Wortel, Rinus | Search NASA

NASA NTRS1989

Resolution experiments for NW Pacific subduction zone tomography

Results are reported from an investigation of the resolving power of ISC/NEIC P travel-time data in tomographic inversions for the geometry of the subduction zones in the NW Pacific. From thermal models for the Kurile, Janan, Izu-Bonin, Mariana, and Ryukyu slabs, three-dimensional synthetic velocity anomalies for subducting slabs are generated and projected onto a cell model for the uppermost 1400 km of the mantle. These synthetic models are used to compute synthetic delay times for ray paths corresponding to the source and receiver locations used for the actual data, add Gaussian noise, invert the synthetic data, and compare the resulting velocity structure to the initial synthetic models. This comparison is illustrated for sections through the Kuriles and the Mariana arcs. A variety of resolution artifacts are observed, which in many cases resemble features visible in the tomographic results obtained from inverting the actual ISC/NEIC data.

Spakman, Wim↗

NASA NTRS1987

Why does near ridge extensional seismicity occur primarily in the Indian Ocean?

It is argued that though thermoelastic stresses provide a low level background in all plates, the data favoring their contributing significantly to the stress field and seismicity in the young oceanic lithosphere may be interpreted in terms of stresses resulting from individual plate geometry and local boundary effects. The dramatic concentration of extensional seismicity in the Central Indian Ocean region is shown to be consistent with finite element results for the intraplate stress incorporating the effects of the Himalayan collision and the various subduction zones. Most of the data for both ridge-parallel extension and depth stratification are provided by earthquakes in this area, and it is suggested that these effects may be due more to the regional stress.

Stein, Seth↗