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Whole mantle discontinuity structure beneath Hawaii
Author(s) -
Courtier Anna M.,
Bagley Brian,
Revenaugh Justin
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl031006
Subject(s) - geology , classification of discontinuities , transition zone , discontinuity (linguistics) , mantle (geology) , core–mantle boundary , plume , mantle plume , seismology , geophysics , tectonics , lithosphere , meteorology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , physics
We examined mantle structure beneath the southeast Hawaiian Islands using multiple ScS reverberations from four earthquakes from the island of Hawaii and recorded at station KIP on the island of Oahu. We find an unusually deep 410‐km discontinuity and a transition zone thickness of 227 km, corresponding to a temperature increase of 87 K above the global average. Other reflectors include a lid‐low‐velocity zone boundary, a weak 520‐km discontinuity, and smaller discontinuities at 224 km, 288 km, and 1000 km. Whole mantle travel time is near the global average, which we attribute to an inclined or branching plume, lowermost mantle anisotropy, and estimate bias due to a possible ultra‐low velocity zone atop the core.