Three‐dimensional Elastic and Anelastic Structure of the Lowermost Mantle Beneath the Western Pacific From Finite‐Frequency Tomography

Kensuke Konishi (1) , Nobuaki Fuji (2) , Frédéric Deschamps (1)

1 Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
2 IPGP - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris

We build a finite‐frequency tomography method that uses traveltime and amplitude data for obtaining 3‐D maps of shear velocity ( urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0001) and seismic attenuation (measured with the quality factor urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0002). We then apply this method to recover the 3‐D urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0003 and urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0004 structures in the lowermost mantle beneath the western edge of the Pacific large low shear velocity province, using the urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0005 and urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0006 phases for 31 earthquakes that occurred underneath the vicinity of Tonga and Fiji regions. Our data set consists of the transverse components of 1,341 traces from the Japanese F‐net seismic station network. The waveform data are applied with a band‐pass filter in the period range of 12.5–200 s, corresponding to the frequency range of 0.005–0.08 Hz. Both urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0007 and urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0008 are lower than those in the Preliminary reference Earth model (PREM) in the bottom depth range, with the lowest part being situated at the center of the region we sample. This feature is robust across a variety of inversion configurations. We then estimate possible temperature anomalies in this region from the obtained urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0009 and urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0010 structures. Discrepancy between the temperature anomalies predicted by these two quantities suggests that explaining simultaneously urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0011 and urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0012 anomalies in this region requires both temperature and chemical anomalies. Assuming that urn:x-wiley:jgrb:media:jgrb54035:jgrb54035-math-0013 anomalies are a reliable proxy for temperature and that compositional anomalies primarily consist of an excess in iron oxide, we propose a possible thermal and compositional structure for this region.

Keywords: The 3-D localized shear velocity and attenuation structure via finite-frequency tomography exhibit expected temperature and chemical distinction • The 3-D localized structure in the lowermost mantle beneath the western Pacific is observed via the Japanese F-net seismic array • There is evidence for the existence of a chemical distinction in the west- ern tip of the Pacific large low shear velocity province (LLSVP)

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences

Kensuke Konishi, Nobuaki Fuji, Frédéric Deschamps. Three‐dimensional Elastic and Anelastic Structure of the Lowermost Mantle Beneath the Western Pacific From Finite‐Frequency Tomography. Journal of Geophysical Research : Solid Earth, 2020, 125 (2), ⟨10.1029/2019JB018089⟩. ⟨insu-02524325⟩