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The origin of short-period precursors to PKP

SEISMOLOGY DIVISION EARTH PHYSICS BRANCH DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, MINES AND RESOURCES, OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Canada

Abstract

An investigation of the origin of precursors to short-period PKP phases has been undertaken using 23 earthquakes recorded at the Yellowknife Array at distances between 123° and 143°. In particular, the pattern of slowness and azimuth changes with time has been examined for coherent bursts of energy occurring throughout the precursor wave train. These temporal changes demonstrate that the precursor energy is most satisfactorily explained by scattering from small inhomogeneities at the core-mantle boundary or in the lowermost mantle, both before P-wave energy enters the core and when it re-emerges into the mantle. Moreover, scattering before entry into the core seems to generate the larger amplitudes. The bulk of the data cannot be attributed to reflection or sharp upward refraction from velocity discontinuities within the lower part of the outer core, although there is some ambiguous evidence for a reflecting interface at a depth of about 4850 km.