Abstract
Oceanic crust at fast-spreading ridges is formed by melt percolating
through the Mohorovičić Transition Zone (MTZ), the boundary between
crust and mantle. However, the relationship between the crustal
structures and MTZ remains elusive. Applying full waveform inversion to
wide-angle seismic data acquired near the 9oN East Pacific Rise, we show
that the variations in crustal MTZ thicknesses are inversely correlated
along the segment, although their total cumulative thickness shows
little variations. These variations could be attributed to different
melt migration efficiency through MTZ or variation in mantle thermal
structures. Thin MTZ could be due to rapid percolation of melt from
mantle to crust whereas the thick MTZ results from the crystallization
of melt within the transition zone. On the other hand, for relatively
hot segments, melt will accumulate at shallower depth within the lower
crust. In contrast, melt could freeze at Moho depth for relatively cold
segments thickening the MTZ.