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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
USGS1989

Seismic methods for determining earthquake source parameters and lithospheric structure

The seismologic methods most commonly used in studies of earthquakes and the structure of the continental lithosphere are reviewed in three main sections: earthquake source parameter determinations, the determination of earth structure using natural sources, and controlled-source seismology. The emphasis in each section is on a description of data, the principles behind the analysis techniques, and the assumptions and uncertainties in interpretation. Rather than focusing on future directions in seismology, the goal here is to summarize past and current practice as a companion to the review papers in this volume. Reliable earthquake hypocenters and focal mechanisms require seismograph locations with a broad distribution in azimuth and distance from the earthquakes; a recording within one focal depth of the epicenter provides excellent hypocentral depth control. For earthquakes of magnitude greater than 4.5, waveform modeling methods may be used to determine source parameters. The seismic moment tensor provides the most complete and accurate measure of earthquake source parameters, and offers a dynamic picture of the faulting process. Methods for determining the Earth’s structure from natural sources exist for local, regional, and teleseismic sources. One-dimensional models of structure are obtained from body and surface waves using both forward and inverse modeling. Forward-modeling methods include consideration of seismic amplitudes and waveforms, but lack the formal resolution estimates obtained with inverse methods. Two- and three-dimensional lithospheric models are derived using various inverse methods, but at present most of these methods consider only traveltimes of body waves. Controlled-source studies of the Earth’s structure are generally divided by method into seismic refraction/wide-angle reflection and seismic reflection studies. Seismic refraction profiles are usually interpreted in terms of two-dimensional structure by forward modeling of traveltimes and amplitudes. The refraction method gives excellent estimates of seismic velocities, but relatively low resolution of structure. Formal resolution estimates are not possible for models derived from forward modeling, but informal estimates can be obtained by perturbing the best-fitting model. Inversion methods for seismic refraction data for one-dimensional models are well established, and two- and three-dimensional methods, including tomography, have recently been developed. Seismic reflection data provide the highest resolution of crustal structure, and have provided many important geological insights in the past decade. The acquisition and processing of these data have been greatly advanced by the hydrocarbon exploration industry. However, reliable crustal velocity control is generally lacking, and the origin of deep crustal reflections remains unclear, resulting in nonunique interpretations. A new form of lithospheric seismology has recently emerged that combines the advantages of seismic refraction and seismic reflection profiles, and the distinction between the two methods is steadily diminishing. Major challenges for future work will be the collection of data that are more densely sampled in space, and the development of interpretation methods that provide quantitative estimates of the uncertainties in the calculated models.

GSA Memoirs↗
USGS2015

Observatory geoelectric fields induced in a two-layer lithosphere during magnetic storms

We report on the development and validation of an algorithm for estimating geoelectric fields induced in the lithosphere beneath an observatory during a magnetic storm. To accommodate induction in three-dimensional lithospheric electrical conductivity, we analyze a simple nine-parameter model: two horizontal layers, each with uniform electrical conductivity properties given by independent distortion tensors. With Laplace transformation of the induction equations into the complex frequency domain, we obtain a transfer function describing induction of observatory geoelectric fields having frequency-dependent polarization. Upon inverse transformation back to the time domain, the convolution of the corresponding impulse-response function with a geomagnetic time series yields an estimated geoelectric time series. We obtain an optimized set of conductivity parameters using 1-s resolution geomagnetic and geoelectric field data collected at the Kakioka, Japan, observatory for five different intense magnetic storms, including the October 2003 Halloween storm; our estimated geoelectric field accounts for 93% of that measured during the Halloween storm. This work demonstrates the need for detailed modeling of the Earth’s lithospheric conductivity structure and the utility of co-located geomagnetic and geoelectric monitoring.

