No abstract

We invert Pg, PmP, and Pn traveltimes from an active‐source, multiscale tomography experiment to constrain the three‐dimensional isotropic and anisotropic P wave velocity structure of the topmost oceanic mantle and crust and crustal thickness variations beneath the entire Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The isotropic velocity structure is characterized by a semicontinuous, narrow (5‐km‐wide) crustal low‐velocity volume that tracks the sinuous ridge axis. Across the Moho, the low‐velocity volume abruptly broadens to approximately 20 km in width and displays a north‐south linear trend that connects the two overlapping spreading centers bounding the segment. From the seismic results, we estimate the thermal structure and melt distribution beneath the Endeavour segment. The thermal structure indicates that the observed skew, or lateral offset, between the crustal and mantle magmatic systems is a consequence of differences in mechanisms of heat transfer at crustal and mantle depths, with the crust and mantle dominated by advection and conduction, respectively. Melt volume estimates exhibit significant along‐axis variations that coincide with the observed skew between the mantle and crustal magmatic systems, with sites of enhanced crustal melt volumes and vigorous hydrothermal activity corresponding to regions where the mantle and crustal magmatic systems are vertically aligned. These results contradict models of ridge segmentation that predict enhanced and reduced melt supply beneath the segment center and ends, respectively. Our results instead support a model in which segment‐scale skew between the crustal and mantle magmatic systems governs magmatic and hydrothermal processes at mid‐ocean ridges.

Recent multi‐channel seismic studies of fast spreading and hot‐spot influenced mid‐ocean ridges reveal magma bodies located beneath the mid‐crustal Axial Magma Lens (AML), embedded within the underlying crustal mush zone. We here present new seismic images from the Juan de Fuca Ridge that show reflections interpreted to be from vertically stacked magma lenses in a number of locations beneath this intermediate‐spreading ridge. The brightest reflections are beneath Northern Symmetric segment, from ∼46°42′‐52′N and Split Seamount, where a small magma body at local Moho depths is also detected, inferred to be a source reservoir for the stacked magma lenses in the crust above. The imaged magma bodies are sub‐horizontal, extend continuously for along‐axis lengths of ∼1–8 km, with the shallowest located at depths of ∼100–1,200 m below the AML, and are similar to sub‐AML bodies found at the East Pacific Rise. At both ridges, stacked sill‐like lenses are detected beneath only a small fraction of the ridge length examined and are inferred to mark local sites of higher melt flux and active replenishment from depth. The imaged magma lenses are focused in the upper part of the lower crust, which coincides with the most melt rich part of the crystal mush zone detected in other geophysical studies and where sub‐vertical fabrics are observed in geologic exposures of oceanic crust. We infer that the multi‐level magma accumulations are ephemeral and may result from porous flow and mush compaction, and that they can be tapped and drained during dike intrusion and eruption events.

Hydrothermal circulation at mid‐ocean ridges is responsible for ~25% of Earth's heat flux and controls the thermal and chemical evolution of young oceanic crust. The heat flux of black smoker hydrothermal systems is thought to be primarily controlled by localized magma supply and crustal permeability. Nevertheless, magma chamber characteristics and the nature of crustal permeability beneath such systems remain unclear. Here we apply three‐dimensional full‐waveform inversion to seismic data from the hydrothermally active Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge to image the upper crust in high resolution. We resolve velocity variations directly above the axial magma chamber that correlate with variations in seismicity, black smoker heat flux, and the depth of the axial magmatic system. We conclude that localized magma recharge to the axial magma lens, along with induced seismogenic cracking and increased permeability, influences black smoker heat flux.

S U M M A R Y3-D full-waveform inversion (FWI) is an advanced seismic imaging technique that has been widely adopted by the oil and gas industry to obtain high-fidelity models of P-wave velocity that lead to improvements in migrated images of the reservoir. Most industrial applications of 3-D FWI model the acoustic wavefield, often account for the kinematic effect of anisotropy, and focus on matching the low-frequency component of the early arriving refractions that are most sensitive to P-wave velocity structure. Here, we have adopted the same approach in an application of 3-D acoustic, anisotropic FWI to an ocean-bottom-seismometer (OBS) field data set acquired across the Endeavour oceanic spreading centre in the northeastern Pacific. Starting models for P-wave velocity and anisotropy were obtained from traveltime tomography; during FWI, velocity is updated whereas anisotropy is kept fixed. We demonstrate that, for the Endeavour field data set, 3-D FWI is able to recover fine-scale velocity structure with a resolution that is 2-4 times better than conventional traveltime tomography. Quality assurance procedures have been employed to monitor each step of the workflow; these are time consuming but critical to the development of a successful inversion strategy. Finally, a suite of checkerboard tests has been performed which shows that the full potential resolution of FWI can be obtained if we acquire a 3-D survey with a slightly denser shot and receiver spacing than is usual for an academic experiment. We anticipate that this exciting development will encourage future seismic investigations of earth science targets that would benefit from the superior resolution offered by 3-D FWI.