On the vertical extent of the large low shear velocity province beneath the South Pacific Superswell

International audienceThe three-dimensional S-wave velocity structure beneath the South Pacific Superswell is obtained from joint broadband seismic experiments on the ocean floor and islands. We collected only approximately 800 relative times of long-period teleseismic SH-waves by using a waveform cross-correlation from 76 events occurring from January 2003 to May 2005. We conducted relative time tomography to obtain a 3D structure to depths of 1600 km. In the resultant image, we find a characteristic distribution of low- velocity regions. The most prominent features are a large doughnut-shaped low-velocity region at 800 km depth, and an elongated large low-velocity region beneath the Society to Pitcairn hotspots at 1200 km depth. Our model suggests that a large low shear velocity province rooted in the D00 extends upwards and culminates near the top of the lower mantle beneath the central part of the South Pacific Superswell although its perfect continuity is not still confirmed