Kakioka↗
USGS1990

Effect of anelastic and scattering structures of the lithosphere on the shape of local earthquake coda

A simple model of single acoustic scattering is used to study the dependence of the shape of local earthquake coda on the anelastic and scattering structures of the lithosphere. The model is applied to the coda of earthquakes located near Stone Canyon, central California, and provides an explanation for the features observed in the data, which include an interesting temporal variation in the coda shape. A surficial layer with a Q of 50 and thickness of 10 or 25 km underlain by a zone with a Q of 1000 extending to the bottom of the lithosphere, together with a scattering scale length, a, that varies with depth z according to the relation a=0.3 exp[-(z/45)2] are found to constitute the simplest structure of the medium compatible with the coda data and with body and surface wave attenuation data. The profile of heterogeneity sizes implies that the scattering strength increases strongly with depth, a constraint required by the necessity to boost the energy of the later coda without forcing the intrinsic Q to be excessively high in the uppermost mantle. This constraint is viewed as an artifact of the single scattering model which overstimates the scattering coefficient due to the neglect of multiple scattering. The observed temporal variation of the signal is difficult to explain by a simple change of the intrinsic Q at some depth. Rather, it is suggested that the scattering properties at depth changed with time through a variation of the fractional rms velocity fluctuation on the order of one percent. ?? 1990 Birkha??user Verlag.

Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH↗
USGS2006

The giant Carlin gold province: A protracted interplay of orogenic, basinal, and hydrothermal processes above a lithospheric boundary

Northern Nevada hosts the only province that contains multiple world-class Carlin-type gold deposits. The first-order control on the uniqueness of this province is its anomalous far back-arc tectonic setting over the rifted North American paleocontinental margin that separates Precambrian from Phanerozoic subcontinental lithospheric mantle. Globally, most other significant gold provinces form in volcanic arcs and accreted terranes proximal to convergent margins. In northern Nevada, periodic reactivation of basement faults along this margin focused and amplified subsequent geological events. Early basement faults localized Devonian synsedimentary extension and normal faulting. These controlled the geometry of the Devonian sedimentary basin architecture and focused the discharge of basinal brines that deposited syngenetic gold along the basin margins. Inversion of these basins and faults during subsequent contraction produced the complex elongate structural culminations that characterize the anomalous mineral deposit "trends." Subsequently, these features localized repeated episodes of shallow magmatic and hydrothermal activity that also deposited some gold. During a pulse of Eocene extension, these faults focused advection of Carlin-type fluids, which had the opportunity to leach gold from gold-enriched sequences and deposit it in reactive miogeoclinal host rocks below the hydrologic seal at the Roberts Mountain thrust contact. Hence, the vast endowment of the Carlin province resulted from the conjunction of spatially superposed events localized by long-lived basement structures in a highly anomalous tectonic setting, rather than by the sole operation of special magmatic or fluid-related processes. An important indicator of the longevity of this basement control is the superposition of different gold deposit types (e.g., Sedex, porphyry, Carlin-type, epithermal, and hot spring deposits) that formed repeatedly between the Devonian and Miocene time along the trends. Interestingly, the large Cretaceous Alaska-Yukon intrusion-related gold deposits (e.g., Fort Knox) are associated with the northern extension of the same lithospheric margin in the Selwyn basin, which experienced an analogous series of geologic events. ?? Springer-Verlag 2006.

Mineralium Deposita↗
USGS1992

Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes of ultramafic xenoliths in volcanic rocks of Eastern China: Enriched components EMI and EMII in subcontinental lithosphere

The U-Th-Pb, Sm-Nd, and Rb-Sr isotopic systematics of mafic and ultramafic xenolithic rocks and associated megacrystic inclusions of aluminous augite and garnet, that occur in three alkalic volcanic suites: Kuandian in eastern Liaoning Province, Hanluoba in Hebei Province, and Minxi in western Fujian Province, China are described. In various isotopic data plots, the inclusion data invariably fall outside the isotopic ranges displayed by the host volcanic rocks, testifying to the true xenolithic nature of the inclusions. The major element partitioning data on Ca, Mg, Fe, and Al among the coexisting silicate minerals of the xenoliths establish their growth at ambient mantle temperatures of 1000–1100°C and possible depths of 70–80 km in the subcontinental lithosphere. Although the partitioning of these elements reflects equilibrium between coexisting minerals, equilibria of the Pb, Nd, and Sr isotopic systems among the minerals were not preserved. The disequilibria are most notable with respect to the 206 Pb/ 204 Pb ratios of the minerals. On a Nd-Sr isotopic diagram, the inclusion data plot in a wider area than that for oceanic basalts from a distinctly more depleted component than MORB with higher 143 Nd/ 144 Nd and a much broader range of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values, paralleling the theoretical trajectory of a sea-water altered lithosphere in Nd-Sr space. The garnets consistently show lowerμ andκ values than the pyroxenes and pyroxenites, whereas a phlogopite shows the highestμ andκ values among all the minerals and rocks studied.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters↗
USGS2021

