3 d modelling of the crustal s wave velocity structure from active source data application to the eastern alps and the bohemian massif summary here i present results from 3 d modelling of crustal s wave velocities in the eastern part of the eastern and southern alps and the southern part of the bohemian massif data were acquired between 2000 and 2003 during three large 3 d wide angle reflection and refraction experiments the surveys aimed at the p wave velocity structure of the crust and uppermost mantle and therefore only vertical component geophones were used nevertheless many shot gathers show strongs waves in particular refractions from the crust sg waves and reflections from the moho discontinuity sms waves compared to p wave arrivals the traveltimes of s waves can only be picked with a relatively large uncertainty furthermore approximately 80 per cent of the data represent crossline recordings on which it is more difficult to assign certain phases to the arrivals for these reasons i apply signal detection and stacking routines to put the 3 d data set to best possible use concerning the crust a smooth 3 d velocity model is based on refractions from within the crust sg whereas the crust mantle boundary is modelled by reflections sms from the moho discontinuity considering that the projects were designed for p wave studies the proposed methodology provides surprisingly detailed images s wave velocities and poisson s ratio correlate with tectonic units and show significant features in the upper crust a high poisson s ratio is observed in the moravian part of the bohemian massif in the southern alps and in the northern calcareous alps and their basement within the eastern alps the middle and lower crust are only covered in the moldanubian part of the bohemian massif where poisson s ratio is low this would favour a felsic composition the evaluation of sms waves is in accordance with previously proposed p wave velocity models which indicate a fragmentation into three crustal blocks in the centre of the eastern alps

cosmic ray labeling of erosion surfaces in situ nuclide production rates and erosion models a number of in situ cosmogenic radionuclides and stable nuclides have been measured in natural exposed rock surfaces with a view to study their in situ production and rock erosion rates 1 the in situ radionuclides can be used for a high resolution tomography of the erosional history of an exposed surface two stable nuclides 3he 21ne and five radionuclides 10be 26al 36cl 14c 39ar having half lives in the range of 300 1 5 106 yr half life are measurable in many rock types a prerequisite for the application of the in situ nuclides for the study of erosional histories of surfaces is a knowledge of their production rates under different irradiation conditions altitude latitude irradiation geometry and shielding relative nuclide production rates can be determined fairly accurately using the extensive available data on cosmic ray neutrons 2 absolute nuclide production rates cannot generally be predicted with any accuracy because of lack of data on excitation functions of nuclides unless some normalization is possible as was done in the case of several cosmic ray produced isotopes in the atmosphere 3 based on a recent natural calibration experiment in which erosion free surfaces exposed to cosmic radiation for 11 000 yrs were sampled the absolute production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz have been accurately estimated for mountain altitudes in sierra nevada 4 the absolute production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz can therefore be estimated fairly accurately for any given latitude and altitude some measurements of 14c in rocks of low erosion rate 5 similarly allow an estimate of its production rate attempts made to measure the in situ production rates of 3he in rocks have not yet led to a convergent production rate in view of the importance of knowing the production rates of isotopes of he ne and ar i present here theoretical estimates of their production rates based on available cross section data i discuss the information that can be extracted from the study of the in situ nuclides in rocks useful parameters characterizing the exposure history of a rock surface are 1 the effective surface exposure age and 2 the time averaged erosion rate the implications of these parameters for single and multiple nuclide studies are discussed in terms of the erosion models considered

seismic observations of splitting of the mid transition zone discontinuity in earth s mantle the transition zone of earth9s mantle is delineated by globally observed discontinuities in seismic properties at depths of about 410 and 660 kilometers here we investigate the detailed structure between 410 and 660 kilometers depth by making use of regional stacks of precursors to the ss phase the previously observed discontinuity at about 520 kilometers depth is confirmed in many regions but is found to be absent in others there are a number of regions in which we find two discontinuities at about 500 and 560 kilometers depth an effect which can be interpreted as a splitting of the 520 kilometer discontinuity these observations provide seismic constraints on the sharpness and observability of mineralogical phase transitions in the mantle transition zone

coeval fluctuations of the greenland ice sheet and a local glacier central east greenland during late glacial and early holocene time we present a 10be chronology of late glacial to early holocene fluctuations of a greenland ice sheet outlet glacier and the adjacent milne land ice cap in central east greenland ages of boulders on bedrock indicate that both ice masses receded during the younger dryas yd likely due to rising summer temperatures since greenland ice core records register cold mean annual temperatures throughout the yd these ice marginal data support climate conditions characterized by strong seasonality the ice sheet outlet glacier and ice cap deposited inner milne land stade moraines at 11 4 0 8 ka and 11 4 0 6 ka respectively mean moraine ages and 1 uncertainties based on the coeval moraine ages we suggest that both ice masses responded to climate conditions acting on the ice margins specifically ablation moreover the ice sheet responded sensitively i e on the same time scale as a small ice cap to climate conditions

seismic anisotropy in the java banda and philippine subduction zones and its implications for the mantle flow system beneath the sunda plate

the pacific lithosphere asthenosphere boundary seismic imaging and anisotropic constraints from ss waveforms 1 the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary lab separating the rigid lid from the underlying weaker convecting asthenosphere is a fundamental interface in mantle dynamics and plate tectonics however the exact depth and defining mechanism of the lab interface remain poorly understood the ocean plates are ideal for testing hypotheses regarding the nature of a plate since they make up 70 of earth s surface area and have a relatively simple geological history seismically imaging the oceanic lab at high resolution has proved challenging yet several studies have recently increased resolution with provocative results we summarize recent imaging of discontinuity structure beneath much of the pacific using receiver functions from ocean floor borehole seismometers and land stations located at ocean continent margins ss precursors and waveform modeling of multiple phases including multiple bounce s waves scs reverberations and surface waves overall there is much agreement among these different approaches about the reported depth of a negative discontinuity that occurs near the expected depth of the lab some of the apparent discrepancies in depth are explained by the variation in sensitivity of seismic waves that sample structure at different wavelengths yet when the results are considered together no single age depth relationship is illuminated there are also puzzling discrepancies in where the discontinuity is detected which again suggests greater complexity here we test the possibility that discrepant detection of a strong sharp discontinuity is caused by anisotropic structure we stack ss waveforms with bounce points in the central pacific into azimuthal bins we use two methods one that inverts for discontinuity structure based on subtle variations in the character of the ss waveform and another that considers ss at higher frequency we find azimuthal variation in the amplitude of the waveform including a polarity reversal we suggest that anisotropy is an important factor in imaging and constraining discontinuity structure of the oceanic plate and must be carefully considered to constrain the age depth dependence and defining mechanism of the oceanic lithosphere

