Crustal and uppermost mantle structures of the North American Midcontinent Rift revealed by joint full-waveform inversion of ambient-noise data and teleseismic P waves

Bin He; Kai Wang; Tianshi Liu; Ting Lei; Nanqiao Du; Suzan van der Lee; Fiona Ann Darbyshire; Andrew Frederiksen; Hejun Zhu; David Lumley; Henry Halls; Qinya Liu

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118797

Crustal and uppermost mantle structures of the North American Midcontinent Rift revealed by joint full-waveform inversion of ambient-noise data and teleseismic P waves

Bin He^*, Kai Wang, Tianshi Liu, Ting Lei, Nanqiao Du, Suzan van der Lee, Fiona Ann Darbyshire, Andrew Frederiksen, Hejun Zhu, David Lumley, Henry Halls, Qinya Liu

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The Midcontinent Rift (MCR), hosting several world-class ore deposits, is the fossil remnant of a massive Mesoproterozoic rifting event (1.1 Ga) that did not lead to the formation of an ocean basin. To better understand the lithospheric processes associated with the rifting stage and its subsequent failure, we developed a novel full-waveform joint inversion method using ambient noise data and teleseismic P waves for this seismically inactive region. We apply this approach to three years (2011-2013) of seismic recordings from the Superior Province Rifting EarthScope Experiment (SPREE) (~12 km average station spacing) and the USArray Transportable Array (~70 km average station spacing), and obtain a new 3D high-resolution Vs model down to 100 km depth, as well as Vp and density models down to 60 km depth. The model shows major velocity anomalies in agreement with previous seismic studies for the western arm of the MCR. In particular, we observe high density (2.8-3.0 g/cm³), Vp (6.3-6.5 km/s), and Vs (3.6-3.7 km/s) structures in the shallow upper crust within the rift, likely associated with volcanic rocks. Similar to a previously identified underplated layer, we also observe extensive normal-to-high Vs (3.8-4.2 km/s) along the whole rift axis and Vp (6.8-7.5 km/s) beneath the northern segment of the rift within the lower crust. However, the Vs and Vp values are lower than average for typical underplated materials. We suggest that this underplated layer may represent a combination of different intrusive rock types (e.g., gabbro, anorthosite) developed during magma differentiation processes, or contamination of the mafic magma by surrounding crustal material, or intrusions of sills.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	118797
Journal	Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume	641
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118797
State	Published - Sep 1 2024

Funding

We thank all the landowners that hosted a SPREE seismic station and service crews on their land for 2.5 years ( http://www.earth.northwestern.edu/spree/Welcome.html and https://twitter.com/seismoSPREEDOM ). These dense arrays make it possible for us to refine detailed lithospheric structures for the MCR and beyond. We also acknowledge all the work for developing the USArray (Transportable Array). All the SPREE data and USarray data are available at IRIS-DMC ( http://ds.iris.edu/ds/nodes/dmc/data/ ). We also thank the developers of the software SPECFEM3D for their continued community work ( https://github.com/geodynamics/specfem3d ). In this study, we use the SPECFEM3D_Cartesian (version v2.0.2-3292-g7ab2414). Computations were performed on the Niagara supercomputer at the SciNet High-performance Computing (HPC) Consortium. SciNet is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation; the Government of Ontario; the Ontario Research Fund\u2014Research Excellence; and the University of Toronto. B.H (before April 2022) and Q. L. are supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant 487237 and the J. Tuzo Wilson Research fund at the Department of Physics, University of Toronto. H. Zhu is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation Grant number EAR 2042098. The figures are plotted by PyGMT ( https://www.pygmt.org/latest/ ) which is originally based on GMT ( Wessel et al., 2019 ). We thank all the landowners that hosted a SPREE seismic station and service crews on their land for 2.5 years (http://www.earth.northwestern.edu/spree/Welcome.html and https://twitter.com/seismoSPREEDOM). These dense arrays make it possible for us to refine detailed lithospheric structures for the MCR and beyond. We also acknowledge all the work for developing the USArray (Transportable Array). All the SPREE data and USarray data are available at IRIS-DMC (http://ds.iris.edu/ds/nodes/dmc/data/). We also thank the developers of the software SPECFEM3D for their continued community work (https://github.com/geodynamics/specfem3d). In this study, we use the SPECFEM3D_Cartesian (version v2.0.2-3292-g7ab2414). Computations were performed on the Niagara supercomputer at the SciNet High-performance Computing (HPC) Consortium. SciNet is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation; the Government of Ontario; the Ontario Research Fund\u2014Research Excellence; and the University of Toronto. B.H (before April 2022) and Q. L. are supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant 487237 and the J. Tuzo Wilson Research fund at the Department of Physics, University of Toronto. H. Zhu is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation Grant number EAR 2042098. The figures are plotted by PyGMT (https://www.pygmt.org/latest/) which is originally based on GMT (Wessel et al. 2019).