Electrical conductivity of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system

Electromagnetic geophysical methods image the electrical conductivity of the subsurface. Electrical conductivity is an intrinsic material property that is sensitive to temperature, composition, porosity, volatile and/or melt content, and other physical properties relevant to the solid Earth. Therefore, imaging the electrical structure of the crust and mantle yields valuable information on the physical and chemical state of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system. Here we explore the viability of the passive magnetotelluric (MT) method for constraining upper mantle properties. We approach this problem in four successive steps: 1) review the electrical conductivity behavior of relevant materials; 2) predict the bulk electrical conductivity structure of oceanic and continental lithosphere for a suite of representative physical states; 3) generate synthetic MT data from the conductivity predictions; 4) compare and discuss the conductivity predictions and the synthetic data with select case studies from oceanic and continental settings. Our aim is to clarify the uncertainties associated with drawing inferences from electrical conductivity observations and ultimately to provide a basis for assigning confidence levels to interpretations.

Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors↗
USGS2016

Elastic stress transmission and transformation (ESTT) by confined liquid: A new mechanics for fracture in elastic lithosphere of the earth

We report on a new mechanical principle, which suggests that a confined liquid in the elastic lithosphere has the potential to transmit a maximum applied compressive stress. This stress can be transmitted to the internal contacts between rock and liquid and would then be transformed into a normal compressive stress with tangential tensile stress components. During this process, both effective compressive normal stress and tensile tangential stresses arise along the liquid–rock contact. The minimum effective tensile tangential stress causes the surrounding rock to rupture. Liquid-driven fracture initiates at the point along the rock–liquid boundary where the maximum compressive stress is applied and propagates along a plane that is perpendicular to the minimum effective tensile tangential stress and also is perpendicular to the minimum principal stress. Liquid-driven fractures and dikes propagate along the axes of cylindrical zones that are perpendicular to the minimum compressive principal stress in rocks in non-tectonic regions. The minimum depth for liquid-driven fracture, which is induced by a spherical confined liquid and an isolated magma chamber in the elastic lithosphere, ranges from 2 to 6 km, whereas dikes with hemi-cylinder-shaped ends propagate upwards closer to the surface under gravity. Transmission of pumping pressure, i.e. the pressure differences on the underside of a dike that is connected with a chamber, from the source magma chamber to intermediate and shallow chambers increases liquid pressure and also the effective tensile tangential stress and therefore leads to new fractures and dike formation and to upwards transport of magmas that have stagnated in the intermediate chamber. Tectonic stress alters local stress fields in the surrounding country rocks and therefore synchronously varies the local effective tensile tangential stress and the nature and geometry of the liquid-driven fractures.

Tectonophysics↗
USGS1997

Continents as lithological icebergs: The importance of buoyant lithospheric roots

An understanding of the formation of new continental crust provides an important guide to locating the oldest terrestrial rocks and minerals. We evaluated the crustal thicknesses of the thinnest stable continental crust and of an unsubductable oceanic plateau and used the resulting data to estimate the amount of mantle melting which produces permanent continental crust. The lithospheric mantle is sufficiently depleted to produce permanent buoyancy (i.e., the crust is unsubductable) at crustal thicknesses greater than 25–27 km. These unsubductable oceanic plateaus and hotspot island chains are important sources of new continental crust. The newest continental crust (e.g., the Ontong Java plateau) has a basaltic composition, not a granitic one. The observed structure and geochemistry of continents are the result of convergent margin magmatism and metamorphism which modify the nascent basaltic crust into a lowermost basaltic layer overlain by a more silicic upper crust. The definition of a continent should imply only that the lithosphere is unsubductable over ≥ 0.25 Ga time periods. Therefore, the search for the oldest crustal rocks should include rocks from lower to mid-crustal levels.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters↗
USGS2002

