Atlas of the underworld: Slab remnants in the mantle, their sinking history, and a new outlook on lower mantle viscosity

Meer, Douwe G. van der; Hinsbergen, Douwe J.J. van; Spakman, Wim

doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2017.10.004

Cited by 310 publications

(338 citation statements)

References 479 publications

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“…However, F2 in our models is present in the lower mantle, and it extends deeper in the mantle in other previous models (French & Romanowicz, ; Van Benthem et al, ). A possible explanation for F2 is that it corresponds to the Socorro slab described in Van der Meer et al (), interpreted as a remnant of intraoceanic subduction, although this requires further validation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Three‐Dimensional S Velocity Structure of the Mantle Transition Zone Beneath Central America and the Gulf of Mexico Inferred Using Waveform Inversion

2019

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Travel time tomography studies have reported various modes of subduction of slabs around the mantle transition zone, but the causes of this variability are still controversial. In order to place additional constraints on the style of subduction in and near the mantle transition zone, we apply waveform inversion to S wave triplications due to the 410‐ and 660‐km discontinuities, and infer the regional three‐dimensional S velocity structure in the depth range 370–820 km beneath Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. We use ~3,400 transverse component records at epicentral distances 17–30° from 20 intermediate focus earthquakes beneath Central America recorded at stations of the USArray and other smaller networks. We filter the records between 20 and 100 s, and use the portions of the waveforms from 10 s before to ~40–80 s after the arrival of the direct S wave, thereby including the S wave triplications while excluding the sS depth phase. We correct the data for the structure above our target region using previous S velocity models, and we show that the results of the inversion do not depend heavily on which correction is used. Resolution tests confirm that we can resolve small‐scale structure in the target region. Our inferred models show that the Cocos slab penetrates into the lower mantle, but with important variations along the Middle America Trench in the subduction style of the slab. We suggest that this variability could be due to the thermal structure of the Cocos slab, and to the interaction of the slab with a possible lower mantle plume.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Three‐Dimensional S Velocity Structure of the Mantle Transition Zone Beneath Central America and the Gulf of Mexico Inferred Using Waveform Inversion

2019

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“…With increasing quality of geophysical measurement and network density, today's tomographic images allow to observe the 15 geometry variation of slab geometry with depths (van der Meer et al, 2017). Such variations of slab shape are observed below the strait of Gibraltar (Bezada et al, 2013), below Turkey (Biryol et al, 2011), below Japan (Zhao et al, 2012Liu and Zhao, 2016), below the eastern Caribbean plate (Van Benthem et al, 2013) and in many other subduction zones, and are summarized in the SLAB1.0 model (Hayes et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mccaffrey, 1992). This is also reflected in the westward decrease of the length of the Aleutian subducted slab (van der Meer et al, 2017). Consequently, the subduction rate along the Aleutian trench must 5 gradually decrease from east to west upon increasing subduction obliquity.…”

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confidence: 99%

The effect of obliquity on temperature in subduction zones: insights from 3D numerical modeling

Plunder¹,

Thieulot²,

Hinsbergen³

2018

Preprint

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Abstract. In subduction zones the geotherm is thought to vary as a function of the subduction rate and the age of the subducting lithosphere. Along a single subduction zone the rate of subduction can strongly vary due to changes in the angle between the trench and the plate convergence vector, namely the subduction obliquity. We currently observe such a configuration all around the Pacific (e.g. Marianna, Chile, Aleutians). Subduction obliquity is also supposed in the geological record of Western and Central Turkey. In order to investigate this effect, we designed and computed simple thermo-kinematic finite element 3D 5 numerical models. We prescribe the trench geometry by means of a simple mathematical function and compute the mantle flow in the mantle wedge only by solving the equation of mass and momentum conservation. We then solve the energy conservation equation until steady-state is reached. We analyse the results (i) in terms of mantle wedge flow with emphasis on the trenchparallel component and (ii) in terms of temperature along the plate interface by means of maps and depths-temperature path at the interface. We show that the effect of the trench curvature on the geotherm is substantial. A small obliquity yields a small but 10 not negligible trench parallel mantle flow leading to differences of 50• C along strike of the model. With increasing obliquity, the trench parallel component of the velocity consequently increases and the temperature variation can be as important as 200• C along strike. This can even be larger with varying plate velocity. Finally, we discuss the implication of our simulations for the ubiquitous oblique systems that are observed on Earth, the limitation of our modeling approach and the significance for the geological record with an emphasis on the case study of Western and Central Turkey.

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“…Other tomography models than S40RTS (Ritsema et al, 2011) could have been chosen such as UUP07 (van der Meer et al, 2017;Hall and Spakman, 2015) and other geophyical databases could have been coupled with it, such as the crust and 15 lithospheric model Litho1.0 (Pasyanos et al, 2014) to arrive at a more complete high resolution of the Earth. Gravity (anomaly) and geoid measurements could then be carried out.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The gravity potential can be computed by means of the Poisson equation ∇ 2 U = 4πGρ where G is the gravitational constant (Turcotte and Schubert, 2012). The density is non zero only for R 1 ≤ r ≤ R 2 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

GHOST: Geoscientific Hollow Sphere Tesselation

Thieulot¹

2018

Preprint

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Abstract. I present in this work the GHOST (Geoscientific HOllow Sphere Tesselation) software which allows for the fast generation of computational meshes in hollow sphere geometries counting up to a hundred millions of cells. Each mesh is composed of concentric spherical shells which are built out of quadrilaterals or triangles. I focus here on three commonly used meshes used in geodynamics/geophysics and demonstrate the accuracy of shell surfaces and mesh volume measurements as a function of resolution. I further benchmark the built-in gravity and gravitational potential procedures in the simple case of a 5 constant density geometry and finally show how the produced meshes can be used to visualise the S40RTS mantle tomography model. The code is open source and is available on the GitHub sharing platform.

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Atlas of the underworld: Slab remnants in the mantle, their sinking history, and a new outlook on lower mantle viscosity

Cited by 310 publications

References 479 publications

Three‐Dimensional S Velocity Structure of the Mantle Transition Zone Beneath Central America and the Gulf of Mexico Inferred Using Waveform Inversion

Three‐Dimensional S Velocity Structure of the Mantle Transition Zone Beneath Central America and the Gulf of Mexico Inferred Using Waveform Inversion

The effect of obliquity on temperature in subduction zones: insights from 3D numerical modeling

GHOST: Geoscientific Hollow Sphere Tesselation

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