Asymmetric upwarp of the asthenosphere beneath the Baikal rift zone, Siberia

Abstract

In the summer of 1991 we installed 27 seismic stations about lake Baikal, Siberia, aimed at obtaining accurately timed digital seismic data to investigate the deep structure and geodynamics of the Baikal rift zone and adjacent regions. Sixty‐six teleseismic events with high signal‐to‐noise ratio were recorded. Travel time and Q analysis of teleseisms characterize an upwarp of the lithosphere‐asthenosphere boundary under Baikal. Theoretical arrival times were calculated by using the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's interior 1991 Earth model, and travel time residuals were found by subtracting computed arrival times from observed ones. A three‐dimensional downward projection inversion method is used to invert the P wave velocity structure with constraints from deep seismic sounding data. Our results suggest that (1) the lithosphere‐asthenosphere transition upwarps beneath the rift zone, (2) the upwarp has an asymmetric shape, (3) the velocity contrast is −4.9% in the asthenosphere, (4) the density contrast is −0.6%, and (5) the P wave attenuation contrast t * is 0.1 s.