Seismic velocity structure of the continental lithosphere from controlled source data

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a summary of the seismic velocity structure of the continental lithosphere, i.e., the crust and uppermost mantle. We define the crust as the outer layer of the Earth that is separated from the underlying mantle by the Mohorovičić discontinuity (Moho). We adopted the usual convention of defining the seismic Moho as the level in the Earth where the seismic compressional-wave ( P -wave) velocity increases rapidly or gradually to a value greater than or equal to 7.6 km sec −1 (Steinhart, 1967), defined in the data by the so-called “ Pn ” phase ( P-n ormal). Here we use the term uppermost mantle to refer to the 50–200+ km thick lithospheric mantle that forms the root of the continents and that is attached to the crust (i.e., moves with the continental plates). This summary has been preceded by 90 y of intense scientific activity. Mohorovičić (1910) was the first to publish an estimate for crustal thickness (54 km near Zagreb, Croatia), and to describe the seismically defined boundary between the crust and mantle that now bears his name (often shortened to “the Moho”). The fact that the oceanic crust is significantly thinner than continental crust (5 km versus about 40 km) was documented 40 y later (e.g., Hersey et al., 1952). Numerous later studies demonstrated that the continental crust varies in thickness from about 15 km to greater than 70 km beneath the Tibet plateau. Jarchow and Thompson (1989) provide a useful summary of early crustal studies, and Table 1 provides additional references. We emphasize results from active-source seismic refraction profiles that provide detailed P -wave velocity information. The shear-wave ( S -wave) structure of the crust and uppermost mantle, as determined by surface waves, is discussed, for example, by Ekström et al. (1997) and Ritzwoller et al. (1998).

International Geophysics↗
USGS1998

The Cascadia Subduction Zone: Two contrasting models of lithospheric structure

The Pacific margin of North America is one of the most complicated regions in the world in terms of its structure and present day geodynamic regime. The aim of this work is to develop a better understanding of lithospheric structure of the Pacific Northwest, in particular the Cascadia subduction zone of Southwest Canada and Northwest USA. The goal is to compare and contrast the lithospheric density structure along two profiles across the subduction zone and to interpet the differences in terms of active processes. The subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath North America changes markedly along the length of the subduction zone, notably in the angle of subduction, distribution of earthquakes and volcanism, goelogic and seismic structure of the upper plate, and regional horizontal stress. To investigate these characteristics, we conducted detailed density modeling of the crust and mantle along two transects across the Cascadia subduction zone. One crosses Vancouver Island and the Canadian margin, the other crosses the margin of central Oregon.

Oregon, Washington, British Columbia↗
USGS2000

Slip rates on San Francisco Bay area faults from anelastic deformation of the continental lithosphere

Long-term slip rates on major faults in the San Francisco Bay area are predicted by modeling the anelastic deformation of the continental lithosphere in response to regional relative plate motion. The model developed by Bird and Kong [1994] is used to simulate lithospheric deformation according to a Coulomb frictional rheology of the upper crust and a dislocation creep rheology at depth. The focus of this study is the long-term motion of faults in a region extending from the creeping section of the San Andreas fault to the south up to the latitude of Cape Mendocino to the north. Boundary conditions are specified by the relative motion between the Pacific plate and the Sierra Nevada-Great Valley microplate [ Argus and Gordon , 2000]. Rheologic-frictional parameters are specified as independent variables, and prediction errors are calculated with respect to geologic estimates of slip rates and maximum compressive stress directions. The model that best explains the region-wide observations is one in which the coefficient of friction on all of the major faults is less than 0.15, with the coefficient of friction for the San Andreas fault being approximately 0.09, consistent with previous inferences of San Andreas fault friction. Prediction error increases with lower fault friction on the San Andreas, indicating a lower bound of μSAF > 0.08. Discrepancies with respect to previous slip rate estimates include a higher than expected slip rate along the peninsula segment of the San Andreas fault and a slightly lower than expected slip rate along the San Gregorio fault.

