Abstract
ZHANG and Tanimoto1 have used the results of a new high-resolution three-dimensional model of shear-wave velocities in the Earth's upper mantle2 to conclude that, whereas hotspots are underlain by low-velocity anomalies extending to ∼200 km depth, the corresponding anomalies under mid-ocean ridges are shallower (∼100 km) in extent. Here we show that such a shallow origin for the mid-ocean-ridge anomalies is inconsistent, by a factor of 3–5, with the observed travel-time residuals for the seismic phase SS (ref. 3). A three-dimensional model describing shear velocities in the entire mantle4, derived independently of the SS observations but based on a large set of waveforms (15,000 seismograms5) and differential travel-time data (8,200 measurements6,7), shows the velocity anomalies associated with all mid-ocean ridges as continuous features down to 300 km depth. Some of these low-velocity anomalies continue throughout the upper mantle, and may extend into the lower mantle.
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Su, Wj., Woodward, R. & Dziewonski, A. Deep origin of mid-ocean-ridge seismic velocity anomalies. Nature 360, 149–152 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/360149a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/360149a0
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