Worldwide variations in the attenuative properties of the upper mantle as determined from spectral studies of short-period body waves

Abstract

A worldwide study of short-period teleseismic body wave spectra shows that the high frequency falloff rates of spectra are correlated with the tectonic type of the source and receiver regions and with source depth. The data indicate, in a consistent manner, that the main cause for such variations is the lateral variation of Q in the upper mantle as well as change of Q with depth. Using the internal consistency checks provided by redundancies in the data set other effects such as crustal, site dependent distortion of the spectra, source effects and instrument non-linearity can be ruled out as significant factors influencing the t∗ estimates obtained. The results indicate high attenuation in the upper mantle under tectonic regions and new oceans. Long-period regional attenuation studies indicate similar variations in mantle Q among the types of regions mentioned but yield significantly lower Q estimates in all areas. The short- and long-period attenuation results can be reconciled only by assuming a frequency dependent Q that increases with frequency along all types of paths, such that the relative differences in Q along various types of paths retain the same sign over the short- and long-period bands.