Apparent velocity measurements on an oceanic lithosphere

Abstract

Abstract A direct measurement of apparent velocities for oceanic paths was made with an array of sensitive ocean bottom seismographs. The measurement was performed by recording waves from shallow earthquakes which occurred in the area close to trench axes and which were accurately located by the land seismological network in Japan. The range of epicentral distances is from 500 to 1,800 km. The observed P travel times are less than those in the Jeffreys-Bullen tables by 6–10 s for the range of distances. Since the dimension of the OBS array is about 400 km, the apparent velocities are determined quite precisely and show little dependence on the epicentral distances. The average value of the apparent velocities for the range 500–1,700 km is 8.64 ± 0.13 km/s. An offset of travel times, which is thought to be associated with a low-velocity layer underneath the oceanic lithosphere, has been observed. These results indicate that a high-velocity layer with a velocity of 8.6 km/s exists in the lower part of the oceanic lithosphere. Beneath the 8.6-km/s layer there is a thin low-velocity layer under which the velocity of the P wave is again 8.6 km/s.