Crustal and upper mantle seismic structure of the Svalbard Archipelago from the receiver function analysis

• Published in: Polish Polar Research
• Main Author: Wilde−Piórko, Monika
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Walter de Gruyter GmbH 2015
• Subjects: Ecology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Arctic; Svalbard; Barents Sea; Svalbard Archipelago; Polar Research
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/popore-2015-0009; http://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/popore/36/2/article-p89.xml; https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/popore.2015.36.issue-2/popore-2015-0009/popore-2015-0009.pdf

Abstract Receiver function provides the signature of sharp seismic discontinuities and the information about the shear wave (S−wave) velocity distribution beneath the seismic station. This information is very valuable in areas where any or few reflection and/or refraction studies are available and global and/or regional models give only rough information about the seismic velocities. The data recorded by broadband seismic stations have been analysed to investigate the crustal and upper mantle structure of the Svalbard Archipelago. Svalbard Archipelago is a group of islands located in Arctic, at the north−western part of the Barents Sea continental platform, which is bordered to the west and to the north by passive continental margins. The new procedure of parameterization and selection of receiver functions (RFs) has been proposed. The back−azimuthal sections of RF show a strong variation for the HSPB and KBS stations. Significant amplitudes of transversal component of RF (T−RF) for the HSPB station indicate a shallow dipping layer towards the southwest. The structure of the crust beneath the SPITS array seems to be less heterogeneous, with very low amplitudes of converted phase comparing to the KBS and HSPB stations. Forward modelling by trial−and−error method shows a division of the crust into 3-4 layers beneath all stations and layering of the uppermost mantle beneath the SPITS array and the HSPB stations. The thickness of the mantle transition zone is larger for western part of archipelago and smaller for eastern part comparing to iasp91 model.