Through thick and thin: A new model for the Colorado Plateau from seismic refraction data from Pacific to Arizona Crustal Experiment

Abstract

We have constructed a model for the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the Colorado Plateau by combining newly acquired seismic refraction/wide‐angle reflection data from the 1989 Pacific to Arizona Crustal Experiment (PACE) cross profile with data collected by Roller (1965). A combination of forward modeling methods was used to model travel times and relative amplitudes of crustal and upper mantle phases. The salient features of the model for the Colorado Plateau (hereafter referred to as the plateau) are (1) an upper crust having an average velocity of 6.1 km/s with a low vertical velocity gradient, (2) midcrustal discontinuities at depths of 30 to 38 km beneath the plateau, (3) a lower crust that varies in thickness (5 to 16 km) and has an average velocity of 6.8 km/s, (4) a transitional lower crust/upper mantle boundary, and (5) a crustal thickness of 45 ± 3 km. A comparison of our new model for the Colorado Plateau with recent models for the Basin and Range shows that the upper crusts of the two provinces are similar but that the lower crust of the plateau is thicker, particularly in the plateau's central region. These observations are consistent with the idea that the Basin and Range could have formed from crust like that of the Colorado Plateau.