Abstract
As the accuracy of location of mantle earthquakes has increased, the suggested thickness of seismic zones within the mantle has decreased1 and special studies are now needed to determine the detailed structure of these zones. In this study we used the homogeneous station method to locate earthquakes occurring at intermediate depths beneath the North Island of New Zealand, and here report that the hypocentres could lie on two dipping surfaces about 9 km apart. Using the plate tectonics hypothesis these surfaces may be related to the top and bottom of a dipping, brittle zone, either down-going oceanic crust2,3, or some colder region within the descending lithosphere4.
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ANSELL, J., SMITH, E. Detailed structure of a mantle seismic zone using the homogeneous station method. Nature 253, 518–520 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/253518a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/253518a0
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