crustal structure across longmenshan fault belt from passive source seismic profiling 1 we analyse receiver functions from 29 broad band seismographs along a 380 km profile across the longmenshan lms fault belt to determine crustal structure beneath the east tibetan margin and sichuan basin the moho deepens from about 50 km under songpan ganzi in east tibet to about 60 km beneath the lms and then shallows to about 35 km under the western sichuan basin the average crustal vp vs ratios vary in the range 1 75 1 88 under songpan ganzi in east tibet 1 8 2 0 under the lms and decrease systematically across the nw part of the sichuan basin to less than 1 70 a negative phase arrival above the moho under songpan ganzi and sichuan basin is interpreted as a ps conversion from the top of a low velocity layer in the lower crust the very high crustal vp vs ratio and negative polarity ps conversion at the top of lower crust in east tibet are inferred to be seismic signatures of a low viscosity channel in the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau the lateral variation of moho topography crustal vp vs ratio and negative polarity ps conversion at the top of the lower crust along the profile seem consistent with a model of lower crust flow or tectonic escape

a thinned lithospheric image of the tanlu fault zone eastern china constructed from wave equation based receiver function migration 1 we apply the newly proposed wave equation based receiver function poststack migration method to the northern china interior structure project broadband data to image the lithospheric structure of the tanlu fault zone area in eastern china our migration result reveals a 60 to 80 km thick present day lithosphere beneath the study region significantly thinned from the paleozoic lithosphere of 180 km the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary lab is coherently imaged along the 300 km east west profile displaying an arc like shape with its apex roughly coincident with the transverse location of the tanlu fault zone on the surface an obvious uplift from 36 km to 32 km of the moho is also clearly detected right below this fault zone the coincidence of the imaged moho uplift and the lab apex with the surface location of the tanlu fault zone provides seismological evidence for the steep geometry and deep penetration of the fault system and indicates that the tanlu fault zone might have acted as a major channel for anthenosphere upwelling during the mesozoic cenozoic continental extension and lithospheric thinning in eastern china frequency analysis and synthetic modeling suggest that both the moho and the lab are sharp and strong the latter in particular is constrained to have a 3 7 drop in s wave velocity over a depth range of 10 km or less such a rapid velocity change at the base of the lithosphere in the study region cannot be solely explained by thermal variation but likely reflects the presence of volatiles or melt in the asthenosphere or is partially attributed to the compositional contrast between the preserved depleted and dehydrated cratonic lithospheric veneer and the uplifted hydrated and fertile asthenospheric materials

imaging pacific lithosphere seismic discontinuities insights from ss precursor modeling oceanic lithosphere provides an ideal location to decipher the nature of the lithosphere asthenosphere system which is vital to our understanding of plate tectonics it is well established that oceanic lithosphere cools thickens and subsides as it ages according to the conductive cooling models yet this simple realization fails to explain various observations for example old oceanic lithosphere does not subside as predicted further precise imaging of the lower boundary of the oceanic lithosphere has proven challenging here we use ss precursors to image the discontinuity structure across the pacific ocean using 24 years of teleseismic data we image a sharp pervasive velocity discontinuity 3 15 drop over 36 my there is no age depth dependence and we image the discontinuity at an average depth of 60 1 5 km the amplitude and sharpness of the boundary suggests a compositional variation and or layered carbonatitic melt may be required to explain our observations rather than temperature alone the strength and pervasiveness of the boundary suggests that it is likely related to the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary an additional deeper discontinuity at 80 120 km depth is imaged intermittently that in most cases likely represents a continuing negative velocity gradient in depth

2d model of the crust and uppermost mantle along rift profile siberian craton abstract a two dimensional model of the crust and uppermost mantle for the western siberian craton and the adjoining areas of the pur gedan basin to the north and baikal rift zone to the south is determined from travel time data from recordings of 30 chemical explosions and three nuclear explosions along the rift deep seismic sounding profile this velocity model shows strong lateral variations in the crust and sub moho structure both within the craton and between the craton and the surrounding region the pur gedan basin has a 15 km thick low velocity sediment layer overlying a 25 km thick high velocity crystalline crustal layer a paleo rift zone with a graben like structure in the basement and a high velocity crustal intrusion or mantle upward exists beneath the southern part of the pur gedan basin the sedimentary layer is thin or non existent and there is a velocity reversal in the upper crust beneath the yenisey zone the siberian craton has nearly uniform crustal thickness of 40 43 km but the average velocity in the lower crust in the north is higher 6 8 6 9 km s than in the south 6 6 km s the crust beneath the baikal rift zone is 35 km thick and has an average crustal velocity similar to that observed beneath the southern part of craton the uppermost mantle velocity varies from 8 0 to 8 1 km s beneath the young west siberian platform and baikal rift zone to 8 1 8 5 km s beneath the siberian craton anomalous high pn velocities 8 4 8 5 km s are observed beneath the western tunguss basin in the northern part of the craton and beneath the southern part of the siberian craton but lower pn velocities 8 1 km s are observed beneath the low angara basin in the central part of the craton at about 100 km depth beneath the craton there is a velocity inversion with a strong reflecting interface at its base some reflectors are also distinguished within the upper mantle at depth between 230 and 350 km

global crustal thickness from neural network inversion of surface wave data summary we present a neural network approach to invert surface wave data for a global model of crustal thickness with corresponding uncertainties we model the a posteriori probability distribution of moho depth as a mixture of gaussians and let the various parameters of the mixture model be given by the outputs of a conventional neural network we show how such a network can be trained on a set of random samples to give a continuous approximation to the inverse relation in a compact and computationally efficient form the trained networks are applied to real data consisting of fundamental mode love and rayleigh phase and group velocity maps for each inversion performed on a 2 2 grid globally we obtain the a posteriori probability distribution of moho depth from this distribution any desired statistic such as mean and variance can be computed the obtained results are compared with current knowledge of crustal structure generally our results are in good agreement with other crustal models however in certain regions such as central africa and the backarc of the rocky mountains we observe a thinner crust than the other models propose we also see evidence for thickening of oceanic crust with increasing age in applications characterized by repeated inversion of similar data the neural network approach proves to be very efficient in particular the speed of the individual inversions and the possibility of modelling the whole a posteriori probability distribution of the model parameters make neural networks a promising tool in seismic tomography

