Constructing a 3D Crustal Model Across the Entire Contiguous US Using Broadband Rayleigh Wave Phase Velocity and Ellipticity Measurements

Abstract:

Imaging the crust and lithosphere structure beneath North America is one of the primary targets for the NSF-funded EarthScope project. In this study, we apply the recently developed ambient noise and surface wave tomography methods to construct a detailed 3D crustal model across the entire contiguous US using USArray data between January 2007 and May 2015. By using both Rayleigh wave phase velocity and ellipticity measurements between 8 and 100 sec period, the shear velocity structure can be well resolved within the five crustal layers we modeled: three upper crust, one middle crust, and one lower crust. Clear correlations are observed between the resolved velocity anomalies and known geological features at all depths. In the uppermost crust, slow Vs anomalies are observed within major sedimentary environments such as the Williston Basin, Denver Basin, and Mississippi embayment, and fast Vs anomalies are observed in environments with deeply exhumed bedrock outcrops at the surface including the Laurentian Highlands, Ouachita-Ozark Interior Highlands, and Appalachian Highlands. In the deeper upper crust, slow anomalies are observed in deep sedimentary basins such as the Green River Basin, Appalachian Basin, Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, and areas surrounding the Gulf of Mexico. Fast anomalies, on the other hand, are observed in the Colorado Plateau, within the Great Plains between the Front Ranges and Midcontinental Rift, and east of the Appalachian Mountains. At this depth, the Midcontinental Rift and Grenville Front clearly correlate well with various velocity structure boundaries. In the middle crust, slow anomalies are mostly observed in the tectonically active areas in the western US, but relatively slow anomalies are also observed southeast of the Precambrian Rift Margins. At this depth, fast anomalies are observed beneath various deep sedimentary basins such as the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, Appalachian Basin, and Central Valley. In the lower crust, a clear west/east dichotomy is observed in which the west is around 15% slower than the east on average. The preliminary geological interpretation of the model will be discussed during the presentation.