The Structure and Evolution of the North American Upper Mantle

Walter Mooney

USGS

Date & Time
Location
Building 3, Rambo Auditorium
Summary

I present new seismic images of the key structural elements of the upper mantle beneath North America. These images are significantly different from all previous studies. Unlike earlier work, we successfully image the cratonic lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB), and the 250-km-deep Lehmann discontinuity. We identify a pronounced, if enigmatic, low velocity layer (LVL) above the mantle transition zone (410-discontinuity). These results have important implications for the evolution of the upper mantle.

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