Keywords

Ambient noise adjoint tomography
Continental underplating
Grenville orogeny
Teleseismic full waveform inversion
The Midcontinent Rift

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geophysics
Geochemistry and Petrology
Space and Planetary Science
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)

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10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118797

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He, B., Wang, K., Liu, T., Lei, T., Du, N., van der Lee, S., Darbyshire, F. A., Frederiksen, A., Zhu, H., Lumley, D., Halls, H., & Liu, Q. (2024). Crustal and uppermost mantle structures of the North American Midcontinent Rift revealed by joint full-waveform inversion of ambient-noise data and teleseismic P waves. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 641, Article 118797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118797

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title = "Crustal and uppermost mantle structures of the North American Midcontinent Rift revealed by joint full-waveform inversion of ambient-noise data and teleseismic P waves",

abstract = "The Midcontinent Rift (MCR), hosting several world-class ore deposits, is the fossil remnant of a massive Mesoproterozoic rifting event (1.1 Ga) that did not lead to the formation of an ocean basin. To better understand the lithospheric processes associated with the rifting stage and its subsequent failure, we developed a novel full-waveform joint inversion method using ambient noise data and teleseismic P waves for this seismically inactive region. We apply this approach to three years (2011-2013) of seismic recordings from the Superior Province Rifting EarthScope Experiment (SPREE) (~12 km average station spacing) and the USArray Transportable Array (~70 km average station spacing), and obtain a new 3D high-resolution Vs model down to 100 km depth, as well as Vp and density models down to 60 km depth. The model shows major velocity anomalies in agreement with previous seismic studies for the western arm of the MCR. In particular, we observe high density (2.8-3.0 g/cm3), Vp (6.3-6.5 km/s), and Vs (3.6-3.7 km/s) structures in the shallow upper crust within the rift, likely associated with volcanic rocks. Similar to a previously identified underplated layer, we also observe extensive normal-to-high Vs (3.8-4.2 km/s) along the whole rift axis and Vp (6.8-7.5 km/s) beneath the northern segment of the rift within the lower crust. However, the Vs and Vp values are lower than average for typical underplated materials. We suggest that this underplated layer may represent a combination of different intrusive rock types (e.g., gabbro, anorthosite) developed during magma differentiation processes, or contamination of the mafic magma by surrounding crustal material, or intrusions of sills.",

keywords = "Ambient noise adjoint tomography, Continental underplating, Grenville orogeny, Teleseismic full waveform inversion, The Midcontinent Rift",

author = "Bin He and Kai Wang and Tianshi Liu and Ting Lei and Nanqiao Du and {van der Lee}, Suzan and Darbyshire, {Fiona Ann} and Andrew Frederiksen and Hejun Zhu and David Lumley and Henry Halls and Qinya Liu",

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doi = "10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118797",

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He, B, Wang, K, Liu, T, Lei, T, Du, N, van der Lee, S, Darbyshire, FA, Frederiksen, A, Zhu, H, Lumley, D, Halls, H & Liu, Q 2024, 'Crustal and uppermost mantle structures of the North American Midcontinent Rift revealed by joint full-waveform inversion of ambient-noise data and teleseismic P waves', Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 641, 118797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118797

