Mapping Pn Amplitude Spreading and Attenuation in Asia (Invited)

Pn travels most of its path in the mantle lid. Mapping the lateral variation of Pn amplitude attenuation sheds light on material properties and dynamics of the uppermost region of the mantle. Pn amplitude variation depends on the wavefront geometric spreading as well as material attenuation. We investigated Pn geometric spreading, which is much more complex than a traditionally assumed power-law spreading model, using both synthetic and observed amplitude data collected in Asia. We derived a new Pn spreading model based on the formulation that was proposed previously to account for the spherical shape of the Earth (Yang et. al., BSSA, 2007). New parameters derived for the spreading model provide much better correction for Pn amplitudes in terms of residual behavior. Because we used observed Pn amplitudes to construct the model, the model incorporates not only the effect of the Earth's spherical shape, but also the effect of potential upper-mantle velocity gradients in the region. Using the new spreading model, we corrected Pn amplitudes measured at 1, 2, 4 and 6 Hz and conducted attenuation tomography. The resulting Pn attenuation model correlates well with the regional geology. We see high attenuation in regions such as northern Tibetan Plateau and the western Pacific subduction zone, and low attenuation for stable blocks such as Sichuan and Tarim basins.