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Science 10 September 1993:
Vol. 261. no. 5127, pp. 1424 - 1427
DOI: 10.1126/science.261.5127.1424
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Articles

A Detailed Map of the 660-Kilometer Discontinuity Beneath the Izu-Bonin Subduction Zone

Charles W. Wicks Jr. 1 and Mark A. Richards 2

1 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
2 Geophysics Program, AK-50, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

Dynamical processes in the Earth's mantle, such as cold downwelling at subduction zones, cause deformations of the solid-state phase change that produces a seismic discontinuity near a depth of 660 kilometers. Observations of short-period, shear-to-compressional wave conversions produced at the discontinuity yield a detailed map of deformation beneath the Izu-Bonin subduction zone. The discontinuity is depressed by about 60 kilometers beneath the coldest part of the subducted slab, with a deformation profile consistent with the expected thermal signature of the slab, the experimentally determined Clapeyron slope of the phase transition, and the regional tectonic history.

Submitted on May 4, 1993
Accepted on July 29, 1993


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Mantle Convection with Plates and Mobile, Faulted Plate Margins.
S. Zhong, S. Zhong, and M. Gurnis (1995)
Science 267, 838-843
   Abstract »    PDF »
Asymmetric Phase Effects and Mantle Convection Patterns.
M. Liu and M. Liu (1994)
Science 264, 1904-1907
   Abstract »    PDF »
Phase Boundaries and Mantle Convection.
J. E. Vidale, J. E. Vidale, and T. Lay (1993)
Science 261, 1401-1402
   PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)