Study of the Mantle Discontinuity Under the Western United States from Portable and Permanent Broad Band Arrays

这项研究的目的是对地幔不连续的清晰度和深度分布进行地震估计，这对于约束地球上的成分和温度模型是重要的。这种类型的大多数测量都是在分布稀疏的具有显著横向平均的全球站进行的。然而，即将在科罗拉多高原、盆地和山脉部署的pascal宽带阵列，结合美国西部现有的宽带数据，为跨越盆地和山脉、科罗拉多高原、落基山脉和大平原等地理省份的地幔不连续结构的高分辨率成像提供了独特的机会。了解这个大区域的地幔不连续结构的细节和变化，对于确定上地幔的热化学结构至关重要，有助于回答有关大陆演化的基本问题，以及采样的地理省之间过渡的性质。* * *

9405542 Sheehan This research is to make seismic estimates of the sharpness and depth distribution of mantle discontinuities which are important for constraining models of composition and temperature in the Earth. Most measurements of this type have been made at sparsely distributed global stations with significant lateral averaging. However, the combined broadband array available from an upcoming PASSCAL broadband deployment in the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range, integrated with existing broadband data from the western U.S., provides a unique opportunity for high resolution imaging of mantle discontinuity structure spanning the Basin and Range, Colorado Plateau, Rocky Mountains, and Great Plains physiographic provinces. Knowledge of the details and variations in mantle discontinuity structure across this large region is crucial in determining the thermal and chemical structure of the upper mantle and helping to answer fundamental questions regarding continental evolution and the nature of transitions between the physiographic provinces sampled. ***