TELESEISMIC TOMOGRAPHY OF THE SOUTHERN TYRRHENIAN SUBDUCTION ZONE: NEW RESULTS FROM SEAFLOOR AND LAND RECORDINGS

Abstract

Teleseismic traveltime data, recorded by temporary ocean bottom seismographs deployed in Tyrrhenian Sea around the Aeolian Islands (Tyrrhenian Deep-sea Experiment (TYDE)), have been used for the first time in Italy to refine the 3-D model for the deep P wave velocity structure of the southern Tyrrhenian subduction zone. The arrival times of 35 teleseisms have been combined with those recorded by the Italian National Network. In order to obtain a more complete azimuthal coverage of teleseismic rays, 80 events recorded by land stations from 1990 to 2002 have been included in the data set. In total, 2904 P and 314 PKPdf phases, 1300 recorded by ocean bottom instruments, have been collected. The upper mantle structure is reconstructed down to 500 km by a nonlinear inversion of the relative residuals computed with respect to the reference 1-D velocity model ak135. The obtained tomographic model has a higher resolution than those previously published thanks to the recordings of TYDE seafloor stations. Tomographic results confirm the presence of the Tyrrhenian slab imaged as a high-velocity body extending from the uppermost mantle down to the bottom velocity model with dip 70-75° NW. The model better defines the geometry of the seismogenic part of the slab. Its lateral extension is about 200 km in the depth interval 150-300 km, where most of the deep seismicity is concentrated. At uppermost mantle depths the fast structure has smaller lateral dimensions (about 100 km). The inversion also points out a wide well-resolved low-velocity zone completely surrounding the steeply dipping fast structure from the lower crust down to about 300 km. This feature suggests the presence of a three-dimensional circulation of asthenospheric flow around the Ionian slab caused by retreat and roll-back of the slab. Our results are in agreement with recent laboratory experiments, mantle anisotropy studies, geochemical and isotopic analyses, and modeling based on residual topography.