TY - JOUR

T1 - Crustal and uppermost mantle structures of the North American Midcontinent Rift revealed by joint full-waveform inversion of ambient-noise data and teleseismic P waves

AU - He, Bin

AU - Wang, Kai

AU - Liu, Tianshi

AU - Lei, Ting

AU - Du, Nanqiao

AU - van der Lee, Suzan

AU - Darbyshire, Fiona Ann

AU - Frederiksen, Andrew

AU - Zhu, Hejun

AU - Lumley, David

AU - Halls, Henry

AU - Liu, Qinya

PY - 2024/9/1

Y1 - 2024/9/1

N2 - The Midcontinent Rift (MCR), hosting several world-class ore deposits, is the fossil remnant of a massive Mesoproterozoic rifting event (1.1 Ga) that did not lead to the formation of an ocean basin. To better understand the lithospheric processes associated with the rifting stage and its subsequent failure, we developed a novel full-waveform joint inversion method using ambient noise data and teleseismic P waves for this seismically inactive region. We apply this approach to three years (2011-2013) of seismic recordings from the Superior Province Rifting EarthScope Experiment (SPREE) (~12 km average station spacing) and the USArray Transportable Array (~70 km average station spacing), and obtain a new 3D high-resolution Vs model down to 100 km depth, as well as Vp and density models down to 60 km depth. The model shows major velocity anomalies in agreement with previous seismic studies for the western arm of the MCR. In particular, we observe high density (2.8-3.0 g/cm3), Vp (6.3-6.5 km/s), and Vs (3.6-3.7 km/s) structures in the shallow upper crust within the rift, likely associated with volcanic rocks. Similar to a previously identified underplated layer, we also observe extensive normal-to-high Vs (3.8-4.2 km/s) along the whole rift axis and Vp (6.8-7.5 km/s) beneath the northern segment of the rift within the lower crust. However, the Vs and Vp values are lower than average for typical underplated materials. We suggest that this underplated layer may represent a combination of different intrusive rock types (e.g., gabbro, anorthosite) developed during magma differentiation processes, or contamination of the mafic magma by surrounding crustal material, or intrusions of sills.

AB - The Midcontinent Rift (MCR), hosting several world-class ore deposits, is the fossil remnant of a massive Mesoproterozoic rifting event (1.1 Ga) that did not lead to the formation of an ocean basin. To better understand the lithospheric processes associated with the rifting stage and its subsequent failure, we developed a novel full-waveform joint inversion method using ambient noise data and teleseismic P waves for this seismically inactive region. We apply this approach to three years (2011-2013) of seismic recordings from the Superior Province Rifting EarthScope Experiment (SPREE) (~12 km average station spacing) and the USArray Transportable Array (~70 km average station spacing), and obtain a new 3D high-resolution Vs model down to 100 km depth, as well as Vp and density models down to 60 km depth. The model shows major velocity anomalies in agreement with previous seismic studies for the western arm of the MCR. In particular, we observe high density (2.8-3.0 g/cm3), Vp (6.3-6.5 km/s), and Vs (3.6-3.7 km/s) structures in the shallow upper crust within the rift, likely associated with volcanic rocks. Similar to a previously identified underplated layer, we also observe extensive normal-to-high Vs (3.8-4.2 km/s) along the whole rift axis and Vp (6.8-7.5 km/s) beneath the northern segment of the rift within the lower crust. However, the Vs and Vp values are lower than average for typical underplated materials. We suggest that this underplated layer may represent a combination of different intrusive rock types (e.g., gabbro, anorthosite) developed during magma differentiation processes, or contamination of the mafic magma by surrounding crustal material, or intrusions of sills.

KW - Ambient noise adjoint tomography

KW - Continental underplating

KW - Grenville orogeny

KW - Teleseismic full waveform inversion

KW - The Midcontinent Rift

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VL - 641

JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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ER -

Crustal and uppermost mantle structures of the North American Midcontinent Rift revealed by joint full-waveform inversion of ambient-noise data and teleseismic P waves

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