California↗
USGS2005

Models of lithosphere and asthenosphere anisotropic structure of the Yellowstone hot spot from shear wave splitting

Teleseismic shear wave splitting measured at 56 continuous and temporary seismographs deployed in a 500 km by 600 km area around the Yellowstone hot spot indicates that fast anisotropy in the mantle is parallel to the direction of plate motion under most of the array. The average split time from all stations of 0.9 s is typical of continental stations. There is little evidence for plume-induced radial strain, suggesting that any contribution of gravitationally spreading plume material is undetectably small with respect to the plate motion velocity. Two stations within Yellowstone have splitting measurements indicating the apparent fast anisotropy direction (ϕ) is nearly perpendicular to plate motion. These stations are ∼30 km from stations with ϕ parallel to plate motion. The 70° rotation over 30 km suggests a shallow source of anisotropy; however, split times for these stations are more than 2 s. We suggest melt-filled, stress-oriented cracks in the lithosphere are responsible for the anomalous ϕ orientations within Yellowstone. Stations southeast of Yellowstone have measurements of ϕ oriented NNW to WNW at high angles to the plate motion direction. The Archean lithosphere beneath these stations may have significant anisotropy capable of producing the observed splitting.

Yellowstone↗
USGS2009

Anatomy of the dead sea transform from lithospheric to microscopic scale

Fault zones are the locations where motion of tectonic plates, often associated with earthquakes, is accommodated. Despite a rapid increase in the understanding of faults in the last decades, our knowledge of their geometry, petrophysical properties, and controlling processes remains incomplete. The central questions addressed here in our study of the Dead Sea Transform (DST) in the Middle East are as follows: (1) What are the structure and kinematics of a large fault zone? (2) What controls its structure and kinematics? (3) How does the DST compare to other plate boundary fault zones? The DST has accommodated a total of 105 km of leftlateral transform motion between the African and Arabian plates since early Miocene (???20 Ma). The DST segment between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, called the Arava/ Araba Fault (AF), is studied here using a multidisciplinary and multiscale approach from the ??m to the plate tectonic scale. We observe that under the DST a narrow, subvertical zone cuts through crust and lithosphere. First, from west to east the crustal thickness increases smoothly from 26 to 39 km, and a subhorizontal lower crustal reflector is detected east of the AF. Second, several faults exist in the upper crust in a 40 km wide zone centered on the AF, but none have kilometer-size zones of decreased seismic velocities or zones of high electrical conductivities in the upper crust expected for large damage zones. Third, the AF is the main branch of the DST system, even though it has accommodated only a part (up to 60 km) of the overall 105 km of sinistral plate motion. Fourth, the AF acts as a barrier to fluids to a depth of 4 km, and the lithology changes abruptly across it. Fifth, in the top few hundred meters of the AF a locally transpressional regime is observed in a 100-300 m wide zone of deformed and displaced material, bordered by subparallel faults forming a positive flower structure. Other segments of the AF have a transtensional character with small pull-aparts along them. The damage zones of the individual faults are only 5-20 m wide at this depth range. Sixth, two areas on the AF show mesoscale to microscale faulting and veining in limestone sequences with faulting depths between 2 and 5 km. Seventh, fluids in the AF are carried downward into the fault zone. Only a minor fraction of fluids is derived from ascending hydrothermal fluids. However, we found that on the kilometer scale the AF does not act as an important fluid conduit. Most of these findings are corroborated using thermomechanical modeling where shear deformation in the upper crust is localized in one or two major faults; at larger depth, shear deformation occurs in a 20-40 km wide zone with a mechanically weak decoupling zone extending subvertically through the entire lithosphere. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

