface wave dispersion may provide useful information on the properties of the surface zone and add to our knowledge of the mechanism by which ground roll is generated in seismic shooting.


2013 ◽  
Vol 353-356 ◽  
pp. 1196-1202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Qi Lu ◽  
Shan You Li ◽  
Wei Li

Surface wave dispersion imaging approach is crucial for multi-channel analysis of surface wave (MASW). Because the resolution of inversed S-wave velocity and thickness of a layer are directly subjected to the resolution of imaged dispersion curve. The τ-p transform approach is an efficient and commonly used approach for Rayleigh wave dispersion curve imaging. However, the conventional τ-p transform approach was severely affected by waves amplitude. So, the energy peaks of f-v spectrum were mainly gathered in a narrow frequency range. In order to remedy this shortage, an improved τ-p transform approach was proposed by this paper. Comparison has been made between phase shift and improved τ-p transform approaches using both synthetic and in situ tested data. Result shows that the dispersion image transformed from proposed approach is superior to that either from conventionally τ-p transform or from phase shift approaches.


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