Electrical resistivity structure of the upper mantle in the Southern Mariana Trough

We show a 2-D electrical resistivity structure of the upper mantle in the Southern Mariana Trough. The Mariana Trough is an active back-arc basin in which the seafloor spreading has occurred. In the southern region of the Mariana Trough, the seafloor spreading rate is 35-45 km/Myr at present (Kato et al., 2003) that is slow, but there are characteristics of the fast spreading ridge such as an axial topographic high (Martinez et al., 2000) and a nearly constant low mantle Bouguer anomaly along the spreading axis suggesting high magmatic activity with a sheet-like mantle upwelling under the spreading axis (Kitada et al., 2006). We carried out an electromagnetic experiment along a ~120 km length profile across the spreading axis to estimate an electrical resistivity structure, and hence the physical property like temperature, water and melt content in the upper mantle. The observation was made using ten Ocean Bottom Electro-Magnetometers (OBEMs) from August to November in 2010. The data was recorded for ~85 days in two OBEMs and for ~60 days in the rest of the OBEMs. Successfully, eight OBEMs recorded time-variations of the electric and magnetic fields and two OBEMs recorded only those of the magnetic field. The magnetotelluric (MT) method is a base for the data analysis. We carried out the time-series data analysis to estimate the MT responses and correct topographic distortions in the MT responses. We have basically performed a smooth model inversion analysis using the processed MT responses to estimate a minimum electrical resistivity structure, and also have considered a prior constraint in the inversion analysis for the subducted slab inferred from a seismic research (Gudmundsson and Sambridge, 1998). The obtained 2-D electrical resistivity structure shows an asymmetry about the spreading center. The trenchward side shows higher resistivity (~300 Ohm-m), while the opposite side (the west side) shows that intermediate resistivity (~100 Ohm-m) with ~40 km thickness is underlain by lower resistivity (~10 Ohm-m) region down to the subducted slab. The region under the spreading center has low resistivity (~30 Ohm-m) down to the depth of ~40 km. This low resistivity region might be connected to the lower resistivity region located in the west side. These regions may be affected by hydration driven by water release from the subducted slab; that may result in abundant magma supply to support the EPR type axial topographic high. The higher resistivity region in the trenchward side might be a result of low temperature as well as the absence of a significant amount of water in a cold nose within the mantle wedge.