Submitted to AGU Monograph: Volcanism and Tectonics of the Kamchatka Peninsula and Adjacent Arcs Editors:

• Main Authors: Jonathan M. Lees, John Vandecar, Evgenii Gordeev, Alexei Ozerov, Mark Br, Park Vadim Levin, J. Eichelberger, P. Izbekov, J. Lees, E. Gordeev
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Kamchatka Peninsula; Kamchatka
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.509.643; http://earth.geology.yale.edu/~brandon/Eprints/Lees_etal2006AGUMonograph_ImagesKamchatkaCorner.pdf

First arrivals of seismic waves were recorded along the Kamchatka arc using broadband seismic stations deployed for one year in 1998-1999. Cross correlation methods were used form a high resolution data set for tomographic inversion of body waves. The P-wave teleseismic tomography shows clear evidence of slab shoaling along the northern terminus of the Kamchatka subduction zone. Tomographic anomalies corroborate trends in seismicity, geochemistry, heat flow, shear wave splitting, and surface wave inversions. Thermal ablation via contact with asthenosphere, under the proper conditions, is offered as a possible explanation of the observed shoaling of the Kamchatka slab edge.