Attenuation Tomography of the Upper Mantle

Abstract:

We present a 3-D model of surface wave attenuation in the upper mantle. The model is constrained by a large data set of fundamental and higher Rayleigh mode observations. This data set consists of about 1,800,000 attenuation curves measured in the period range 50-300s by Debayle and Ricard (2012). A careful selection allows us to reject data for which measurements are likely biased by the poor knowledge of the scalar seismic moment or by a ray propagation too close to a node of the source radiation pattern. For each epicenter-station path, elastic focusing effects due to seismic heterogeneities are corrected using DR2012 and the data are turned into log(1/Q). The selected data are then combined in a tomographic inversion using the non-linear least square formalism of Tarantola and Valette (1982). The obtained attenuation maps are in agreement with the surface tectonic for periods and modes sensitive to the top 200km of the upper mantle. Low attenuation regions correlate with continental shields while high attenuation regions are located beneath young oceanic regions. The attenuation pattern becomes more homogeneous at depths greater than 200 km and the maps are dominated by a high quality factor signature beneath slabs. We will discuss the similarities and differences between the tomographies of seismic velocities and of attenuations.