3D P-wave Velocity Structure Beneath the Eastern Canadian Shield and Northern Appalachian Region

Previous seismic studies of the upper mantle of the Canadian Shield have indicated some low-velocity anomalies within the cratonic lithosphere in the Abitibi-Grenville region. The lack of seismograph station coverage to the east and south-east of the studied area prevented definition of the 3D geometry of these anomalies. Adding new stations from the province of Quebec and from the northeastern United States allows us to carry out new studies of the P-wave velocity structure of the upper mantle, in order to better understand the complexity of the region and the interaction of the lithosphere with possible thermal anomalies in the underlying mantle. We analysed teleseismic P wave arrivals from almost 200 earthquakes, recorded at 45 stations deployed across the provinces of Quebec and Ontario and across the northeastern US. The relative arrival times of teleseismic P waves across the array were measured using the cross-correlation method of VanDecar & Crosson (1990). The travel time data were then inverted to estimate the 3D P-wave velocity structure beneath the region, using the least-squares tomographic inversion code of VanDecar (1991). The model shows some interesting features. We see a diffuse low-velocity structure beneath New-England that extends to at least 500 km depth, and that may be related to the Appalachian Mountain belt. There is also a linear low-velocity structure, flanked by higher velocities, perpendicular to the Grenville Front, and along the Ottawa Valley. We interpret this feature as a mantle signature of the Great Meteor Hotspot track. We have looked for systematic differences between the mantle underlying the Archean Superior craton and the Proterozoic Grenville Province but did not find a significant difference in the upper mantle. We investigate the role of thermal and compositional effects to interpret the velocity models and to relate the patterns of the anomalies to past and present tectonic structures.