TY - JOUR
T1 - P wave anisotropic tomography of the Alps
AU - Hua, Yuanyuan
AU - Zhao, Dapeng
AU - Xu, Yixian
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the International Seismological Center for providing the high-quality arrival time data used in this study. The free software GMT [Wessel and Smith,] is used to plot the figures. We appreciate the helpful discussions with Zewei Wang, Xin Liu, Haibo Wang, and Tao Gou. This work was partially supported by a research grant (26106005) from the MEXT to D. Zhao, as well as NSFC (41530319) to Y. Xu. M. Savage (the Editor), an Associate Editor, and two anonymous referees provided thoughtful review comments which have improved this paper. The tomographic models obtained by this study can be downloaded from the website (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yuanyuan_Hua2).
Publisher Copyright:
©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - The first tomographic images of P wave azimuthal and radial anisotropies in the crust and upper mantle beneath the Alps are determined by joint inversions of arrival time data of local earthquakes and teleseismic events. Our results show the south dipping European plate with a high-velocity (high-V) anomaly beneath the western central Alps and the north dipping Adriatic plate with a high-V anomaly beneath the Eastern Alps, indicating that the subduction polarity changes along the strike of the Alps. The P wave azimuthal anisotropy is characterized by mountain chain-parallel fast-velocity directions (FVDs) in the western central Alps and NE-SW FVDs in the Eastern Alps, which may be caused by mantle flow induced by the slab subductions. Our results reveal a negative radial anisotropy (i.e., Vph < Vpv) within the subducting slabs and a positive radial anisotropy (i.e., Vph > Vpv) in the low-velocity mantle wedge, which may reflect the subvertical plate subduction and its induced mantle flow. The results of anisotropic tomography provide important new information on the complex mantle structure and dynamics of the Alps and adjacent regions.
AB - The first tomographic images of P wave azimuthal and radial anisotropies in the crust and upper mantle beneath the Alps are determined by joint inversions of arrival time data of local earthquakes and teleseismic events. Our results show the south dipping European plate with a high-velocity (high-V) anomaly beneath the western central Alps and the north dipping Adriatic plate with a high-V anomaly beneath the Eastern Alps, indicating that the subduction polarity changes along the strike of the Alps. The P wave azimuthal anisotropy is characterized by mountain chain-parallel fast-velocity directions (FVDs) in the western central Alps and NE-SW FVDs in the Eastern Alps, which may be caused by mantle flow induced by the slab subductions. Our results reveal a negative radial anisotropy (i.e., Vph < Vpv) within the subducting slabs and a positive radial anisotropy (i.e., Vph > Vpv) in the low-velocity mantle wedge, which may reflect the subvertical plate subduction and its induced mantle flow. The results of anisotropic tomography provide important new information on the complex mantle structure and dynamics of the Alps and adjacent regions.
KW - anisotropic tomography
KW - azimuthal anisotropy
KW - radial anisotropy
KW - the Alps
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U2 - 10.1002/2016JB013831
DO - 10.1002/2016JB013831
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85020106874
VL - 122
SP - 4509
EP - 4528
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
SN - 2169-9313
IS - 6
ER -