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Seismology

Free oscillations illuminate the mantle

Nature volume 398, pages 292–293 (1999)Cite this article

In two articles published in the Journal of Geophysical Research1, 2, Resovsky and Ritzwoller analyse frequency spectra of ground motion, from globally distributed seismic observatories, to model the heterogeneous distribution of elastic properties of the Earth's mantle. Free oscillations are most sensitive to the elastic parameters controlling the shear-wave velocity (the velocity of transversely polarized body waves), which is itself a function of the chemical composition, pressure and temperature of the mantle.

Whether viewed as thermal or chemical anomalies, images of the lateral variation of the speed of high-frequency seismic waves provide some of the most direct evidence for a vigorously convecting, dynamic Earth. However, the style of convection that the mantle is undergoing, and whether it involves a single layer, double layer or something more complex, remains disputed.

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Figure 1: Normal-mode oscillations of the mantle.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0225, California, USA

    R. Widmer-Schnidrig

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  1. R. Widmer-Schnidrig
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Widmer-Schnidrig, R. Free oscillations illuminate the mantle. Nature 398, 292–293 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/18567

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