impact of the cerro hudson and pinatubo volcanic eruptions on the antarctic air and snow chemistry atmospheric records of sulfate and msa in aerosols were obtained by year round samplings in the boundary layer at two coastal antarctic sites neumayer 1983 1995 and dumont d urville 1991 1997 at dumont d urville and neumayer the non sea salt sulfate nssso42 level observed from october 1991 to october 1993 exceeded by 44 and 48 ng m 3 respectively the mean level 150 ng m 3 observed during nonvolcanic years the neumayer and dumont d urville records first exhibit spring october to december 1991 nssso42 concentrations exceeding mean spring concentrations by some 100 to 150 ng m 3 caused by a significant poleward transport of the cerro hudson volcanic aerosol in the lower stratosphere beneath the polar vortex and possibly in the middle upper troposphere limited to 10 ng m 3 during winter 1992 the nssso42 perturbation reached 78 ng m 3 in fall 1993 at neumayer the latter enhancement corresponds to the input of the pinatubo volcanic aerosol advected through stratosphere troposphere air mass exchanges an enhancement of nssso42 concentrations is also recorded in snow layers deposited between 1991 and 1993 at various sites located over the high antarctic plateau on the basis of these firn data the relative impact of the three latest volcanic eruptions of global concern namely mount agung 1963 el chichon 1982 and pinatubo together with cerro hudson 1991 was evaluated in terms of sulfate input at high southern latitudes the fallout of sulfate in central antarctic snow following the cerro hudson pinatubo eruptions was slightly lower than fallout after the mount agung eruption sulfate fallout after el chichon was 2 to 3 times lower than that from either mount agung or pinatubo the enhancement of sulfate levels detected in central antarctic snow deposits during the 1991 1993 time period allows us to estimate a mean atmospheric sulfate perturbation of around 60 ng m 3 in the boundary layer of these regions i e at least 35 higher than that seen at coastal sites this observation suggests that coastal antarctic regions are less sensitive than the high plateau in detecting volcanic sulfate fallouts following eruptions of global concern atmospheric near surface year round sampling achieved at coastal antarctic sites reveals no significant enhancement of the nitrate level over 1992 and 1993 suggesting that volcanic aerosols have had a limited effect on the transfer of nitric acid from the lower antarctic stratosphere to the boundary layer in these regions

abrupt increase in greenland snow accumulation at the end of the younger dryas event the warming at the end of the last glaciation was characterized by a series of abrupt returns to glacial climate the best known of which is the younger dryas event1 despite much study of the causes of this event and the mechanisms by which it ended many questions remain unresolved1 oxygen isotope data from greenland ice cores2 4 suggest that the younger dryas ended abruptly over a period of about 50 years dust concentrations2 4 in these cores show an even more rapid transition 20 years this extremely short timescale places severe constraints on the mechanisms underlying the transition but dust concentrations can reflect subtle changes in atmospheric circulation which need not be associated with a large change in climate here we present results from a new greenland ice core gisp2 showing that snow accumulation doubled rapidly from the younger dryas event to the subsequent preboreal interval possibly in one to three years we also find that the accumulation rate change from the oldest dryas to the bo11ing allerod warm period was large and abrupt the extreme rapidity of these changes in a variable that directly represents regional climate implies that the events at the end of the last glaciation may have been responses to some kind of threshold or trigger in the north atlantic climate system

a sharp lithosphere asthenosphere boundary imaged beneath eastern north america although a rigid lithosphere about 100 km of crust and uppermost mantle moving over a weaker asthenosphere a few hundred kilometres of more deformable rock is a widely accepted aspect of plate tectonics the properties of the boundary between them are poorly understood when compressional waves p waves from an earthquake encounter an interface at an angle some of the energy is converted to shear waves or s waves these converted waves can be used to construct an image of the interface based on converted waves recorded in eastern north america the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary has been resolved as a sharp gradient that cannot be explained by thermal gradients alone indicating that the boundary is controlled by melt or high water content in the asthenosphere plate tectonic theory hinges on the concept of a relatively rigid lithosphere moving over a weaker asthenosphere yet the nature of the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary remains poorly understood the gradient in seismic velocity that occurs at this boundary is central to constraining the physical and chemical properties that create differences in mechanical strength between the two layers for example if the lithosphere is simply a thermal boundary layer that is more rigid owing to colder temperatures mantle flow models1 2 indicate that the velocity gradient at its base would occur over tens of kilometres in contrast if the asthenosphere is weak owing to volatile enrichment3 4 5 6 or the presence of partial melt7 the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary could occur over a much smaller depth range here we use converted seismic phases in eastern north america to image a very sharp seismic velocity gradient at the base of the lithosphere a 3 11 per cent drop in shear wave velocity over a depth range of 11 km or less at 90 110 km depth such a strong sharp boundary cannot be reconciled with a purely thermal gradient but could be explained by an asthenosphere that contains a few per cent partial melt7 or that is enriched in volatiles relative to the lithosphere3 4 5 6

scattered wave imaging of the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary several recent studies have imaged discontinuities interpreted as the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary using receiver function methods these are exciting results since this boundary is fundamental and yet relatively elusive its location is not well imaged nor are its properties well understood the receiver function method provides high depth resolution and the multitude of studies using this method have increased lateral resolution a better global understanding of the location and nature of the boundary is developing which ultimately will have implications for mantle dynamics and planetary evolution however these new results do not all form a clear and consistent picture and in some cases introduce new complexities and questions some apparent contradictions may represent unmodeled earth structure overall interpretation and synthesis requires careful consideration of the approaches and sensitivities of individual studies

