Relationship between observed upper mantle structures and recent tectonic activity across the Southeastern United States

The lithospheric structure of the Southeastern United States is a product of earlier episodes of continental collision and breakup. The region is located in the interior of the North American Plate, away from active plate margins. However, there is ongoing tectonism in the region with multiple zones of seismicity, uplifting arches, and Cenozoic intraplate volcanism. The mechanisms controlling this activity and the state of stress remain enigmatic. Two important factors are plate strength and preexisting, inherited structures. Here we present new tomographic images of the upper mantle beneath the Southeastern United States, revealing large‐scale structural variations in the upper mantle. Examples include the relatively thick lithospheric mantle of stable North America that abruptly thins beneath the Paleozoic Appalachian orogeny, and the slow upper mantle of the Proterozoic Reelfoot rift. Our results also indicate fast seismic velocity patterns that can be interpreted as ongoing lithospheric foundering. This provides a viable explanation for seismicity, uplifting, and young intraplate volcanism. We postulate that not only tectonic inheritance but also continuing lithospheric foundering may control the ongoing activity of the region long after it became a passive margin. Based on distinct variations in the geometry and thickness of the lithospheric mantle and foundered lithosphere, we propose that piecemeal delamination has occurred beneath the region throughout the Cenozoic, removing a significant amount of reworked/deformed mantle lithosphere. Ongoing lithospheric foundering beneath the eastern margin of stable North America explains significant variations in thickness of lithospheric mantle across the former Grenville deformation front.