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Detailed Reference Information
Waite et al. 2006
Waite, G.P., Smith, R.B. and Allen, R.M. (2006). VP and VS structure of the Yellowstone hot spot from teleseismic tomography: Evidence for an upper mantle plume. Journal of Geophysical Research 111: doi: 10.1029/2005JB003867. issn: 0148-0227.

The movement of the lithosphere over a stationary mantle magmatic source, often thought to be a mantle plume, explains key features of the 16 Ma Yellowstone--Snake River Plain volcanic system. However, the seismic signature of a Yellowstone plume has remained elusive because of the lack of adequate data. We employ new teleseismic P and S wave traveltime data to develop tomographic images of the Yellowstone hot spot upper mantle. The teleseismic data were recorded with two temporary seismograph arrays deployed in a 500 km by 600 km area centered on Yellowstone. Additional data from nearby regional seismic networks were incorporated into the data set. The VP and VS models reveal a strong low-velocity anomaly from ~50 to 200 km directly beneath the Yellowstone caldera and eastern Snake River Plain, as has been imaged in previous studies. Peak anomalies are -2.3% for VP and -5.5% for VS. A weaker, anomaly with a velocity perturbation of up to -1.0% VP and -2.5% VS continues to at least 400 km depth. This anomaly dips 30¿ from vertical, west-northwest to a location beneath the northern Rocky Mountains. We interpret the low-velocity body as a plume of upwelling hot, and possibly wet rock, from the mantle transition zone that promotes small-scale convection in the upper ~200 km of the mantle and long-lived volcanism. A high-velocity anomaly, 1.2% VP and 1.9% VS, is located at ~100 to 250 km depth southeast of Yellowstone and may represent a downwelling of colder, denser mantle material.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Seismology, Body waves, Seismology, Mantle (1212, 1213, 8124), Seismology, Tomography (6982, 8180)
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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