High‐Resolution Ps Receiver Function Imaging of the Crust and Mantle Lithosphere Beneath Southern New England and Tectonic Implications

Luo, Yantao; Long, Maureen D.; Karabinos, Paul; Kuiper, Yvette D.; Rondenay, S.; Aragon, John C.; Sawade, Lucas; Makus, Peter

doi:10.1029/2021jb022170

Cited by 14 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 117 publications

(259 reference statements)

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“…Features shown in the migration results align with those resolved in previous receiver function results (Luo et al., 2021), and provide additional detailed information on their geometries. The Moho discontinuity is visible in all migration images as a transition from a dark layer to a light layer beneath; this transition is marked with a yellow dashed line in our annotated images (Figure 3).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…In the upper mantle, we observe a continuous west‐dipping feature that cuts across the entire profile; a similar feature was identified in the receiver function study and interpreted as a relict slab (Luo et al., 2021). The migration image using forward‐scattered Ps phase (Figure 2a) clearly shows the slab‐like geometry of this feature.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 82%

“…This Moho depth change appears to be very sharp and step‐like, rather than gradual and slope‐like. Furthermore, the deeper and shallower Moho appears to overlap, producing a “doubled Moho” geometry in the vicinity of the offset, which was hinted at in previous receiver function images (Luo et al., 2021); a similar Moho geometry has recently been revealed just to the north beneath western Massachusetts (Masis Arce et al., 2022). The migration technique avoids the effect of horizontal averaging in receiver function images, and more convincingly resolves the extent of the shallower and deeper Moho interfaces.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…We note that a restriction of the migration technique is that it suffers from spatial aliasing at depths shallower than twice the station spacing (Rondenay et al., 2005). Given our ∼11 km station spacing, we do not interpret structures within the crust in this study, although previous receiver function imaging (Luo et al., 2021) has shed light on intracrustal structures beneath SEISConn. One other downside of including multiple phases is the leakage of one phase into another, producing ghost artifacts, as illustrated in Figure S2 in Supporting Information .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…330 Ma to 300 Ma of their proposed Acadian orogenic plateau resulted in an over-thinned crust in southern New England, which could contribute to the Moho offset. Luo et al (2021) discussed another potential model for the Moho offset across the edge of Laurentia, which invoked underthrusting of the Laurentian crust to the east beneath accreted terranes.…”

Section: Crustal Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Wavefield Migration Imaging of Moho Geometry and Upper Mantle Structure Beneath Southern New England

Luo

Long

Kuiper

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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The crust and upper mantle beneath the New England Appalachians exhibit a large offset of the Moho across the boundary between Laurentia and accreted terranes and several dipping discontinuities, which reflect Paleozoic or younger tectonic movements. We apply scattered wavefield migration to the SEISConn array deployed across northern Connecticut and obtain insights not previously available from receiver function studies. We resolve a doubled Moho at a previously imaged Moho offset, which may reflect westward thrusting of rifted Grenville crust. The migration image suggests laterally variable velocity contrasts across the Moho, perhaps reflecting mafic underplating during continental rifting. A west‐dipping feature in the lithospheric mantle is further constrained to have a slab‐like geometry, representing a relict slab subducted during an Appalachian orogenic event. Localized low seismic velocities in the upper mantle beneath the eastern portion of the array may indicate that the Northern Appalachian Anomaly extends relatively far to the south.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 60%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Crustal Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Wavefield Migration Imaging of Moho Geometry and Upper Mantle Structure Beneath Southern New England

Luo

Long

Kuiper

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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A Note on the Timing and Nature of the Moho Geometry and Upper Mantle Structure Beneath Southern New England

Staal

Zagorevski

2023

Geophysical Research Letters

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New seismic imaging by Luo et al. (2022, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099013) revealed two important lithosphere‐scale structures beneath southern New England: a large offset of the Moho near the suture between Laurentia and accreted exotic terranes, and a remnant of west‐dipping slab rooted in easternmost New England. Formation of a crustal‐scale east‐dipping thrust ramp that offsets the Moho near the Taconic suture, appears to have formed during the Late Paleozoic and hence highlights the potential of reactivation of pre‐existing major structures. Formation of the west‐dipping slab beneath New England also probably is a late feature since there is no evidence it was affected by the late Devonian to Carboniferous collapse of the orogenic Acadian plateau and associated lithospheric thinning, and neither is there any sign that it was impacted by the formation and ascent of the tholeiitic CAMP magmatism in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Hartford basin.

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Insights From Layered Anisotropy Beneath Southern New England: From Ancient Tectonism to Present‐Day Mantle Flow

Luo,

Long,

Link

et al. 2023

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Seismic anisotropy beneath eastern North America, as expressed in shear wave splitting observations, has been attributed to plate motion‐parallel shear in the asthenosphere, resulting in fast axes aligned with the plate motion. However, deviations of fast axes from plate motion directions are observed near major tectonic boundaries of the Appalachians, indicating contributions from lithospheric anisotropy associated with past tectonic processes. In this study, we conduct anisotropic receiver function (RF) analysis using data from a dense seismic array traversing the New England Appalachians in Connecticut to examine anisotropic layers in the crust and upper mantle and correlate them with past tectonic processes as well as present‐day mantle flow. We use the harmonic decomposition method to separate directionally‐dependent variations of RFs and focus on features with the same harmonic signals observed across multiple stations. Within the crust, there are multiple features that may be correlated with stratification in the Hartford Basin, faults in the Taconic thrust belt, shear zones formed during Salinic/Acadian terrane accretion events, and orogen‐parallel crustal flow in the Acadian orogenic plateau. We apply a Bayesian inversion method to obtain quantitative constraints on the direction and strength of intra‐crustal anisotropy beneath the Hartford Basin. In the upper mantle, we identify a fossil shear zone possibly formed during oblique subduction of Rheic Ocean lithosphere. We also find evidence for a plate motion‐parallel flow zone in the asthenosphere that is likely disturbed by mantle upwelling near the southern margin of the Northern Appalachian Anomaly in the eastern part of the study area.

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High‐Resolution Ps Receiver Function Imaging of the Crust and Mantle Lithosphere Beneath Southern New England and Tectonic Implications

Cited by 14 publications

References 117 publications

Wavefield Migration Imaging of Moho Geometry and Upper Mantle Structure Beneath Southern New England

Wavefield Migration Imaging of Moho Geometry and Upper Mantle Structure Beneath Southern New England

A Note on the Timing and Nature of the Moho Geometry and Upper Mantle Structure Beneath Southern New England

Insights From Layered Anisotropy Beneath Southern New England: From Ancient Tectonism to Present‐Day Mantle Flow

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