Open AccessA 2‐D synthetic study of global traveltime tomography
Author(s) -
Gudmundsson Olafur,
Clayton Robert W.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
geophysical journal international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0956-540X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1991.tb04600.x
Subject(s) - geology , seismic tomography , residual , structure of the earth , earth structure , mantle (geology) , core–mantle boundary , geophysics , inversion (geology) , seismology , tomography , inner core , geodesy , tectonics , mathematics , algorithm , physics , optics
Summary A 2‐D synthetic test study of global traveltime inversion for deep seated earth structure has been undertaken. This was done by generating traveltime residual data using reasonable models for earth structure. The data were then inverted by similar methods to those applied in global studies of earth structure. Our results indicate that models of the aspherical structure in the lower mantle based on traveltime data are only partially successful and only at the largest scales (harmonic degree ≤3) and that maps of the core‐mantle boundary based on traveltimes are unsuccessful.