Tomographic Imaging of Upper Mantle P- and S-wave Velocity Heterogeneity Beneath the Arabian Peninsula

Abstract

We report the estimates of three-dimensional P- and S-wave velocity structure beneath the Arabian Peninsula estimated from travel time delay tomography. We have completed travel time measurements and inversion of a partial data set provided by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). This study builds on previous work by Benoit et al. (2003) following the methods of VanDecar and Crosson (1990) and VanDecar (1991). Data were collected from the Saudi Arabian National Digital Seismic Network (SANDSN) operated by KACST. The network consists of 38 stations (27 broadband and 11 short-period). We augmented the KACST data with delay times measured from permanent Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) stations in the region (RAYN, EIL and MRNI) and the 1996 Saudi Arabian PASSCAL Experiment. This study shows the inverted P- and S-wave models computed with the combined data with all three different seismic networks (KASCST, IRIS, and the 1996 Saudi Arabian PASSCAL experiment) with best coverage beneath the Arabian Shield. Tomographic images reveal low velocity features in the upper mantle along a north-south line from the southern Asir region to the northeastern portion of the Arabian Shield.