Surface wave diffraction pattern recorded on AlpArray: Cameroon Volcanic Line case study
- Author(s)
- Petr Kolinsky, Felix Michael Schneider, Götz Bokelmann
- Abstract
Stripe‐like patterns of surface wave arrival angle deviations have been observed by several seismological studies around the world, but this phenomenon has not been explained so far. Here we test the hypothesis that systematic arrival angle deviations observed at the AlpArray broadband seismic network in Europe are interference patterns caused by diffraction of surface waves at single small‐scaled velocity anomalies. We use the observed pattern of Rayleigh waves from two earthquakes under the Southern Atlantic Ocean, and we fit this pattern with theoretical arrival angles derived by a simple modeling approach describing the interaction of a seismic wavefield with small anomalies. A grid search inversion scheme is implemented, which indicates that the anomaly is located in Central Africa, with its head under Cameroon. Moreover, the inversion enables the characterization of the anomaly: The anomaly is inferred to be between 320 and 420 km wide, matching in length the 2,500 km long upper mantle low‐velocity region under the volcano‐capped swells of the Cameroon volcanic line. We show that this approach can be generally used for studying the upper mantle anomalies worldwide.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum
- Journal
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
- Volume
- 125
- No. of pages
- 26
- ISSN
- 2169-9313
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JB019102
- Publication date
- 07-2020
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105122 Seismic
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geochemistry and Petrology, Geophysics, Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous), Space and Planetary Science
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/fe07fc37-1245-41ae-90a4-b9796b554201