Abstract
Seismic velocity discontinuities within the top 1000 km of the Earth beneath southern Africa are imaged by stacking about 1300 source-normalized broadband seismograms recorded by the Southern African Seismic Experiment. The Moho, 410, and 660 kilometer discontinuities are clearly detected. The mean mantle transition zone thickness is 245 km, essentially the same as the global average, suggesting that the transition zone is not anomalously warm. Thus, the lower-mantle 'African Superplume' beneath our study area has no discernible effect on transition zone temperature and is consequently confined to the lower mantle. Variations in transition zone thickness appear to be related to the presence or absence of thick lithosphere. We do not detect several previously-reported discontinuities beneath continents, such as the Hales or Lehmann discontinuities, and find no evidence for a 520 km discontinuity, nor do we detect a previously proposed low-velocity zone just above the transition zone.
Recommended Citation
S. S. Gao et al., "Mantle Discontinuities beneath Southern Africa," Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 29, no. 10, pp. 129-1 - 129-4, American Geophysical Union (AGU), May 2002.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GL013834
Department(s)
Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Earth (planet); Seismic prospecting; Thickness measurement; Velocity measurement; Mantle discontinuities; Geophysics; mantle discontinuity; seismic velocity; transition zone; South Africa
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0094-8276
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2002 American Geophysical Union (AGU), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 May 2002
