P-wave tomography beneath Greenland and surrounding regions-II. Lower
mantle
Abstract
We study the 3-D P-wave velocity (Vp) structure of the lower mantle
beneath Greenland and surrounding regions using the latest P-wave
arrival-time data. The Greenland Ice Sheet Monitoring Network (GLISN),
initiated in 2009, is an international project for seismic observation
in these regions, and currently operating 35 seismic stations. We use a
new method of global-scale seismic tomography, which sets 3-D grid nodes
densely in the study region to enhance the resolution. We invert
~5.8 million arrival times of P, pP and PP waves from
16,257 earthquakes extracted from the ISC-EHB catalog, which were
recorded at 12,549 stations in the world. Our results reveal a hot
plume rising from the core-mantle boundary beneath central Greenland,
which is named “Greenland plume”. On the other hand, the Iceland plume
rises from ~1500 km depth in the lower mantle. At depths
< 1500 km, the Iceland plume might be supplied with hot mantle
materials through narrow paths from a low-Vp region beneath the North
Sea and/or from possible branches of the Greenland plume. We deem that,
after the two plumes are joined together in the mantle transition zone
(MTZ), the Greenland plume splits mainly into the Jan Mayen and Svalbard
plumes in the upper mantle, supplying magmas to the Jan Mayen volcano
and the geothermal area in western Svalbard, respectively. Our results
also reveal a high-Vp body above the MTZ beneath northeastern Greenland.
The lack of active volcanoes in Svalbard is probably due to this body
obstructing the flow of the Greenland plume.