Seismic heterogeneity in the mantle—strong shear wave signature of slabs from joint tomography

• Published in: Physics of the earth and planetary interiors 2004-08, Vol.146 (1), p.87-100
• Main Authors: Kennett, B.L.N., Gorbatov, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bulk-sound; Mantle; Modulus; Wavespeed
• ISSN: 0031-9201; 1872-7395
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pepi.2003.07.033

The primary source of information on heterogeneity within the Earth comes from seismic tomography. A powerful tool for examining the character of heterogeneity comes from the comparison of images of bulk-sound and shear wavespeed extracted in a single inversion, since this isolates the dependencies on the elastic moduli. However, particularly in such multi-parameter inversions there are many hidden facets which can have a strong influence on the results, such as the weightings between parameters and in the misfit functions. Joint inversion with restricted data sets giving comparable cover for P and S waves provides useful checks on more inclusive studies, and can provide relatively high resolution in some areas. The relative behaviour of bulk-sound and shear wavespeed can provide a useful guide to the definition of heterogeneity regimes. For subduction zones a large part of the tomographic signal comes from S wavespeed variations. In the upper mantle and transition there can be significant bulk-sound speed contributions for younger slabs, and in stagnant slabs associated with slab roll-back. For subducted oceanic lithosphere older than about 90 Ma shear wavespeed variations nearly always are dominant and so the P wave images are controlled by shear modulus variations. The narrow segments of fast wavespeeds in the depth range 900–1500 km in the lower mantle are dominated by S variations, with very little bulk-sound contribution. Deep in the mantle there are many fast features without obvious association with subduction in the last 100 Ma, which suggests long-lived preservation of components of the geodynamic cycle.