anomalously mild younger dryas summer conditions in southern greenland the first late glacial lake sediments found in greenland were analyzed with respect to a variety of environmental variables the analyzed sequence covers the time span between 14400 and 10500 calendar yr b p and the data imply that the conditions in southernmost greenland during the younger dryas stadial 12800 11550 calendar yr b p were characterized by an arid climate with cold winters and mild summers preceded by humid conditions with cooler summers climate models imply that such an anomaly may be explained by local climatic phenomenon caused by high insolation and fohn effects it shows that regional and local variations of younger dryas summer conditions in the north atlantic region may have been larger than previously found from proxy data and modeling experiments

crustal thickness variations across the northern tien shan from teleseismic receiver functions variations in crustal thickness from the kazakh shield to the north central tien shan are determined by receiver function analysis of broadband teleseismic p waveforms recorded on the kyrgyzstan seismic telemetry network knet the receiver functions are calculated using a time domain deconvolution approach and are interpreted in terms of a single crustal layer with thickness determined by a grid search comparison of observed receiver functions with synthetics crustal thicknesses average 42 km in the southern kazakh shield and increase to approximately 60 km in the tien shan together with mass balance calculations these results are consistent with the hypothesis that the compensation of the central tien shan relative to the kazakh shield are accommodated by an airy type crustal root with a modest 300 kg m density contrast across the moho

study of the lithospheric and upper mantle discontinuities beneath eastern asia by ss precursors summary we analyse broad bandss waveform data recorded by several networks in europe with sources mainly in the west pacific to study the underside reflections of teleseismic ss waves in the lithosphere and the upper mantle beneath eastern asia and the nw pacific ocean ss bounce points sample a corridor from the aleutian kamchatka and japan subduction zones through the north china craton and central asian orogenic belt to the tibetan plateau the corridor passes through different tectonic units such as subduction zones an old continental shield a fold belt and a high plateau we investigate the seismic structure of the lithosphere and the mantle transition zone beneath the different geotectonic units along the profile and infer the correlation of geodynamic processes at different depths we explore the short period frequency content in the ss waveform data and use moveout correction and common midpoint stack to acquire profiles with high lateral and depth resolution from the crust to the mantle transition zone clear ss precursors of the 410 and 660 km discontinuities show the effects of the interaction between the subducted oceanic lithosphere and the mantle transition zone beneath the nw pacific subduction zones a low velocity layer has also been detected beneath the 410 km discontinuity and can be traced along the entire profile due to the improved resolution acquired by the method presented here we have been able to study the shallower structures such as the moho and the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary by ss precursors the continental moho can be clearly seen along this corridor the depth variation agrees well with earlier receiver function results we also see negative reflectors along the profile at varying depths which can be interpreted as the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary

transition zone velocity gradients and the 520 km discontinuity stacks of long period global digital seismograph network gdsn seismograms at 110 to 180 epicentral distance reveal precursors to ss that result from underside reflections off upper mantle seismic discontinuities the 410 and 660 km discontinuities are obvious in these stacks but identification and modeling of other transition zone discontinuities are complicated by sidelobes from the 410 and 660 km reflections these sidelobes result from the limited bandwidth of the gdsn instrument responses and the effect of crustal reverberations on the ss reference phase the crustal effects can be minimized by restricting the records to oceanic bounce points where the 6 km thick crust has little effect on the long period waveforms over 2000 long period transverse component seismograms with oceanic ss bounce points recorded by the gdsn from 1976 to 1991 are manually edited aligned on ss and then stacked using a new procedure that weights the records by data quality the resulting image shows a clear reflection from a 520 km discontinuity that cannot be explained as a sidelobe artifact confirming earlier results of shearer 1990 1991 and revenaugh and jordan 1991 by stacking along the expected travel time curves for discontinuity phases the time versus range image of the precursor wave field is reduced to a single trace that measures upper mantle reflectivity versus time the features in this reflectivity profile are sensitive to the brightness and depth of the transition zone discontinuities and to the steepness of the velocity gradients between the interfaces using geometrical ray theory and assuming a constant velocity versus density scaling relationship i fit this reflectivity profile with velocity models of the upper mantle using both forward modeling and direct inversion the inverse problem is addressed by performing a deconvolution of the profile with the ss reference phase after a correction for attenuation followed by a direct mapping of reflectivity versus time into velocity versus depth velocity depth profiles resulting from these procedures are roughly in agreement with standard upper mantle velocity models except that the ss precursor data require a minor discontinuity near 520 km and a steeper gradient just below the 660 km discontinuity estimated discontinuity shear impedance changes are 6 7 1 1 at 420 km 2 9 0 7 at 519 km and 9 9 1 5 at 663 km the impedance change near 520 km is consistent with current mineral physics results for the olivine to phase change and places constraints on the fraction of olivine in the transition zone

mapping the moho with seismic surface waves a review resolution analysis and recommended inversion strategies abstract the strong sensitivity of seismic surface waves to the moho is evident from a mere visual inspection of their dispersion curves or waveforms rayleigh and love waves have been used to study the earth s crust since the early days of modern seismology yet strong trade offs between the moho depth and crustal and mantle structure in surface wave inversions prompted doubts regarding their capacity to resolve the moho here we review surface wave studies of the moho with a focus on early work and then use model space mapping to establish the waves sensitivity to the moho depth and the resolution of their inversion for it if seismic wavespeeds within the crust and upper mantle are known then moho depth variations of a few kilometres produce large 1 perturbations in phase velocities however in inversions of surface wave data with no a priori information wavespeeds not known strong moho depth shear speed trade offs will mask 90 of the moho depth signal with remaining phase velocity perturbations 0 1 only in order to resolve the moho with surface waves alone errors in the data must thus be small up to 0 2 for resolving continental moho with larger errors moho depth resolution is not warranted and depends on error distribution with period an effective strategy for the inversion of surface wave data alone for the moho depth is to first constrain the crustal and upper mantle structure by inversion in a broad period range and then determine the moho depth in inversion in a narrow period range most sensitive to it with the first step results used as reference prior information on crustal and mantle structure reduces the trade offs and thus enables resolving the moho depth with noisier data such information should be used whenever available joint analysis or inversion of surface wave and other data receiver functions topography gravity can reduce uncertainties further and facilitate moho mapping

