Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Transition, Mid-Lithosphere Discontinuity and Radial Anisotropy from Multi-mode Surface Wave Tomography

Abstract:

Seismic surface waves are the major source of information to delineate the lateral heterogeneity and anisotropy in the upper mantle. S-wave radial anisotropy representing the difference between SV and SH velocities is often discussed with the seismic properties of the lithosphere-asthenosphere transition (LAT) and the mid-lithosphere discontinuity (MLD). Such boundaries have been studied well by body-wave receiver functions, which have a good sensitivity to the sharpness of boundaries. Surface waves are rather insensitive to the boundary sharpness, but can delineate the spatial distributions of shear wave speeds and radial anisotropy in the upper mantle, which can be alternative constraints on LAT and MLD.

We have recently constructed a radially anisotropic 3-D S wave speed model of the Australian continent from multi-mode Love and Rayleigh waves with enhanced ray coverage. In the inversions for S-wave radial anisotropy, we can use either parameterizations for SH and SV velocities, or for dimensionless radially anisotropic parameter ξ=(V_sh/V_sv)². Both are theoretically the same, but this difference causes non-negligible effects on the estimated radial anisotropy, mainly due to the different sensitivities of Love-wave phase speeds to the structural parameters. Synthetic experiments and data variance reductions suggest the former is the better choice. The LAT throughout the continent can be estimated by the vertical velocity gradient of the isotropic S-wave model. The radial anisotropy with the suitable model parameterization shows strong anisotropy with faster SH velocity in the asthenosphere, suggesting the influence of strong shear beneath the fast drifting Australian continent. We can also identify the clear vertical changes in the radial anisotropy profiles at the MLD depth estimated from earlier receiver function studies in cratonic regions, which can be a key to elucidate the enigmatic MLD in the continental lithosphere.