Seismic structure and ultra-low velocity zones at the base of the Earth’s mantle beneath Southeast Asia

Abstract

We constrain seismic structure and ultra-low velocity zones near the Earth’s core-mantle boundary (CMB) beneath Southeast Asia. We first determine the average shear-velocity structure near the CMB in the region based on travel-time analysis of S, ScS, P and ScP phases. We then map seismic scattering in the lowermost mantle using the PKP precursors observed at the USArray. The inferred average shear-velocity perturbations in the lowermost 200 km of the mantle range from about −6% to 6%, and exhibit a complex geographic distribution of alternate low- and high-velocity patches adjacent to each other, surrounded by a high-velocity anomaly in the south. The inferred strong seismic scatterers exhibit a crescent shape distributed from the South China Sea to the Maluku Islands and coincide with the westernmost low-velocity patch, suggesting that the strong scatterers represent ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs). We suggest that the seismic structure in the region likely results from a complex interaction between a downwelling and a low-velocity region near the CMB. The downwelling (the high-velocity patches) displaces the low-velocity region into many low-velocity patches and pushes the ULVZs to the edge of the low-velocity region.