TY - JOUR
T1 - Mantle transition zone structure beneath Tanzania, East Africa
AU - Owens, Thomas J.
AU - Nyblade, Andrew A.
AU - Gurrola, Harold
AU - Langston, Charles A.
PY - 2000/3/15
Y1 - 2000/3/15
N2 - We apply a three-dimensional stacking method to receiver functions from the Tanzania Broadband Seismic Experiment to determine relative variations in the thickness of the mantle transition zone beneath Tanzania. The transition zone under the Eastern rift is 30-40 km thinner than under areas of the Tanzania Craton in the interior of the East African Plateau unaffected by rift faulting. The region of transition zone thinning under the Eastern rift is several hundred kilometers wide and coincides with a 2-3% reduction in S wave velocities. The thinning of the transition zone, as well as the reduction in S wave velocities, can be attributed to a 200-300°K increase in temperature. This thermal anomaly at >400 km depth beneath the Eastern rift cannot be easily explained by passive rifting and but is consistent with a plume origin for the Cenozoic rifting, volcanism and plateau uplift in East Africa.
AB - We apply a three-dimensional stacking method to receiver functions from the Tanzania Broadband Seismic Experiment to determine relative variations in the thickness of the mantle transition zone beneath Tanzania. The transition zone under the Eastern rift is 30-40 km thinner than under areas of the Tanzania Craton in the interior of the East African Plateau unaffected by rift faulting. The region of transition zone thinning under the Eastern rift is several hundred kilometers wide and coincides with a 2-3% reduction in S wave velocities. The thinning of the transition zone, as well as the reduction in S wave velocities, can be attributed to a 200-300°K increase in temperature. This thermal anomaly at >400 km depth beneath the Eastern rift cannot be easily explained by passive rifting and but is consistent with a plume origin for the Cenozoic rifting, volcanism and plateau uplift in East Africa.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034353335&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/1999GL005429
DO - 10.1029/1999GL005429
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0034353335
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 27
SP - 827
EP - 830
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 6
ER -