A regional study of mantle velocity variations beneath eastern Australia and the southwestern Pacific using short-period recordings of P, S, PcP, ScP and ScS waves produced by Tongan deep earthquakes

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Deep earthquakes located in the Tonga-Kermadec region produce exceptionally clear and sharp short-period P, S, PcP, ScP, and ScS phases which are recorded at many stations at distances of less than 60°. The data used in this study are produced by short-period stations located in oceanic-type regions (Fiji and New Caledonia), a mobile continental region (eastern Australia) and a shield region (central Australia). Differential travel-time residuals of the above phases at these stations are investigated to determine the contribution to the differential residuals from: (1) the upper part of the mantle (S-P residuals); (2) the core-to-station portion of the mantle (ScS-ScP residuals); and (3) the hypocenter-to core portion of the mantle (ScP-PcP residuals). The use of differential travel-time residuals considerably reduces near-station effects and effects due to inaccurate determination of the source parameters, and hence the results can be interpreted as due to variations along the propagation paths. The results show that (S-P) residuals from phases traveling along event-to-station paths are about 7 s smaller at the shield station than at the oceanic stations. This correlation with surface tectonic environments is equally strong for the (ScS-ScP) residuals, with the shield/oceanic station difference being about 4 s. Moreover, the data suggest that this correlation between differential residuals and surface tectonic environments is caused by variations in shear velocity within the upper part of the mantle. However, the data cannot uniquely resolve the required depth of these variations within the mantle. For example, if the shear velocity variations extend to a depth of 400 km beneath the recording stations, then the average shear velocity difference between shield- and oceanic-type environments is about 4%. However, if the variations extend only to a depth of 200 km, this difference is more than 8%. (ScP-PcP) and (ScS-PcS) residuals vary from about +1 to about +4 s at the different stations, apparently because of compressional velocity variations in the mantle along the Pc path. If the variation in compressional velocity within the mantle below a depth of about 600 km is about 10% and occurs near the source region, these results suggest that, in the vicinity of deep earthquake zones, variations in compressional velocity extend to a depth of about 1000 km. However, these results can equally be explained by a 1% variation in compressional velocity, evenly distributed along the entire Pc path. An estimate of Q determined from the observed predominant frequency of ScS waves, as recorded at the shield station, suggests that the average 〈 Q s〉 of the mantle beneath about 600 km is about 1050 at frequencies of about 1 Hz.