Yibing Li, Yi Chen, Richard M. Palin, Xiaobo Tian, Xiaofeng Liang, Lijun Liu
{"title":"Detectable Continental Crust in the Earth's Deep Interior Inferred From Thermodynamic Modeling","authors":"Yibing Li, Yi Chen, Richard M. Palin, Xiaobo Tian, Xiaofeng Liang, Lijun Liu","doi":"10.1029/2024GL111556","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Compelling evidence indicates that continental crust can subduct to >300 km and even enter the mantle transition zone (MTZ). However, detecting continental materials within the deep Earth is challenging due to our incomplete knowledge about their physical properties at mantle conditions. We use a newly compiled mineral-physical database coupled with thermodynamic modeling to calculate seismic velocities of the subducted continental crust (SCC) beyond 150 km. Results show that the SCC has one seismically detectable window depth (300–390 km) with ∼4% <i>V</i><sub>P</sub> anomaly. Besides, the upper crust has another two window depths (<250 km and 610–660 km) with anomalies of −6.4%–−1.6% and −7.6%–−2.2%, and 3.6%–7.9% and 3.9%–8.6% for <i>V</i><sub>P</sub> and <i>V</i><sub>S</sub> compared to those of the ambient mantle, respectively. These predicted SCC characteristics match seismic anomalies at mantle depths and suggest subducted upper crust potentially contributing to the high-velocity anomalies in the MTZ.</p>","PeriodicalId":12523,"journal":{"name":"Geophysical Research Letters","volume":"51 17","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2024GL111556","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Geophysical Research Letters","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL111556","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Compelling evidence indicates that continental crust can subduct to >300 km and even enter the mantle transition zone (MTZ). However, detecting continental materials within the deep Earth is challenging due to our incomplete knowledge about their physical properties at mantle conditions. We use a newly compiled mineral-physical database coupled with thermodynamic modeling to calculate seismic velocities of the subducted continental crust (SCC) beyond 150 km. Results show that the SCC has one seismically detectable window depth (300–390 km) with ∼4% VP anomaly. Besides, the upper crust has another two window depths (<250 km and 610–660 km) with anomalies of −6.4%–−1.6% and −7.6%–−2.2%, and 3.6%–7.9% and 3.9%–8.6% for VP and VS compared to those of the ambient mantle, respectively. These predicted SCC characteristics match seismic anomalies at mantle depths and suggest subducted upper crust potentially contributing to the high-velocity anomalies in the MTZ.
期刊介绍:
Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) publishes high-impact, innovative, and timely research on major scientific advances in all the major geoscience disciplines. Papers are communications-length articles and should have broad and immediate implications in their discipline or across the geosciences. GRLmaintains the fastest turn-around of all high-impact publications in the geosciences and works closely with authors to ensure broad visibility of top papers.