Ambient noise tomography of the Cameroon Volcanic Line and Northern Congo craton: New constraints on the structure of the lithosphere

Abstract

We investigate the lithospheric structure of Cameroon inverting Rayleigh waves obtained from the cross-correlation of ambient seismic noise. We correlate seismic records between 32 broad-band stations and we obtain good quality Rayleigh waves for 310 interstation paths. We measure group velocity dispersion curves from the reconstructed Rayleigh waves in the period range 10-35 s and we invert the group velocities for tomographic images. After the tomography the group velocities are then inverted, together with longer period group velocity measurements from existing literature, to compute a 3-D S-wave velocity model of the Cameroon lithosphere down to 100 km depth. Our results provide an unprecedented mapping of the physical properties of the different crustal units and their correlations with surface geology, as well as with mantle lithospheric variations. The Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) appears as a segmented feature exhibiting different physical properties along strike. The active Mt Cameroon volcano is underlain by very low velocities, unlike the other segments of the CVL. The along-strike variations in crustal structure suggest that lateral heterogeneities in lithospheric thickness and physical properties have in?uenced the location and distribution of magmatism. The crust beneath the Central African Shear Zone exhibits a sizeable low velocity anomaly. The lithosphere beneath Cameroon is characterised by a heterogeneous crust with a relatively constant thickness and a low velocity uppermost mantle at the edge of the Congo Craton. Our results favour processes combining small-scale upwelling at the edge of a thick lithosphere and reactivation of Precambrian basement structures to explain the distribution of Holocene-Recent magmatism and plateau uplift. Our results also indicate that Mt Cameroon and surroundings areas are the most at risk zones for magmatic activity during this stage of CVL development.