Theoretical study on the influence of CMB topography on the core reflection ScS

Abstract

Computing synthetic seismograms for media with localized heterogeneous regions can be performed using hybrid methods. Here, a combination of a finite-difference (FD) technique and a frequency-wavenumber ( ω − k) filtering is applied to model wave reflection at different kinds of core-mantle boundary (CMB) topography. The FD method is only applied in the neighbourhood of the CMB, while the ω − k filter is used to continue the reflected wavefield to the Earth's surface. Synthetic SH-seismograms for ScS with a dominant frequency of 0.5 Hz are computed at epicentral distances from 44° to 69°. The topography varies in amplitude (maximum amplitude of 1.0–2.7 km) and in its wavenumber spectrum; it is either monochromatic (wavelengths from 55 to 270 km) or statistical (coloured noise). The seismograms for a CMB with topography are compared with those for a plane CMB. We observe that monochromatic topography with short wavelengths (less than 100 km) results in amplitude reduction and shorter travel times than in the case of a plane CMB, but no variations with epicentral distance appear, whereas greater wavelengths exhibit amplitude variations with distance as well as travel time residuals, which both correlate with the CMB topography. Statistical models show amplitude variations with epicentral distance, while the travel time residuals are very small (less than 0.1 s). All synthetics illustrate that wavefront healing occurs along the ray path from the CMB to the Earth's surface. While the seismograms at the CMB exhibit strong fluctuations, the fluctuations at the surface are smoothed and reduced. This demonstrates that it is necessary to use wave theoretical methods for computing synthetic seismograms for complicated structures at greater depth. It also follows that travel times are less sensitive to the structure than the amplitudes.