On supposed discontinuities in the mantle of the Earth

Abstract

Investigations of the Mexican shocks of January 2, 15, and 17, 1931, as recorded at stations in California have shown that the travel-time curve of the P-waves at distances between 9° and 15° is nearly a straight line. At these distances the amplitudes of the P-waves are very small, as is to be expected from theory. At greater distances dt/dΔ decreases, and the amplitudes are larger. The data are not sufficient to decide whether the changes are abrupt or not. No S-waves could be found between 9° and 15°. The calculated velocities of the P-waves are near 8.2 kilometers per second at depths between 40 and 100 kilometers, increasing slightly with greater depths. It is possible that the velocity decreases very slightly at some depths between 40 and 80 kilometers, but there is no sign of any discontinuity at depths between 40 and more than 500 kilometers. The S-waves seem to be affected a little more at depths between 40 and 100 kilometers than the P-waves. It is not impossible that at some depth between 40 and 80 kilometers there is a transition from the crystalline to the glassy state.