Middle Mantle Seismic Structure of the African Superplume

Abstract

I present the results of statistical hypothesis testing of Grand’s (2002) global tomography model of three-dimensional shear velocity variations for the middle mantle underneath eastern and southern Africa. I apply an F test to evaluate the validity of a model where a tilted, slow-velocity anomaly in the deepest mantle under southern Africa, known as the African superplume, is continuous with a slow-velocity anomaly in the upper mantle under eastern Africa. This null hypothesis is tested against alternative hypotheses, in which various “obstruction volumes” in the middle mantle are constrained to zero perturbation from the one-dimensional reference velocity during the tomographic inversion. I find that there is an equal probability of accepting an alternative hypothesis with a thin “obstruction volume” at 850–1,000 km depth, whereas volumes at other depths are rejected. But the alternative hypothesis, where a connection is forced at 850–1,000 km depth, is rejected. I conclude that the African superplume rises to at least 1,150 km depth, and that the upper mantle slow-velocity anomaly continues from the surface to below the mantle transition zone. I interpret the “obstruction volume” as a weakening of the superplume in the middle mantle.