From Isostasy to Proterozoic Underplating: New Inferences from Crustal Thickness and Vp/Vs Ratio beneath the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin

The rapid expansion of regional broadband seismic arrays in Alberta provides an unprecedented opportunity to map the subsurface seismic structure. In this study, we compute the P-to-S receiver functions from 5 regional seismic networks and 62 stations to determine the crustal properties beneath southern-central Alberta, a boundary zone between the Mesozoic Canadian Cordillera and the Precambrian craton(s). The optimal Moho depth and Vp/Vs ratio at each receiver are determined by tracing the direct P, converted (Pms) and reverberated (PpPms and PpSms+PsPms) phases through a three-dimensional shear velocity model. The resulting Moho depth-Vp/Vs ratio (H-K) image shows more coherent stacking amplitudes than the traditional H-K method. The map of Moho depth shows an increase of crustal thickness from an average of 41 km in Precambrian domains to ~50 km beneath the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, which indicates a strong crustal gradient across the craton-domain boundary in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). The surface elevations along the foreland belt of the Rockies are isostatically compensated by a thickened crustal root, which is consistent with thick-skinned deformation likely sustained during the Laramide phase of the Farallon subduction. To the west of the foreland belt, however, a relatively thin crust with an average thickness of ~36 km is mapped beneath the extreme topography of southern Canadian Rockies. The lack of a deep crustal root is inconsistent with the Airy isostasy model, implying very high temperatures beneath the Cordillera upper mantle. Ratios of average crustal velocities (Vp/Vs) vary from 1.61 to 1.91 across the study region. The smallest values are observed near the northern Snowbird Tectonic Zone (STZ) and Taltson magmatic arc, which suggest a felsic crust resulted from crustal thickening and melting during the early Proterozoic. On the other hand, the Vp/Vs ratio shows the highest value (~1.9) in the vicinity of the Vulcan structure, a proposed suture zone between the Medicine Hat Block and Archean Hearne province. This observation, in combination with a southward-thickening crust, implies extensive Post-collisional mafic magmatism (i.e. underplating) in the Paleoproterozoic eon.