An anisotropic shear velocity model of the Earth's mantle using normal modes, body waves, surface waves and long-period waveforms

摘要

We use normal-mode splitting functions in addition to surface wave phase anomalies, body wave traveltimes and long-period waveforms to construct a 3-D model of anisotropic shear wave velocity in the Earth's mantle. Our modelling approach inverts for mantle velocity and anisotropy as well as transition-zone discontinuity topographies, and incorporates new crustal corrections for the splitting functions that are consistent with the non-linear corrections we employ for the waveforms. Our preferred anisotropic model, S362ANI+M, is an update to the earlier model S362ANI, which did not include normal-mode splitting functions in its derivation. The new model has stronger isotropic velocity anomalies in the transition zone and slightly smaller anomalies in the lowermost mantle, as compared with S362ANI. The differences in the mid- to lowermost mantle are primarily restricted to features in the Southern Hemisphere. We compare the isotropic part of S362ANI+M with other recent global tomographic models and show that the level of agreement is higher now than in the earlier generation of models, especially in the transition zone and the lower mantle. The anisotropic part of S362ANI+M is restricted to the upper 300 km in the mantle and is similar to S362ANI.When radial anisotropy is allowed throughout the mantle, large-scale anisotropic patterns are observed in the lowermostmantle with v_(SV) >v_(SH) beneath Africa and South Pacific and vSH > vSV beneath several circum-Pacific regions. The transition zone exhibits localized anisotropic anomalies of ~3 per cent v_(SH) > v_(SV) beneath North America and the Northwest Pacific and ~2 per cent v_(SV) > v_(SH) beneath South America. However, small improvements in fits to the data on adding anisotropy at depth leave the question open on whether large-scale radial anisotropy is required in the transition zone and in the lower mantle. We demonstrate the potential of mode-splitting data in reducing the trade-offs between isotropic velocity and anisotropy in the lowermost mantle for the even-degree variations. Spurious anisotropic variations in the mid-mantle are also suppressed with the addition of mode-splitting data.