Teleseismic P‐wave tomogram of the Yellowstone plume

[1] Inversion of a new data set of teleseismic P-wave travel-times from three PASSCAL seismic deployments around the Yellowstone hotspot reveals a 100 km diameter upper mantle plume that extends from the Yellowstone volcanic caldera to 500 km depth and dips 20° to the northwest. A monotonic decrease in the velocity perturbation of the plume from −3.2% at 100 km to −0.9% at 450 km is consistent with a uniform thermal anomaly of 180°C. Where the plume crosses the 410 km discontinuity, previous research shows a depression in the 410 km discontinuity consistent with a warm plume (Fee and Dueker, 2004). Additionally, a region of high velocities extends to 250 km beneath the Wind River basin in NW Wyoming that may represent a convective downwelling of the lithosphere.

[1]  Richard M. Allen,et al.  The elusive mantle plume , 2003 .

[2]  E. Engdahl,et al.  Finite-Frequency Tomography Reveals a Variety of Plumes in the Mantle , 2004, Science.

[3]  S. Grand.  Mantle shear–wave tomography and the fate of subducted slabs , 2002, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[4]  D. Fee,et al.  Mantle transition zone topography and structure beneath the Yellowstone hotspot , 2004 .

[5]  B. Steinberger.  Plumes in a convecting mantle: Models and observations for individual hotspots , 2000 .

[6]  L. Chiao,et al.  Imaging seismic velocity structure beneath the Iceland hot spot: A finite frequency approach , 2004 .

[7]  William P. Leeman,et al.  K-Ar dating, Quaternary and Neogene volcanic rocks of the Snake River Plain, Idaho , 1975 .

[8]  Kenneth G. Dueker,et al.  Beneath Yellowstone: Evaluating Plume and Nonplume Models Using Teleseismic Images of the Upper Mantle , 2000 .

[9]  H. M. Iyer,et al.  A deep low-velocity body under the Yellowstone caldera, Wyoming: Delineation using teleseismic P-wave residuals and tectonic interpretation , 1981 .

[10]  N. Sleep,et al.  Mantle plume influence on the Neogene uplift and extension of the U.S. western Cordillera , 1994 .

[11]  D. Giardini,et al.  Inferring upper-mantle temperatures from seismic velocities , 2003 .

[12]  E. R. Engdahl,et al.  Constraints on seismic velocities in the Earth from traveltimes , 1995 .

[13]  D. Yuen,et al.  The diversity of tectonics from fluid-dynamical modeling of the lithosphere–mantle system , 2000 .

[14]  P. Bird.  Kinematic history of the Laramide orogeny in latitudes 35°–49°N, western United States , 1998 .

[15]  Gillian R. Foulger,et al.  Upper-mantle origin of the Yellowstone hotspot , 2002 .

[16]  R. Duncan,et al.  Geochronology of age-progressive volcanism of the Oregon High Lava Plains : implications for the plume interpretation of Yellowstone , 2004 .

[17]  D. Yuen,et al.  On the possibility of a second kind of mantle plume , 2000 .

[18]  E. Humphreys,et al.  Upper mantle P wave velocity structure of the eastern Snake River Plain and its relationship to geodynamic models of the region , 1997 .