crustal structure and contact relationship revealed from deep seismic sounding data in south china abstract a 400 km long wide angle seismic profile in the south china crosses three tectonic domains southeast continental margin of yangtze block northwest continental margin of cathaysia block and south china suture zone separating these two blocks the crustal velocity model constructed from traveltime fitting shows that the crust thickness thins from the northwest to the southeast along the profile it also reveals the crustal contact relationship between the yangtze and cathaysia blocks where the wuchuan sihui fault is the boundary between them combining this profile with two more profiles in the continental south china and three profiles in the northern margin of south china sea constructs a continent ocean transition section this cross section reveals that the moho depth shallows gradually along the cross section from the yangtze block to the cathaysia block and the northern margin of south china sea but shallows abruptly in the continent ocean transition to the south china sea

moho offset across the northern margin of the tibetan plateau anomalous double pulse teleseismic p wave arrivals were observed at one station near the northern margin of the tibetan plateau the azimuthal dependence of the waveform distortion and its absence at nearby stations indicated that the distortion was produced by receiver side crustal heterogeneity modeling of the three component data revealed a 15 to 20 kilometer moho offset that occurs over a narrow lateral range of less than 5 kilometers this east west striking offset separates the thick tibetan plateau crust from the qaidam basin crust such a sharp crustal thickness change implies a weak tibetan plateau crust that thickens vertically in response to penetration by india from the south and to blockage caused by a strong qaidam basin crust to the north

synthetic waveform modelling of ss precursors from anisotropic upper mantle discontinuities ss precursors are a powerful tool for interrogating upper mantle discontinuity structure some of these discontinuities may be defined fully or partially by a variation in anisotropy with depth therefore a careful evaluation of ss precursor waveform predictions from anisotropic discontinuities is required here we perform synthetic waveform modelling to evaluate the potential for using ss precursors to constrain anisotropic discontinuities we investigate ss precursor amplitudes from models with azimuthally anisotropic discontinuities with assumed hexagonal symmetry we demonstrate that ss precursor polarity variations are robust across a wide range of earthquake source polarizations for our anisotropic models while polarity variations are not unique among all potential two layer models with anisotropic discontinuities other observables such as the relative arrival time of the precursor and tectonic settings may be used to constrain anisotropic structure we discuss implications for previous imaging of upper mantle discontinuities that may be anisotropic such as the lehmann discontinuity and discontinuities in depth range of the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary beneath the pacific

imaging the colliding indian and asian lithospheric plates beneath tibet 1 a high resolution image of the base of the lithosphere from s to p converted seismic waves revealed the collision architecture of the indian and asian continental plates beneath the tibetan plateau the base of the indian lithosphere dips northward from a depth of 160 km beneath the himalayas to a depth of 220 km just south of the bangong suture the base of the asian lithosphere is nearly horizontal at the depth of 160 180 km from central to northern tibet there is a vertical gap of about 50 km between indian and asian lithospheres our observation of a well defined thick lithosphere throughout the entire plateau is not consistent with models of wholesale convective instability of a thickened mantle lithosphere which would predict a very thin asian lithosphere the hypothesized sequential southward subduction of tibetan and asian continental lithospheres leading to the growth of the tibetan plateau if correct cannot be occurring below 180 km depth our results along with available geological and geophysical data strongly support that the plateau is predominantly formed by a relatively coherent north dipping subducted indian continental lithosphere in the south which presently can be traced to the middle of the plateau and a south dipping subducted asian lithosphere in the north at a shallower depth

constraints on upper mantle discontinuities from observations of long period reflected and converted phases stacked images combining over 5 years of long period global digital seismograph network data reveal many phases associated with reflections and conversions from upper mantle discontinuities these images show travel time and amplitude relative to a reference phase which is aligned and normalized on all seismograms prior to stacking results obtained for p s ss and pp reference arrivals resolve numerous phases from discontinuities near 410 and 660 km while some of the stacks also show evidence for a weaker discontinuity near 520 km phases of particular interest include p and sh multiples resulting from topside reflections precursors to ss from underside reflections and p to sv converted phases these phases can be clearly seen both in the waveform stacks and in cross correlation analysis of individual seismograms travel times for these arrivals are converted to discontinuity depths relative to velocities in the preliminary reference earth model and empirical corrections are applied for the effects of lateral velocity variations in the upper mantle average apparent depths to the discontinuities for the different phases agree to within 3 km for the 410 km discontinuity to within 4 km for the 520 km discontinuity and to within 8 km for the 660 km discontinuity the best global averages are obtained from the ss precursor data which indicate discontinuities at 415 519 and 659 km discontinuity depths obtained from the p to sv converted phases at over 35 individual seismic stations exhibit variations of less than 20 km apparent depths to the 660 km discontinuity consistently show greater variability than depths to the 410 km discontinuity supporting recent laboratory results which indicate that the clapeyron slope for the 660 km discontinuity is significantly larger in magnitude than the slope for the 410 km discontinuity precursors to ss seen between 110 and 180 are particularly useful for mapping possible lateral variations in discontinuity depths since each arrival can be associated with a single underside reflection point apparent discontinuity depths computed from ss precursors for different tectonic regions agree to within about 5 km the ss precursors have especially good coverage near the subducting slabs in the northwest pacific analysis of apparent discontinuity depths in this area suggests the presence of a broad 1000 to 1500 km wide region near the slab in which the 660 km discontinuity is depressed by about 20 km measuring absolute amplitudes for these phases is difficult due to the large corrections required to compensate for the effects of incoherent stacking relative amplitude analysis suggests that the p and s wave impedance changes at 410 km are about 0 8 1 1 times the size of the changes at 660 km and that the contrasts at 520 km are between 0 3 and 0 6 of the changes at 410 km

