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Comparing global seismic tomography models using the varimax Principal Component Analysis

de Viron, O; Van Camp, M; Grabkowiak, A; Ferreira, AMG; (2021) Comparing global seismic tomography models using the varimax Principal Component Analysis. Solid Earth , 12 pp. 1601-1634. 10.5194/se-12-1601-2021. Green open access

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Abstract

Global seismic tomography has greatly progressed in the past decades, with many global Earth models being produced by different research groups. Objective, statistical methods are crucial for the quantitative interpretation of the large amount of information encapsulated by the models as well as for unbiased model comparisons. We propose here to use a rotated version of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to compress the information, in order to ease the geological interpretation and model comparison. The method generates between 7 to 15 principal components (PC) for each of the seven tested global tomography models, capturing more than 97 % of the total variance of the model. Each PC consists of a vertical profile, to which a horizontal pattern is associated by projection. The depth profiles and the horizontal patterns enable examining the key characteristics of the main components of the models. Most of the information in the models is associated with a few features: Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) in the lowermost mantle, subduction signals and low velocity anomalies likely associated with mantle plumes in the upper and lower mantle, and ridges and cratons in the uppermost mantle. Importantly, all models highlight several independent components in the lower mantle that make between 36 % and 69 % of the total variance, depending on the model, which suggests that the lower mantle is more complex than traditionally assumed. Overall, we find that the varimax PCA is a useful additional tool for the quantitative comparison and interpretation of tomography models.

Type: Article
Title: Comparing global seismic tomography models using the varimax Principal Component Analysis
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.5194/se-12-1601-2021
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1601-2021
Language: English
Additional information: © Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Earth Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10130051
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