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

9405542希恩这项研究是为了对地幔不连续的锐度和深度分布进行地震估计，这对限制地球成分和温度的模型是很重要的。这种类型的大多数测量都是在稀疏分布的全球台站进行的，横向平均显著。然而，即将在科罗拉多高原和盆地和山脉部署的PASSCAL宽带组合阵列，与美国西部现有的宽带数据相结合，为跨越盆地和山脉、科罗拉多高原、落基山脉和大平原地貌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。了解这一大区域地幔不连续结构的细节和变化，对于确定上地幔的热结构和化学结构，并有助于回答有关大陆演化和采样的地理省之间过渡的性质等基本问题至关重要。***

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. ***