the preboreal oscillation around the nordic seas terrestrial and lacustrine responses the occurrence of an early preboreal climatic cooling oscillation pbo in lacustrine and glacial records from northwest europe iceland and greenland is reviewed and documented the often subtle response of the proxy records to this oscillation in combination with its short duration make it difficult to detect owing to its chronostratigraphic position between the 10 000 9900 and 9600 9500 14 c plateaux c 11 300 11 150 calendar yr bp it is also difficult to 14 c date with precision we find that the vegetation response to the pbo varies between sites and regions in contrast to the pioneer vegetation in iceland and southern sweden the expanding birch pine forest in germany denmark was more susceptible to deteriorating growing conditions the combined lacustrine tree ring and glacial records imply that the pbo was characterised by cool and humid conditions throughout northwestern and central europe this is documented by vegetation changes decreased aquatic production increased soil erosion increased 2 h and 13 c content in tree rings readvances or stillstands of the ice sheet in norway and finland and ingression of brackish water into the baltic icelandic proxy records from lake sediments and glacial moraines imply cooler conditions than during the previous preboreal period but not as extreme as during the younger dryas greenland records suggest that the early preboreal was characterised by ice readvances as an effect of cool climate and increased precipitation in relation to the younger dryas it was not until the end of the pbo that climate was warm enough to melt the land based ice sheet this preboreal oscillation found on both sides of the nordic seas is interpreted as an effect of increased freshwater forcing on the thermohaline circulation in the nordic seas which is implied by a simultaneous and distinct rise in the atmospheric 14 c 12 c ratio a slow down of the thermohaline circulation may tempor arily have pushed the polar front further south 1997 by john wiley sons ltd preboreal oscillation thermohaline circulation lacustrine records glacial records chronology

deep structure of the continental lithosphere in an unextended orogen an explosive source seismic reflection profile in the urals urals seismic experiment and integrated studies urseis 1995 explosive source near vertical seismic reflection data from the urals seismic experiment and integrated studies urseis profile displays an image of orogenic lithosphere to depths of 225 km the reflective crustal section is characterized by dipping crustal scale shear zones and a pronounced crustal root that show no evidence of overprinting by extension and are preserved since late paleozoic collision toward the east the uralian crustal root is composed of a partially subducted volcanic arc while to the west it has affinity with the east european platform the reflection character of the moho varies across tectonic strike and implies that the moho 1 acted as a structural detachment beneath the trans uralian zone 2 forms a tectonic boundary between terranes beneath the east uralian zone 3 consists of a transitional zone from eclogitized lower crust to peridotitic upper mantle in the crustal root 4 is a 3 9 km thick reflective zone beneath the fold and thrust belt and 5 is a boundary 200 m thick in the west mantle reflections at 80 100 km depth 22 24 s may represent a continuation of the main uralian fault into the subcrustal lithosphere alternatively these reflectors may signify paleozoic or younger mantle shear zones or the top of a zone of partial melting in the upper mantle deeper mantle reflections at 140 160 km 35 45 s and 225 km 55 s may image mafic intrusions at the base of the lithosphere or along localized shear zones in the upper mantle

greenland temperature response to climate forcing during the last deglaciation greenland ice core water isotopic composition 18 o provides detailed evidence for abrupt climate changes but is by itself insufficient for quantitative reconstruction of past temperatures and their spatial patterns we investigate greenland temperature evolution during the last deglaciation using independent reconstructions from three ice cores and simulations with a coupled ocean atmosphere climate model contrary to the traditional 18 o interpretation the younger dryas period was 4 5 2 c warmer than the oldest dryas due to increased carbon dioxide forcing and summer insolation the magnitude of abrupt temperature changes is larger in central greenland 9 to 14 c than in the northwest 5 to 9 c fingerprinting a north atlantic origin simulated changes in temperature seasonality closely track changes in the atlantic overturning strength and support the hypothesis that abrupt climate change is mostly a winter phenomenon

the moho depth map of the european plate summary the european plate has a 4 5 gy long and complex tectonic history this is reflected in the present day large scale crustal structures a new digital moho depth map is compiled from more than 250 data sets of individual seismic profiles 3 d models obtained by body and surface waves receiver function results and maps of seismic and or gravity data compilations we have compiled the first digital high resolution map of the moho depth for the whole european plate extending from the mid atlantic ridge in the west to the ural mountains in the east and from the mediterranean sea in the south to the barents sea and spitsbergen in the arctic in the north in general three large domains within the european plate crust are visible the oldest archean and proterozoic crust has a thickness of 40 60 km the continental variscan and alpine crust has a thickness of 20 40 km and the youngest oceanic atlantic crust has a thickness of 10 20 km

imaging mantle transition zone thickness with sds ss finite frequency sensitivity kernels summary we invert differential sds ss traveltime residuals measured from stacked waveforms and finitefrequency sensitivity kernels for topography on the 410 and 660 km discontinuities this approach yields higher resolution images of transition zone thickness than previous stacking methods which simply average smooth over topographic features apparent structure measured using simple stacking is highly dependent upon the bin size of each stack by inverting for discontinuity topography with a variety of bin sizes we can more accurately calculate the true structure the inverted transition zone model is similar to simple stack models with an average thickness of 242 km but the lateral variations in thickness are larger in amplitude and smaller in scale fast seismic velocities in 3 d mantle models such as sb4l18 correlate with areas of thicker transition zone the elongated curvilinear regions of thickened transition zone that occur near subduction zones are narrow and high amplitude which suggests relatively little lateral spreading and warming of subducted lithosphere within the transition zone the anomalously thin transition zone regions are laterally narrow and not broadly continuous if these variations in transition zone thickness are interpreted as thermal in nature then this model suggests significant temperature variations on small lateral scales

