Skip to main content

Volume 50 Supplement 11-12

Special Issue: Ocean Hemisphere network Project (OHP)

  • Article
  • Published:

Broadband converted phases from midmantle discontinuities

Abstract

A technique for detecting intermediate-period (6–12 s) Sd P phases converted from S to P at a depth d in the source region is described. Previously, these phases were detected in short-period array recordings of deep events. The main idea of our technique is to deconvolve the vertical component of a single record by the S waveform, and to stack the deconvolved components of a number of records, with appropriate time-shift corrections accounting for the difference of epicentral distance. Using this technique, the phases converted from discontinuities at around 660 km, 860 km, 1070 km, and ‘1170’ km depths beneath Sunda arc are detected at seismograph stations in central and eastern Asia. Our data on ‘1070 km’ discontinuity are very consistent with those inferred from short-period recordings of the same events at the J-array in Japan (Niu and Kawakatsu, 1997), but favour a few different discontinuities in the midmantle, rather than one with a strongly variable depth. When compared with a tomographic model of the mantle for the same region, our data suggest that ‘1070 km’ discontinuity may act as a barrier for the downgoing lithospheric slabs.

References

  • Aki, K. and P. Richards, Quantitative Seismology: Theory and Methods, 932 pp., W. H. Freeman and Co., 1980.

  • Barley, B. J., J. A. Hudson, and A. Douglas, S to P scattering at the 650 km discontinuity, Geophys. J. R. astr. Soc., 49, 773–777, 1982.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bock, G. and J. Ha, Short-period S-P conversion in the mantle at a depth near 700 km, Geophys. J. R. astr. Soc., 77, 593–615, 1984.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Estabrook, Ch., G. Bock, and R. Kind, Investigation of mantle discontinuities from a single deep earthquake, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 1495–1498, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farra, V., L. P. Vinnik, B. Romanowicz, G. L. Kosarev, and R. Kind, Inversion of teleseismic S particle motion for azimuthal anisotropy in the mantle: A feasibility study, Geophys. J. Int., 106, 421–431, 1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, K. and G. Mueller, Computation of synthetic seismograms with the reflectivity method and comparison with observations, Geophys. J. R. astr. Soc., 23, 417–433, 1971.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goes, S., L. Ruff, and N. Winslow, The complex rupture process of the 1996 deep Flores, Indonesia earthquake (Mw 7.9) from teleseismic P-waves, Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 1295–1298, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawakatsu, H. and F. Niu, Seismic evidence for a 920-km discontinuity, Nature, 371, 301–305, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennett, B. L. N. and E. R. Engdahl, Travel times for global earthquake location and phase identification, Geophys. J. Int., 105, 429–465, 1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kind, R. and G. Mueller, Computations of SV waves in realistic Earth models, J. Geophys., 41, 142–162, 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niu, F. and H. Kawakatsu, Direct evidence of the undulation of the 660-km discontinuity beneath Tonga: comparison of Japan and US regional array data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, 531–534, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niu, F. and H. Kawakatsu, Depth variation of the midmantle seismic dis-continuity, Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 429–432, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, M. A. and C. W. Wicks, Jr., S-P conversion from the transition zone beneath Tonga and the nature of the 670 km discontinuity, Geophys. J. Int., 101, 1–35, 1990.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakurai, T., M. Obayashi, and Y. Fukao, Tomographic image of slab and mantle plume, Program and Abstracts, Seism. Soc. Japan, 1, 624, 1995 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Vidale, J. E. and H. M. Benz, Upper-mantle seismic discontinuities and the thermal structure of subduction zones, Nature, 356, 678–682, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vinnik, L. P., Detection of waves converted from P to SV in the mantle, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 15, 39–45, 1977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vinnik, L., G. Kosarev, and N. Petersen, Mantle transition zone beneath Eurasia, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 1485–1488, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wicks, C. W. and M. A. Richards, A detailed map of the 660-kilometer dis-continuity beneath the Izu-Bonin subduction zone, Science, 261, 1424–1427, 1993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, B. J., The effect of H2 O on the 410-km seismic discontinuity, Science, 268, 74–76, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hitoshi Kawakatsu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vinnik, L., Niu, F. & Kawakatsu, H. Broadband converted phases from midmantle discontinuities. Earth Planet Sp 50, 987–997 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352193

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352193

Keywords