Body-wave imaging of Earth's mantle discontinuities from ambient seismic noise

Science. 2012 Nov 23;338(6110):1063-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1228194.

Abstract

Ambient seismic noise correlations are widely used for high-resolution surface-wave imaging of Earth's lithosphere. Similar observations of the seismic body waves that propagate through the interior of Earth would provide a window into the deep Earth. We report the observation of the mantle transition zone through noise correlations of P waves as they are reflected by the discontinuities associated with the top [410 kliometers (km)] and the bottom (660 km) of this zone. Our data demonstrate that high-resolution mapping of the mantle transition zone is possible without using earthquake sources.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't