crustal structure of the northeastern margin of the tibetan plateau from the songpan ganzi terrane to the ordos basin abstract the 1000 km long darlag lanzhou jingbian seismic refraction profile is located in the ne margin of the tibetan plateau this profile crosses the northern songpan ganzi terrane the qinling qilian fold system the haiyuan arcuate tectonic region and the stable ordos basin the p wave and s wave velocity structure and poisson s ratios reveal many significant characteristics in the profile the crustal thickness increases from northeast to southwest the average crustal thickness observed increases from 42 km in the ordos basin to 63 km in the songpan ganzi terrane the crust becomes obviously thicker south of the haiyuan fault and beneath the west qinlin shan the crustal velocities have significant variations along the profile the average p wave velocities for the crystalline crust vary between 6 3 and 6 4 km s beneath the songpan ganzi terrane west qinling shan and haiyuan arcuate tectonic region p wave velocities of 6 3 km s are 0 15 km s lower than the worldwide average of 6 45 km s north of the kunlun fault with exclusion of the haiyuan arcuate tectonic region the average p wave velocity is 6 4 km s and only 0 5 km s lower than the worldwide average a combination of the p wave velocity and poisson s ratio suggests that the crust is dominantly felsic in composition with an intermediate composition at the base a mafic lower crust is absent in the ne margin of the tibetan plateau from the songpan ganzi terrane to the ordos basin there are low velocity zones in the west qinling shan and the haiyuan arcuate tectonic region the low velocity zones have low s wave velocities and high poisson s ratios so it is possible these zones are due to partial melting the crust is divided into two layers the upper and the lower crust with crustal thickening mainly in the lower crust as the ne tibetan plateau is approached the results in the study show that the thickness of the lower crust increases from 22 to 38 km as the crustal thickness increases from 42 km in the ordos basin to 63 km in the songpan ganzi terrane south of the kunlun fault both the conrad discontinuity and moho in the west qinling shan and in the haiyuan arcuate tectonic region are laminated interfaces implying intense tectonic activity the arcuate faults and large earthquakes in the haiyuan arcuate tectonic region are the result of interaction between the tibetan plateau and the sino korean and gobi ala shan platforms

heterogeneity of the uppermost mantle beneath russian eurasia from the ultra long range profile quartz the 3850 km long deep seismic sounding profile quartz crosses six major geologic provinces in eurasia and is sourced by 3 nuclear and 48 chemical explosions we present the first interpretation of the entire data set using two dimensional 2 d ray tracing and inversion resolution analysis and 1 d amplitude modeling our interpretation shows a 42 km thick high velocity crust under the baltic shield a 29 km thick crust and high velocity upper mantle under the mezenskaya depression 52 km thick crust with high velocity lower crust and uppermost mantle under the urals and 40 km thick crust under the west siberian basin deepening to 45 km under the altay sayan fold belt high velocity 8 4 km s uppermost mantle is found under the mezenskaya depression and under the east flank of the urals one almost continuous upper mantle boundary occurs at 65 to 80 km depth and another with an approximately 40 km thick lvz occurs at 120 to 140 km depth the shallow upper mantle blocks and the two extensive interfaces indicate strong upper mantle heterogeneity resolution analysis based on direct multivariate model perturbations artificial neural network and principal component analysis indicate the depth uncertainty of the 410 km discontinuity within 6 km and also its trade off with dip and velocities above and below the discontinuity decreased near critical amplitudes of reflections from the 410 km and 660 km discontinuities indicate that these boundaries are most likely represented by gradient zones about 15 20 km thick lithosphere thins asthenospheric velocity decreases and the 410 km discontinuity dips to the se approaching the himalayan orogenic belt

resolving crustal thickness using ss waveform stacks we image lithospheric interfaces using variations in the character of ss waveform stacks a method we term ss lithospheric interface profiling sslip the variations are caused by reflected phases that is underside reflections ss precursors and topside multiples ss reverberations created at velocity discontinuities near the midpoint of the ss ray path stacks from continental versus oceanic bounce point regions produce distinctly different ss waveforms consistent with the large continent ocean difference in crustal thickness to investigate the potential of ss waveform stacks to constrain moho depths under continents we develop a method to fit continental bounce point stacks with a reference ss waveform convolved with a crustal operator the sslip inferred moho depths agree with the crust 2 0 model in asia for those regions where the ss bounce point density is the highest the sslip depths are correlated correlation coefficient 0 82 with the crust 2 0 values averaged over sample bins of 10 radius the sslip method has broad lateral resolution in comparison to most other methods for resolving crustal thickness but has the potential to sample regions where station coverage may be sparse

lithospheric boundaries and upper mantle heterogeneity beneath russian eurasia evidence from the dss profile quartz abstract a combined interpretation of seismic data from the 3850 km long russian seismic profile quartz using chemical and nuclear explosions reveals complex structure of the lithosphere related to the regional tectonics our analysis is focused on the structure of the uppermost mantle and based on 2d ray tracing and inversion of the data from all 51 shots along the profile on 2d attenuation measurements and on the results of an analysis of the long range pn phase three groups of reflectors within the lithosphere are associated with regional to global boundaries previously recognized in stable continental environments one almost continuous upper mantle boundary occurs at 65 to 80 km depth and another with an approximately 40 km thick low velocity zone lvz occurs at 120 140 km depth the shallow upper mantle blocks and the extensive interfaces indicate strong upper mantle heterogeneity imaged by this unique profile the thickness of the lithosphere varies from 220 km under the baltic shield to about 120 130 km under the tectonically active himalayan altay sayan fold belt within the lower part of the lithosphere a zone of lower velocity increased attenuation and varying thickness might be related to hydration and partial melting large structural differences related to tectonic ages and histories are characteristic for the entire lithosphere and extend 200 400 km into the asthenosphere analysis of quartz data gives confident indication of seismic heterogeneity from crustal to regional mantle scales indicating strong involvement of the mantle in tectonic processes

a unified continental thickness from seismology and diamonds suggests a melt defined plate thick rigid continents move over the weaker underlying mantle although geophysical and geochemical constraints on the exact thickness and defining mechanism of the continental plates are widely discrepant xenoliths suggest a chemical continental lithosphere 175 kilometers thick whereas seismic tomography supports a much thicker root 250 kilometers and a gradual lithosphere asthenosphere transition consistent with a thermal definition we modeled ss precursor waveforms from continental interiors and found a 7 to 9 velocity drop at depths of 130 to 190 kilometers the discontinuity depth is well correlated with the origin depths of diamond bearing xenoliths and corresponds to the transition from coarse to deformed xenoliths at this depth the xenolith derived geotherm also intersects the carbonate silicate solidus suggesting that partial melt defines the plate boundaries beneath the continental interior

predictions and observations for the oceanic lithosphere from s to p receiver functions and ss precursors the ocean lithosphere is classically described by the thermal half space cooling hsc or the plate models both characterized by a gradual transition to the asthenosphere beneath scattered waves find sharp seismic discontinuities beneath the oceans possibly from the base of the plate active source studies suggest sharp discontinuities from a melt channel we calculate synthetic s to p receiver functions and ss precursors for the hsc and plate models and also for channels we find that the hsc and plate model velocity gradients are too gradual to create interpretable scattered waves from the base of the plate subtle phases are predicted to follow a similar trend as observations flattening at older ages therefore the seismic discontinuities are probably caused by a thermally controlled process that can also explain their amplitude such as melting melt may coalesce in channels although channels 10 km thick should be resolvable by scattered wave imaging

