SH travel times and lateral heterogeneities in the lower mantle

Abstract

The horizontal long-period seismograms of two shallow earthquakes in Turkey and Iran recorded in selected azimuths are combined for travel-time studies of the SH wave beyond the angular distance of 40°. The observed travel times along two profiles which sample the deep mantle in the vicinity of Iceland and the North Pole show monotonically increasing differences beyond 65°, indicating lateral heterogeneity in the lower mantle. The travel-time difference becomes as large as 7 sec at 95°, implying a variation as much as 0.06 km/sec, or about 1 per cent, in the shear-wave velocity near 2,500 km depth. Inversion of observations, adjusted to surface foci, results in an average lower mantle structure with lower shear velocities than those given by Jeffreys. The difference exceeds 0.1 km/sec at the core boundary. The arrival time and signature of S waves recorded in Greenland show anomalous features which may be related to deep seated anomalous zones associated with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge system.