Foundering Lithosphere Imaged Beneath the Southern Sierra Nevada, California, USA
Boyd OS, Jones CH, Sheehan AF. 2004. Foundering Lithosphere Imaged Beneath the Southern Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Science. 305(5684):660-662
Seismic tomography reveals garnet-rich crust and mantle lithosphere descending into the upper mantle beneath the southern Sierra Nevada. The descending lithosphere consists of two layers: an iron rich eclogite above a magnesium-rich garnet peridotite. These results place descending eclogite above the east of high P wave speed material previously imaged beneath the southern Great Valley, suggesting a previously unsuspected coherence in the lithospheric removal process.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Boyd, Oler; Jones, Craig; Sheehan, Anne
- Units
- SEKI
- Keywords
- foundering, Geology – General, Southern Sierra Nevada