finite frequency effects in global surface wave tomography summary we compare traditional ray theoretical surface wave tomography with finite frequency tomography using 3 d born sensitivity kernels for long period fundamental mode dispersion measurements the 3 d kernels preserve sidelobes beyond the first fresnel zone and fully account for the directional dependence of surface wave scattering and the effects of timedomain tapering and seismic source radiation tomographic inversions of love and rayleigh phase delay measurements and synthetic checkerboard tests show that 1 small scale s wave velocity anomalies are better resolved using finite frequency sensitivity kernels especially in the lowermost upper mantle 2 the resulting upper mantle heterogeneities are generally stronger in amplitude than those recovered using ray theory and 3 finite frequency tomographic models fit long period dispersion data better than ray theoretical models of comparable roughness we also examine the reliability of 2 d phase velocity sensitivity kernels in global surface wave tomography and show that phase velocity kernels based upon a forwardscattering approximation or previously adopted geometrical simplifications do not reliably account for finite frequency wave propagation effects 3 d sensitivity kernels with full consideration of directional dependent seismic scattering are the preferred method of inverting long period dispersion data finally we derive 2 d boundary sensitivity kernels for lateral variations in crustal thickness and show that finite frequency crustal effects are not negligible in long period surface wave dispersion studies especially for paths along continent ocean boundaries unfortunately we also show that in global studies linear perturbation theory is not sufficiently accurate to make reliable crustal corrections due to the large difference in thickness between oceanic and continental crust

crust and mantle beneath western himalaya ladakh and western tibet from integrated seismic data abstract to understand deep structure of the western himalaya ladakh and western tibet we conduct an integrated analysis of teleseismic body wave recordings from the linear array of 16 portable broadband seismographs along a profile running through the himalaya to the karakoram the database includes p and s receiver functions teleseismic p and s residuals and observations of shear wave splitting in sks the analysis reveals beneath the himalaya a cold region at a depth of several hundred kilometers this anomaly can be caused by remnants of tethys subduction and perhaps is unrelated to the ongoing process the present day process is reflected in velocities beneath the lesser himalaya intermediate between those of the crust and the upper mantle this observation can be explained by scraping off the ductile lower crust of the underthrusting indian plate and accumulation of the high velocity crustal material in the frontal region of the thrust zone a representative value of the crustal thickness at the profile is 65 km and at most stations there is no evidence for a low velocity layer at mid crustal depths which makes crustal channel flow unlikely seismic waves in the upper 200 km of the mantle are faster than in global iasp91 model and the structure includes a low velocity layer sandwiched between two high velocity layers we interpret the lower layer as an image of subducted mantle lithosphere of the indian plate shear wave splitting is different in the south and the north in the south the fast direction of anisotropy is normal to the trend of the himalaya and can be interpreted as an effect of the ne motion of the indian lithosphere in the north the fast direction is oriented e w and can be explained by the fabric left in the presently extinct subduction zones in eastern tibet a similar analysis of the p and s receiver functions reveals upper mantle with the s velocities about 5 lower than in the west the mantle in the vicinity of station lsa lhasa contains a low s velocity layer between 160 km and 230 km depths with a velocity reduction of 0 2 km s underlain by the lehmann discontinuity

global variability of transition zone thickness 1 we analyze recordings from more than 3000 shallow earthquakes and measure s410s s660s differential travel times on a global scale these differential times are obtained using a novel cross correlation technique that eliminates effects associated with a priori assumptions of crustal thickness and velocity variations above the upper mantle transition zone our measurements show absolute perturbations up to 8 s from the global average 242 km which imply transition zone thickness variations of 20 km on a length scale of 2000 km the transition zone under major subduction zones e g the western pacific and south america is significantly thicker than the global average this could be associated with large scale depressions of the 660 km discontinuity due to the accumulation of cold oceanic lithosphere at the base of the upper mantle a narrow transition zone is observed under the central pacific and northern atlantic oceans we also observe a modest anticorrelation between s410s s660s times and the delay times of shear waves predicted using s12 wm13 su et al 1994 in the transition zone which suggests considerable thermal influence on the large scale topography of the 410 and 660 km discontinuities the lack of a stronger anticorrelation suggests that 1 compositional heterogeneities may be present and 2 a significant fraction of thermal anomalies near the transition zone do not extend through the transition zone and influence both the 410 and the 660 km discontinuities a regional analysis shows that the transition zone is on average 6 8 km thicker under continents than under oceans this implies a temperature difference of 50 70 c however we do not observe a clear correlation between thickness and the age of the crust

upper mantle discontinuity structure beneath east anatolian plateau turkey from receiver functions abstract imaging of seismic velocity discontinuities with receiver functions suggests a complex mantle structure beneath the east anatolian plateau by stacking all the receiver functions as a function of ray parameter we examined the moveout characteristics of the data set and tested different velocity models to fit the arrival times of converted phases from the moho and the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary and their multiples the best fitting model shows anomalously thin crust 40 km and lithosphere 65 km and low uppermost mantle velocities causing systematic delays on later discontinuity arrivals these findings are consistent with the high plateau supported by partially molten and buoyant asthenosphere the upper mantle discontinuities are all visible in different frequencies 0 15 and 0 4 hz especially the 410 km discontinuity does not show frequency dependence in amplitude and suggests a sharpness of 10 km or less spatial variations of the 410 and 660 km discontinuities reveal anticorrelated topography and distinct zones of diminished amplitude associated with a detached slab and delaminated fragments of lithospheric mantle in the south the slab becomes deeper and horizontally deflected towards the east suggesting westward migration of slab detachment and resistance to slab penetration at the 660 km discontinuity in the north the mantle transition zone is characterized by two spatially limited lithospheric fragments with complex geometry at the center of the study area the transition zone is thin 230 km suggesting excess temperature of 120 c this warm mantle anomaly most likely is due to hot material trapped within the upper mantle between slab in the south and delaminated fragments in the north