Boyd OS, Jones CH, Sheehan AF. Foundering Lithosphere Imaged Beneath the Southern Sierra Nevada, California, USA.
Science 2004;
305:660-2. [PMID:
15286370 DOI:
10.1126/science.1099181]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Seismic tomography reveals garnet-rich crust and mantle lithosphere descending into the upper mantle beneath the southeastern Sierra Nevada. The descending lithosphere consists of two layers: an iron-rich eclogite above a magnesium-rich garnet peridotite. These results place descending eclogite above and east of high P wave speed material previously imaged beneath the southern Great Valley, suggesting a previously unsuspected coherence in the lithospheric removal process.
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