Validation of Ps-P Tomography for Obtaining 3D Crustal VP/VS With Small-N Data Sets: An Application to the Mount St. Helens Magmatic System

Abstract

The high sensitivity of VP/VS to the presence of melt makes images of VP/VS structure particularly useful in magmatic systems, but detailed three-dimensional models of VP/VS structure in magmatic systems are often restricted to the upper crust where there is a concentration of seismic sources used for imaging. Ps-P tomography is a new technique that has been used to image three-dimensional crustal-scale variations in VP/VS in regions with limited seismic instrumentation. We apply the Ps-P tomography technique to a well-constrained, independently imaged magmatic setting, Mount St. Helens, to outline the efficacy and limitations of this imaging approach. Our Ps-P tomography model reveals previously imaged high VP/VS upper crustal magma reservoirs beneath active volcanic systems at Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams and the Indian Heaven Volcanic Field and low VP/VS anomalies associated with crystallized plutons. Our model also provides new VP/VS constraints in the lower crust that reveal a high VP/VS anomaly connecting the Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams reservoirs and a low VP/VS anomaly associated with lower crustal cumulates or mafic accreted terranes. Decimation tests further show that first order VP/VS structure is recoverable using as few as four recording seismometers. These images resemble those of independent, higher resolution images from traditional techniques, highlighting the utility of Ps-P tomography for imaging three-dimensional variations of VP/VS throughout the crust, including in data-poor settings or with arrays not designed for structural seismic investigations, such as many volcano monitoring networks.