Effects of 3-D Mantle Wedge Flow and Crystal Preferred Orientation on Shear-Wave Splitting in Subduction Zones

3-D 地幔楔流和晶体择优取向对俯冲带剪切波分裂的影响

• 批准号: 2321144
• 负责人: Ikuko Wada
• 金额: $ 21.03万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321144&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Effects; Mantle; Wedge; Flow; Crystal

The Earth’s mantle is solid, but it flows very slowly under high pressure and temperature, like a thick fluid. This flow affects important geological processes such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but it occurs too far below the Earth’s surface to be observed directly. In subduction zones, where oceanic plates descend below continents, mantle flow patterns are thought to be very complex. Though these patterns can be estimated using computer models, we need real data to check their accuracy. One way to indirectly obtain mantle flow data is to use seismic waves that are generated by earthquakes. Seismic waves that travel through the mantle are affected by fine layering that forms when mantle minerals line up in response to flow. Recordings of such waves at the Earth’s surface can be interpreted to identify mantle regions where minerals are lined up, showing what the flow patterns look like in 3D (at least, in parts of the mantle that many of the recorded seismic waves have passed through). In this study, Dr. Wada and her group will develop computer models of mantle flow in selected subduction zones, and predict how mantle minerals should line up. Next, they will use different software to predict what seismic waves travelling through this model mantle should look like when they reach the Earth’s surface. By comparing these predictions with data from seismometers, they can test the model and fully describe the geometry of mantle flow. The project will provide training for a postdoctoral scholar and an undergraduate student in seismology and scientific computer programming. The software and scientific results will be used in an undergraduate geophysics course at Minnesota and will be freely and publicly shared. One of the indirect observations that are used to infer mineral orientations and mantle flow directions are shear-wave splitting (SWS) observations. Minerals in the mantle, in particular olivine, become aligned relatively to the mantle flow direction, developing crystal preferred orientations (CPO). Shear waves that are generated by earthquakes travel through the upper mantle and become polarized into two orthogonal components that travel at different speeds. Measurements of the polarization direction of the fast component and the delay time between the two components provide information about the CPO of minerals in the mantle and thus the mantle flow pattern. However, the interpretation of the SWS parameters (i.e., the fast direction and the delay time) in terms of CPO and mantle flow directions is not trivial, and large uncertainties remain, particularly in subduction zones with oblique plate convergence that induces complex mantle wedge flow patterns. The previously funded project generated a suite of 3-D steady-state coupled kinematic-dynamic models for generic subduction systems with a range of subduction obliquity to examine its effect on the mantle wedge flow pattern. The model-predicted variation in mantle wedge flow pattern with the local subduction obliquity allowed prediction of along-margin variations in the mantle wedge flow pattern based on the local subduction obliquity, for subduction zones worldwide. Using calculated steady-state mantle velocity fields, the evolution of olivine and pyroxene CPOs in the mantle wedge was simulated. The calculated distributions of CPO were fed into the forward modeling of SWS. The results highlighted the complex evolution of CPOs in the mantle wedge for different CPO types and their impact on the SWS parameters. The proposed study is aimed to fill the gaps in the previous work through the following three activities: (1) Quantifying the variations in the CPO distribution and SWS parameters due to along-margin variations in the margin strike and the slab geometry. (2) Testing the model-predicted SWS parameters against observed SWS parameters in NE Japan where sufficient detailed SWS analyses have been performed. (3) Investigating the relative importance of the impact of transtensional and transpressional strains in the mantle wedge during slab rollback and advance on the CPO evolution and SWS. The results provide foundational understanding of the impacts of subduction zone geometry and slab motion on deformation and CPO evolution in the mantle wedge and the dependence of SWS parameters on the CPO distribution. The synthesis of the results with those from the previously funded project will be used to address the observed variations in SWS parameters within and among subduction systems globally.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

地幔是固体，但在高压和高温下流动非常缓慢，就像粘稠的流体一样，这种流动影响着地震和火山喷发等重要的地质过程，但它发生在距离地球表面太远的地方，无法直接观察到。俯冲带，海洋板块下降到大陆下方，地幔流模式被认为非常复杂，尽管可以使用计算机模型来估计这些模式，但我们需要真实数据来检查其准确性，间接获取地幔流数据的一种方法是使用。地震产生的地震波穿过地幔，受到地幔矿物响应流动而排列时形成的精细层的影响，可以解释地球表面此类波的记录来识别矿物所在的地幔区域。排列起来，以 3D 形式显示流动模式（至少在许多记录的地震波穿过的地幔部分）。在这项研究中，Wada 博士和她的团队将开发计算机。接下来，他们将使用不同的软件来预测穿过该模型地幔的地震波到达地球表面时的样子。该项目将为博士后学者和本科生提供地震学和科学计算机编程方面的培训，该软件和科学成果将在本科生中使用。用于推断矿物方向和地幔流动方向的间接观测之一是剪切波分裂（SWS）观测，地幔中的矿物（特别是橄榄石）变得相对对齐。地震产生的剪切波穿过上地幔并极化成以不同速度传播的两个正交分量。快分量的偏振方向和两个分量之间的延迟时间提供了有关地幔中矿物的 CPO 的信息，从而提供了地幔流动模式的信息。然而，SWS 参数（即快方向和延迟时间）的解释。就 CPO 和地幔流动方向而言，这并不是微不足道的，并且仍然存在很大的不确定性，特别是在具有倾斜板块汇聚的俯冲带中，这会导致复杂的地幔楔流动模式。先前资助的项目生成了一套 3-D。具有一系列俯冲倾角的通用俯冲系统的稳态耦合运动学动力学模型，以检查其对地幔楔流动模式的影响模型预测的地幔楔流动模式随局部俯冲倾角的变化允许沿边缘进行预测。基于局部俯冲倾角的地幔楔流动模式的变化，使用计算的稳态地幔速度场，研究了全球俯冲带中橄榄石和辉石 CPO 的演化。计算出的 CPO 分布被输入到 SWS 的正演模型中，结果强调了不同 CPO 类型的 CPO 的复杂演化及其对 SWS 参数的影响。通过以下三项活动来弥补之前工作中的差距：(1) 量化由于边缘走向和板坯几何形状的沿边缘变化而导致的 CPO 分布和 SWS 参数的变化。(2) 测试模型预测的 SWS。参数与日本东北部观测到的 SWS 参数进行了足够详细的 SWS 分析 (3) 研究板片回退和推进过程中地幔楔中的拉张和压压应变对 CPO 演化和 SWS 的影响的相对重要性。了解俯冲带几何形状和板块运动对地幔楔形变和 CPO 演化的影响以及 SWS 参数对 CPO 分布的依赖性。用于解决全球俯冲系统内部和之间观察到的 SWS 参数变化问题。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。