signature=ba8dee36e74792cb6b003b7494649e8e,Hudson Bay Lithospheric Experiment: Constraints on Lithos...

Abstract

HuBLE (Hudson Bay Lithospheric Experiment) is an international initiative to study the structure, dynamics and evolution of the Hudson Bay region. In particular, we seek to understand the interaction between the Archean cratons surrounding the region and the underlying Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen, which formed during the collision of the Superior and Churchill Provinces at 1.9-1.8 Ga. Global and continental- scale tomographic models indicate a thick, cold and refractory lithosphere beneath Hudson Bay. Most tomographic models suggest that this region is associated with the highest velocities and thickest seismological lithosphere of the Canadian Shield. The HuBLE project commenced in 2006, with the deployment of a number of telemetered broadband seismograph stations on the east and west coasts of Hudson Bay. Along with existing stations from the POLARIS/FedNor initiative in northern Ontario, and permanent Canadian stations, the deployment ringed Hudson Bay on three sides. A second phase of deployment in 2007, using non-telemetered broadband stations, completed the coverage of the region. A considerable number of large teleseismic earthquakes have been recorded by the array since its installation, and the data are generally of high quality. We measure Rayleigh wave phase velocities for paths crossing Hudson Bay, using the two-station cross-correlation method of Meier et al. (2004). Average phase velocity dispersion curves are constructed using data from multiple earthquakes along each path, resulting in a set of reliable dispersion measurements in the period range ~15--250~seconds. The data set therefore permits constraint of lithospheric shear wave velocity structure from mid-crustal to asthenospheric depths beneath the continent. Preliminary 1D shear wave velocity models of path-averaged structure are estimated using a smooth linearised inversion technique (Maupin & Cara, 1992). The models show a typically 'shield- type' signature, with a high-velocity mantle lid overlaying a weak negative velocity gradient, below which the velocities become similar to those of global reference models. The preliminary results suggest that the seismological lithosphere beneath Hudson Bay is thicker than beneath the surrounding cratonic regions, reaching a maximum of ~260~km.