Lithospheric Shear Velocity and Discontinuity Structure of Hudson Bay from S-to-P Receiver Functions and Jointly Inverted P-to-S Receiver Functions and Rayleigh Wave Phase Velocities.

Abstract:

Hudson Bay overlies some of the thickest Precambrian lithosphere on Earth, whose internal structures contain important clues to the earliest workings of plate formation. The Hudson Bay Lithospheric Experiment (HuBLE) has thus far constrained its seismic wavespeed, anisotropy, and discontinuity structures. However, previous work has either focused on a single imaging method or briefly compared two independent methods. In this study, we combine surface wave dispersion curves with P to S receiver functions (PRF) to jointly invert for 1D shear velocity, and also compute independent S to P receiver functions (SRF) using teleseismic earthquakes recorded at 36 broadband seismic stations from the HuBLE experiment and 9 additional regional stations. High shear velocities are observed to depths of 200-300 km in the region, indicating a thick depleted lithospheric keel, with maximum thickness in the center of Hudson Bay. The 1D shear velocity profiles typically exhibit a low-velocity zone in the lower crust, consistent with the hypothesis of post-orogenic or syn-orogenic lower crustal flow or the tectonic burial of metasediments. Observations of a flat Moho in the Rae domain of northwestern Hudson Bay are consistent with an Archean-aged crust, which has remained unaltered since formation. Structures observed within the mantle lithosphere in the depth-stacked S to P receiver functions appear to dip from the Hearne domain towards the Rae domain, suggestive of lithospheric formation through plate tectonic processes. This implies that plate tectonic processes were in action during the Archean when these provinces formed.