Open AccessDifferential PcP Travel Times and the Radius of the Core
Author(s) -
Engdahl E. R.,
Johnson Leonard E.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1974.tb05466.x
Subject(s) - geology , geodesy , mantle (geology) , seismology , lithosphere , travel time , radius , inverse theory , geophysics , tectonics , computer science , oceanography , deformation (meteorology) , computer security , transport engineering , engineering
Summary Backus‐Gilbert inversions of a new differential PcP data set result in estimates of the core radius, 3484–3486 km, compatible with those obtained from the inversion of large sets of normal mode data. For that part of the core sampled by the data, undulations in the core‐mantle boundary can be of order no more than 5–10 km, in the worst possible case. Signal misidentification and lateral inhomogeneities in the upper mantle must be accounted for in observed short‐period differential PcP travel times. In the case of Amchitka data, seismic ray tracing is used to describe the effects of a dipping lithospheric plate beneath the Island.