Reviews of Geophysics↗
USGS2012

Lithospheric loading by the 1896 Riku-u earthquake, northern Japan: Implications for plate flexure and asthenospheric rheology

Under favorable circumstances the time-dependent aseismic deformation resulting from the loading of the lithosphere by the stress drop of large dip slip earthquakes can be used to determine both the effective elastic plate thickness and the asthenospheric viscosity. The deformation has several similarities with the deflection of the lithosphere by surface loads and with movements due to postglacial rebound. Level changes obtained in the 80 years since the M = 7.5, 1896 Riku-u earthquake, an intraplate thrust event in northern Honshu, provide convincing evidence that asthenospheric readjustments are responsible for the observed movements. Leveling surveys crossing the zone of surface faulting have been repeated five times since 1900 and delineate a localized depression that has subsided at a continually decreasing rate. The depression is centered close to the 1896 faulting, and its shape and width, about 75 km, are matched by our model using a plate thickness of 30 km. The decaying subsidence rate constrains the viscosity of the uppermost asthenosphere to be 1×10 20 P. A linear viscous rheology matches the observed decay quite well, although measurements are sparse during the several decades following the earthquake.

Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth↗
USGS2012

On the state of lithospheric stress in the absence of applied tectonic forces

Numerous published analyses of the nontectonic state of stress are based on Hooke's law and the boundary condition of zero horizontal deformation. This approach has been used to determine the gravitational stress state as well as the effects of processes such as erosion and temperature changes on the state of lithospheric stress. The major disadvantage of these analyses involves the assumption of lateral constraint which seems unrealistic in view of the observational fact that the crust can deform horizontally in response to applied loads. If the same problems are addressed by assuming that the remote stress state is constant, instead of the condition of zero horizontal deformation, then the resulting stress states are entirely different and in good accord with observations. In the absence of applied tectonic forces the only likely gravitational stress states are those for which all three principal stresses are nearly equal. To the contrary, the gravitational stress states developed on the basis of the lateral constraint assumption can be ruled out. The processes of erosion and sedimentation have slight tendencies to increase and decrease, respectively, the state of deviatoric stress. In particular, for initial stress states in the range of slightly extensional to compressional, erosion has the effect of enhancing the ratio of average horizontal to vertical stress, which may explain, at least in part, the common observation of high near-surface horizontal stresses. Temperature changes have only minor effects on the stress state, as averaged over the thickness of the lithosphere.

Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth↗
USGS2010

Slab pull and the seismotectonics of subducting lithosphere

This synthesis links many seismic and tectonic processes at subduction zones, including great subduction earthquakes, to the sinking of subducted plate. Earthquake data and tectonic modeling for subduction zones indicate that the slab pull force is much larger than the ridge push force. Interactions between the forces that drive and resist plate motions cause spatially and temporally localized stresses that lead to characteristic earthquake activity, providing details on how subduction occurs. Compression is localized across a locked interface thrust zone, because both the ridge push and the slab pull forces are resisted there. The slab pull force increases with increasing plate age; thus because the slab pull force tends to bend subducted plate downward and decrease the force acting normal to the interface thrust zone, the characteristic maximum earthquake at a given interface thrust zone is inversely related to the age of the subducted plate. The 1960 Chile earthquake ( M w 9.5), the largest earthquake to occur in historic times, began its rupture at an interface bounding oceanic plate <30 m.y. old. However, this rupture initiation was associated with the locally oldest subducting lithosphere (weakest coupling); the rupture propagated southward along an interface bounding progressively younger oceanic lithosphere, terminating near the subducting Chile Rise. Prior to a great subduction earthquake, the sinking subducted slab will cause increased tension at depths of 50–200 km, with greatest tension near the shallow zone resisting plate subduction. Plate sinking not only leads to compressional stresses at a locked interface thrust zone but may load compressional stresses at plate depths of 260–350 km, provided that the shallow sinking occurs faster than the relaxation time of the deeper mantle. This explains K. Mogi's observations of M ≥ 7 thrust earthquakes at depths of 260–350 km, immediately downdip and within 3 years prior to five great, shallow earthquakes of northern Japan. The slab pull model explains the lower layer of double seismic zones as due to tension from the deeper, sinking plate and the upper layer as due to localized in-plate compression, as plate motion is resisted by the bounding mantle. Just downdip of the interface thrust zone, there occurs an aseismic 20°–50° dip increase of subducted plate. This slab bend reflects the summed slab pull force of deeper plate and probably is at the crustal basalt to eclogite phase change. Resistance to subduction provided by a continually developing slab bend may be an important factor in the size of slab pull force delivered to an interface thrust zone.

