Geology_paper.doc-AEIC--AlaskaEarthquakeInformation.docVIP

Crustal thickness variation in south central Alaska: Results from the Broadband Experiment Across the Alaska Range Elizabeth Veenstra, Douglas H. Christensen, Geoffrey A. Abers*, and Aaron Ferris*. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320 *Boston University, Department of Earth Sciences, Boston, MA 02215 Abstract Crustal thicknesses have been determined by receiver function analysis of broadband teleseismic waveforms recorded during the Broadband Experiment Across the Alaska Range (BEAAR). We deployed thirty-six stations over a period of twenty-seven months, between spring 1999 and fall 2001. One hundred six crustal thickness estimates are presented. Crustal thicknesses were determined at Moho piercing points to preserve backazimuthal variation around each station and reveal details of Moho topography. Typical crust beneath the northern lowlands is 26 km thick, while beneath the mountains it is 35-45 km thick. The abrupt transition from thick to thin crust coincides with the location of the Hines Creek Fault, a major tectonostratigraphic boundary where metamorphosed continental margin rocks to the north meet deep marine and island arc rocks to the south. Comparison of the crustal thicknesses determined by receiver functions with those predicted from topography assuming Airy type isostacy, suggest that the Alaska Range is compensated by its crustal root. North of the range the crust is systematically thinner than predicted by simple Airy isostacy. Assuming the northern lowlands are in isostatic equilibrium, there must be a difference in material properties between the northern lowlands and the Alaska Range. A crustal density contrast of 4.6% across the Hines Creek Fault, 2700 kgm-3 to the north and 2830 kgm-3 to the south, would explain the observed difference between the crustal thicknesses predicted by simple Airy isostacy, and the crustal thicknesses determined by receiver function analysis. Although the