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Lets now utilize your knowledge of seismic velocity, refraction, and reection to see how each of the
major layer boundaries inside the Earth was discovered.
Below about 200 km, seismic-wave velocities in the mantle increase with depth (figure above b).
Seismologists interpret this increase to mean that mantle peridotite becomes progressively less
compressible, more rigid, and denser with depth. This proposal makes sense, considering that the
weight of overlying rock increases with depth, and as pressure increases, the atoms making up rock
squeeze together more tightly and are not so free to move. Because of refraction, the increase in
seismic velocity with depth causes seismic rays to curve in the mantle. To understand the shape of a
curved ray, lets represent a portion of the mantle by a series of imaginary layers, each of which has a
slightly greater seismic-wave velocity than the layer above (figure above c). Every time a seismic ray
crosses the boundary between adjacent layers, it refracts a little toward the boundary. After the ray has
crossed several layers, it has bent so much that it begins to head back up toward the top of the stack.
Now if we replace the stack of distinct layers with a single layer in which velocity increases with depth
at a constant rate, the wave follows a smoothly curving path (figure above d).
At depths between 410 km and 660 km, seismic velocity increases in a series of abrupt steps (figure
above a), so the stack of layers in figure above c is actually a somewhat realistic image. A major step
occurs at a depth of 660 km. Experiments suggest that such seismic-velocity discontinuities occur at
depths where pressure abruptly causes atoms in minerals to rearrange and pack together more tightly,
thereby changing the rocks compressibility and rigidity. Researchers are still unsure if chemical
changes also occur at the discontinuities. Because of these seismic-velocity discontinuities, now can
see more clearly, seismologists subdivide the mantle into the upper mantle (above 660 km), the
transition zone (between 410 and 660 km), and lower mantle (below 660 km). Note that seismologists
consider the transition zone to be part of the upper mantle.
The velocity of P-waves in the mantle changes because the physical properties of the mantle change with
depth.
surface 103 from the epicentre. In contrast, Ray B penetrates the boundary and refracts down into the
core. Ray B then curves through the core and refracts again when it crosses back into the mantle. As a
consequence, Ray B intersects the surface at more than 143 from the epicentre.
Seismic Tomography
In recent years, seismologists have developed a technique, called seismic tomography, to produce
three-dimensional images of variation in seismic velocities in the Earths interior. This technique
resembles the method used to produce three-dimensional CAT (or CT) scans of the human body. In
seismic tomography studies, researchers compare the observed travel time of seismic waves following
a specic ray path with the predicted travel time that waves following the same path would have if the
average velocity-versus-depth model depicted by Figures 2 and 3 were completely correct.
Tomographic studies emphasize that the simple onion-like layered image of the Earth, with velocities
increasing with depth at the same rate everywhere, is an oversimplication. In reality, the velocities of
seismic waves vary signicantly with location at a given depth. Results of tomographic studies can be
displayed by three-dimensional models, cross sections, or maps (figure above a, b). Generally, warmer
colours (reds) on these images indicate slower and presumably warmer regions, whereas cooler colours
(blues and purples) indicate faster and presumably cooler regions.
Even though many important questions remain, tomography has led geologists to picture the Earths
insides as a dynamic place (figure above c). This image should become even clearer, because a major
research initiative, called Earth Scope, has begun. This initiative involves placing hundreds of
seismometers in an array across the United States. Just as digital photographs have higher resolution
when taken by a camera with a 14-mega-pixel sensor than one with a 2-mega-pixel sensor, the greater
number of seismometers in the Earth Scope array provides a higher-resolution tomographic image of
the Earths interior.
Seismic-Reection Proling