Reviews of Geophysics↗
USGS2010

Coincident seismic reflection/refraction studies of the continental lithosphere: A global review.

Nearly 50 coincident seismic reflection/refraction studies to depths of at least the Moho provide an improved understanding of the continental lithosphere. Some conclusions include the following: (1) A transparent upper crust, a common observation on vertical reflection profiles, cannot generally be correlated with velocity gradients or low-velocity zones. Rather, a commonly transparent upper crust may be explained by short-wavelength, steeply dipping features in the brittle upper crust and to a lesser degree by signal contamination from source-generated noise. (2) The reflective lower crust in extensional terranes appears to be characterized by a high average seismic velocity (6.6–7.3 km/s) and to consist of laminated high- and low-velocity layers with typical thicknesses of 100–200 m. (3) Landward dipping reflectors observed in the middle to lower crusts of convergent zones have been identified as paired high- and low-velocity slabs which represent oceanic crust and mantle accreted via underplating to the continental margin. (4) The crust-mantle boundary may differ sufficiently when imaged with vertical incidence and wide-angle data to justify the retention, for the present, of the concept of separate reflection and refraction Mohos. While there is good evidence that these features are coincident within measurement uncertainties in most regions, recently recorded data from the Basin and Range admit the possibility for noncoincidence in that area. (5) Upper mantle reflections which cannot be migrated into the lower crust remain rare, despite isolated unequivocal examples. Thus the upper mantle appears to be relatively homogeneous at seismic reflection wavelengths and to lack the laminations inferred for the lower crust. The wide-angle method will likely provide the most reliable information on the velocity structure and physical state of this portion of the lithosphere for some years to come. (6) There appear to be clear and consistent basic differences between convergent and extensional terranes which have been identified from coincident experiments; these differences may be sufficiently universal to infer the tectonic history of poorly exposed terranes. (7) No truly three-dimensional coincident experiment (i.e., including three-dimensional migration) has been conducted, but some three-dimensional data have been collected using both methods. Measurements of attenuation, Poisson's ratio, and anisotropy within the crust using coincident data sets remain frontiers.

Reviews of Geophysics↗
USGS2024

Lead isotopes constrain Precambrian crustal architecture, thermal history, and lithospheric foundering in Laurentia

Laurentia (ancestral North America) records nearly 4 billion years of crustal evolution. Here, a newly compiled continental-scale Pb isotopic database is used to evaluate the Precambrian crustal evolution of Laurentia. Pb model ages yield a 2.7 Ga peak, a 2.5–1.8 Ga minimum and 1.8–0.9 Ga continuum. Pb model ages yield thermochronometric data and track crustal growth via arc-related magmatism and accretionary orogenesis. Model 232 Th/ 204 Pb and 238 U/ 204 Pb broadly correlate with mapped crustal domains. More homogeneous and less radiogenic 238 U/ 204 Pb and 232 Th/ 238 U after 2.7 Ga suggests a shift to more juvenile sources, loss of early isotopic reservoirs and greater crustal reworking. U and Th are fractionated from Pb in Proterozoic orogens with abundant ferroan and anorthosite–mangerite–charnockite–granite(AMCG)-suite magmatism. This fractionation suggests the removal of Pb-rich lower crust, supporting petrogenetic models involving lithospheric foundering and magmatic underplating. Lithospheric thinning and associated magmatism may have contributed to high middle Proterozoic geothermal gradients.

Terra Nova↗