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Zhao 1993
Zhao, L. (1993). Lateral variations and azimuthal isotropy of Pn velocities beneath Basin and Range Province. Journal of Geophysical Research 98: doi: 10.1029/93JA02641. issn: 0148-0227.

Travel time tomography was used to obtain the lateral variations in Pn velocities and Pn velocity azimuthal anisotropy beneath the Basin and Range Province. We used 1226 Pn arrivals from 184 earthquakes recorded by 113 stations. The tomographic image shows the lateral variation in Pn velocity from 7.9 km s-1 in the northern Province to 7.6 km s-1 in the southern Province. Azimuthal variations in Pn velocities are less than one percent as determined from the travel time residuals after taking out the contribution of the lateral velocity variations of the Pn tomography. Although the standard errors of the azimuthal variations are ~2%, there, is no reason to believe the existence of the Pn azimuthal anisotropy in the uppermost mantle beneath the Basin and Range Province. Beghoul and Barazangi's (1990) suggestion of more than 3% azimuthal anisotropy is the result of the lateral heterogeneity and mantle velocity gradient. Before tomographic inversion, we refined the Pn travel times by considering the lateral variations in the crustal thickness and velocities in the region based on the numerical experiment and theoretical development given in this paper. These refinements are crucial in obtaining an accurate velocity image. The average velocity is 7.72¿0.16 km s-1, and an average vertical mantle velocity gradient is 8.0¿10-4 s-1. The resolution for Pn velocity image is generally within 2¿ to 5¿. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1993

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Abstract

Keywords
Seismology, Lithosphere and upper mantle, Information Related to Geographic Region, North America
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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