Integrating magnetotelluric and seismic geophysical observations to
improve upper mantle viscosity estimates beneath polar regions
Abstract
Mantle viscosity controls a variety of geodynamic processes, e.g.
Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA). Constraining GIA using better
viscosity estimates would improve our estimates of recent ice mass loss
from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and the associated sea level
rise. However, mantle viscosity is poorly constrained as it can rarely
be measured directly, making geophysical observations that could place
constraints on viscosity more essential. Empirically, viscosity is
mainly controlled by temperature, water content of nominally anhydrous
minerals, partial melt, grain size and stress. Of these, temperature,
water content, and the presence of partial melt can be inferred from
seismic and magnetotelluric (MT) measurements, which are important tools
in imaging the subsurface of the Earth. In this study, we develop a
method to estimate mantle viscosity in which we: (1) constrain
temperature from MT, seismic, and surface heat flow observations; (2)
constrain compositional structure (i.e., water content and partial melt)
from MT and seismic data coupled with experimental mineral physics data;
and finally, (3) convert the calculated thermal and compositional
structures into a viscosity structure. In each step, we assess and
quantify the involved uncertainties. In addition, we introduce a useful
parameter – the viscosity ratio (a ratio between viscosities of a
target region and a nearby reference region at the same stress and grain
size), and quantify its amplitude and uncertainty for a range of
temperatures and water contents. We find that the uncertainty in this
ratio is relatively small when computed from both seismic and MT
observations, compared to either constraint applied alone. We also
explore how viscosity ratio uncertainties vary with grain size and
stress. Information about grain size can potentially be obtained from
seismic attenuation or tectonic history. Overall, we find that both
seismic and MT observations can considerably improve estimates of mantle
viscosity, and place useful constraints on its lateral variations in the
upper mantle. Geophysically-derived mantle viscosity models can be
calibrated in areas like Scandinavia, which has well-constrained GIA
models, and applied to polar regions where the GIA response is poorly
known.