Upper mantle shear structure of North America

• Published in: Geophysical Journal International
• Main Authors: Grand, Stephen P., Helmberger, Donald V.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1984
• Subjects: Articles; Greenland; Pacific
• Online Access: http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/76/2/399; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1984.tb05053.x

The waveforms and travel times of S and SS phases in the range 10°–60° have been used to derive upper mantle shear velocity structures for two distinct tectonic provinces in North America. Data from earthquakes on the East Pacific Rise recorded at stations in western North America were used to derive a tectonic upper mantle model. Events on the north-west coast of North America and earthquakes off the coast of Greenland provided the data to investigate the upper mantle under the Canadian shield. All branches from the triplications due to velocity jumps near 400 and 660 km were observed in both areas. Using synthetic seismograms to model these observations placed tight constraints on heterogeneity in the upper mantle and on the details of its structure. SS–S travel-time differences of 30 s along with consistent differences in waveforms between the two data sets require substantial heterogeneity to at least 350 km depth. Velocities in the upper 170 km of the shield are about 10 per cent higher than in the tectonic area. At 250 km depth the shield velocities are still greater by about 4.5 per cent and they gradually merge near 400 km. Below 400 km no evidence for heterogeneity was found. The two models both have first-order discontinuities of 4.5 per cent at 405 km and 7.5 per cent at 695 km. Both models also have lids with lower velocities beneath. In the western model the lid is very thin and of relatively low velocity. In the shield the lid is 170 km thick with very high velocity (4.78 km s-1); below it the velocity decreases to about 4.65 km s-1. Aside from these features the models are relatively smooth, the major difference between them being a larger gradient in the tectonic region from 200 to 400 km.