Reflection seismic profiling of mantle structure under the contiguous United States from ambient noise cross-correlation
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: SUMMARY P-wave reflections from the 410- and 660-km mantle discontinuities are visible in stacks of ambient noise cross-correlation functions of USArray stations spanning the contiguous United States. The reflections are most visible on the vertical components at frequencies between 0.1 and 0.3 Hz during low-noise periods, which generally occur during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere. Common reflection point stacking can be used to resolve apparent lateral differences in discontinuity structure across the continent and suggests the possible existence of sporadic reflectors at other depths. Visibility of the 660-km reflector is correlated with faster P-wave velocities at similar depth in a tomographic model for North America. However, the lack of clear agreement between these P-wave ambient noise features and prior mantle-transition-zone imaging studies using other methods suggests caution should be applied in their interpretation. Ambient noise sources from the southern oceans may not be distributed uniformly enough for cross-correlation stacks to provide unbiased estimates of the true station-to-station P-wave Green’s functions. However, the clear presence of 410- and 660-km reflections in the ambient noise data suggests that it should be possible to unravel the complexities associated with varying noise source locations to produce reliable P-wave reflection profiles, providing new insights into mantle structure under the contiguous United States.
DOI: 10.1093/gji/ggaf416
Language: English
Topic: Seismic Waves and Analysis
Subfield: Geophysics
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,416
Funder: National Science Foundation
Awards: Seismological Investigations of Earthquakes and Deep Earth Structure, Collaborative Research: Mantle dynamics and plate tectonics constrained by converted and reflected seismic wave imaging beneath hotspots, Collaborative Research: The influence of incoming plate structure and fluids on arc melt generation at the Lesser Antilles subduction system, Collaborative Research: Geophysical and geochemical investigation of links between the deep and shallow volatile cycles of the Earth, Collaborative Research: Mantle Dynamics and Plate Tectonics Constrained by Converted and Reflected Seismic Wave Imaging Beneath Hotspots
OpenAlex ID: W4415295611