Probing the core–mantle boundary beneath Europe and Western Eurasia A detailed study using PcP》.pdf

Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 246 (2015) 9–24 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors journal homepage: www.else /locate/pepi Probing the core–mantle boundary beneath Europe and Western Eurasia: A detailed study using PcP Alexandra Gassner a,⇑, Christine Thomas b, Frank Krüger c, Michael Weber a,c a GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany b Institut für Geophysik, Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, Correnstr. 24, 48149 Münster, Germany c Institut für Erd- und Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany a r t i c l e i n f o s u m m a r y Article history: We use PcP (the core reflected P phase) recordings of deep earthquakes and nuclear explosions from the Received 12 January 2015 Gräfenberg (Germany) and NORSAR (Norway) arrays to investigate the core–mantle boundary region Received in revised form 17 June 2015 beneath Europe and western Eurasia. We find evidence for a previously unknown ultra-low velocity zone Accepted 17 June 2015 600 km south-east of Moscow, located at the edge of a middle-size low shear- velocity region imaged in Available online 25 June 2015 seismic tomography that is located beneath the Volga river region. The observed amplitude variations of PcP can be modelled by velocity reductions of P and S-waves of 5% and 15%, respectively, with a Keyword