High-resolution receiver function imaging reveals Colorado Plateau lithospheric architecture and mantle-supported topography
Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
- Open Access Version: Publisher Index Page
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
After maintaining elevations near sea level for over 500 million years, the Colorado Plateau (CP) has a present average elevation of 2 km. We compute new receiver function images from the first dense seismic transect to cross the plateau that reveal a central CP crustal thickness of 42–50 km thinning to 30–35 km at the CP margins. Isostatic calculations show that only approximately 20% of central CP elevations can be explained by thickened crust alone, with the CP edges requiring nearly total mantle compensation. We calculate an uplift budget showing that CP buoyancy arises from a combination of crustal thickening, heating and alteration of the lithospheric root, dynamic support from mantle upwelling, and significant buoyant edge effects produced by small-scale convecting asthenosphere at its margins.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | High-resolution receiver function imaging reveals Colorado Plateau lithospheric architecture and mantle-supported topography |
| Series title | Geophysical Research Letters |
| DOI | 10.1029/2010GL044799 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 20 |
| Year Published | 2010 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | American Geophysical Union |
| Contributing office(s) | Volcano Science Center |
| Description | L20313; 6 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah |
| Other Geospatial | Colorado Plateau |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |