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The upper boundary of the mantle transition zone, known as the “410-km discontinuity”, is attributed to the phase transformation of the mineral olivine (α) to wadsleyite (β olivine). Here we present observations of triplicated P-waves from dense seismic arrays that constrain the structure of the subducting Pacific slab near the 410-km discontinuity beneath the northern Sea of Japan. Our analysis of P-wave travel times and waveforms at periods as short as 2 s indicates the presence of an ultra-low-velocity layer within the cold slab, with a P-wave velocity that is at least ≈20% lower than in the ambient mantle and an apparent thickness of ≈20 km along the wave path. This ultra-low-velocity layer could contain unstable material (e.g., poirierite) with reduced grain size where diffusionless transformations are favored.

 

Although transformational faulting in the rim of the metastable olivine wedge is hypothesized as a triggering mechanism of deep-focus earthquakes, there is no direct evidence of such rim. Variations of thebvalue – slope of the Gutenberg-Richter distribution – have been used to decipher triggering and rupture mechanisms of deep earthquakes. However, detection limits prevent full understanding of these mechanisms. Using the Japan Meteorological Agency catalog, we estimatebvalues of deep earthquakes in the northwestern Pacific Plate, clustered in four regions with unsupervised machine learning. Theb-value analysis of Honshu and Izu deep seismicity reveals a kink at magnitude 3.7–3.8, where thebvalue abruptly changes from 1.4–1.7 to 0.6–0.7. The anomalously highbvalues for small earthquakes highlight enhanced transformational faulting, likely catalyzed by deep hydrous defects coinciding with the unstable rim of the metastable olivine wedge, the thickness of which we estimate at$$\sim$$$~$1 km.

 

Deep‐focus earthquakes provide insight into how subducting slabs deform over a range of spatial and temporal scales as they descend into the mantle. This study uses a 4D source imaging approach to determine centroid locations of the 2015 Mw 7.9 Bonin Islands deep‐focus earthquake and its aftershock sequence. Imaged sources of the mainshock show a complex rupture, but one that is compatible with a sub‐horizontal rupture plane. Previously undetected early aftershocks are imaged down to depths of approximately 750 km and represent the first reported earthquakes that initiate in the lower mantle. These events and a previously reported group of shallower distal aftershocks occur at the lower and upper boundaries of an imaged slab segment that deforms as it penetrates into the lower mantle. We hypothesize that mainshock failure allowed gravitational settling of the slab segment to occur which produced the distal aftershock sequences.

 

The distribution of intermediate‐depth and deep intraslab earthquakes with respect to subducting slabs offers a unique insight into seismogenesis at high pressures and temperatures that should inhibit brittle failure. This study constrains the surface of the subducting Pacific Plate beneath Japan at depths between 100 and 380 km based on a previous continental‐scale adjoint tomography model. Earthquake distributions relative to the slab surface reveal double seismic zones located within the top 60 km of the Pacific Plate. Thermal modeling suggests that the lower‐plane seismicity corresponds to temperatures between 400 and 900 °C. The seismogenic pressure and temperature conditions correlate approximately with the conditions of dehydration reactions of several hydrous minerals, that is, antigorite (serpentine) and chlorite at depths between 100 and 200 km and phase A at greater depths between 200 and 380 km. These correlations indicate that at these depths water released from dehydration processes may facilitate triggering slab mantle earthquakes.

 

SUMMARY The detailed structure near the 410-km discontinuity provides key constraints of the dynamic interactions between the upper mantle and the lower mantle through the mantle transition zone (MTZ) via mass and heat exchange. Meanwhile, the temperature of the subducting slab, which can be derived from its fast wave speed perturbation, is critical for understanding the mantle dynamics in subduction zones where the slab enters the MTZ. Multipathing, i.e. triplicated, body waves that bottom near the MTZ carry rich information of the 410-km discontinuity structure and can be used to constrain the discontinuity depth and radial variations of wave speeds across it. In this study, we systematically analysed the trade-off between model parameters in triplication studies using synthetic examples. Specifically, we illustrated the necessity of using array-normalized amplitude. Two 1-D depth profiles of the wave speed below the Tatar Strait of Russia in the Kuril subduction zone are obtained. We have observed triplications due to both the 410-km discontinuity and the slab upper surface. And, seismic structures for these two interfaces are simultaneously inverted. Our derived 410-km discontinuity depths for the northern and southern regions are at 420$\pm $15 and 425$\pm $15 km, respectively, with no observable uplift. The slab upper surface is inverted to be located about 50–70 km below the 410-km discontinuity. This location is between the depths of the 1 and 2 per cent P-wave speed perturbation contours of a regional 3-D full-waveform inversion (FWI) model, but we found twice the wave speed perturbation amplitude. A wave speed increase of 3.9–4.6 per cent within the slab, compared to 2.0–2.4 per cent from the 3-D FWI model, is necessary to fit the waveforms with the shortest period of 2 s, indicating that high-frequency waves are required to accurately resolve the detailed structures near the MTZ. 

The 410‐ and 660‐km discontinuities define the top and bottom of the mantle transition zone (MTZ). The properties of these mineralogical phase transformation interfaces provide critical constraints on the dynamics, temperature, and composition of the MTZ. Triplicated body waves that bottom near these discontinuities carry rich information about them. To streamline the modeling of upper‐mantle triplications recorded at regional distances (13°–30°), we have developed a (Fast) Message Passing Interface (MPI)‐accelerated 1D (Tr)iplication Waveform (I)nversion (P)ackage (FastTrip). With triplication waveform data as input, FastTrip uses a global search method to output a set of acceptable 1D velocity models. Quantitative estimation of the model uncertainties can be further derived based on the range of acceptable models. FastTrip supports central processing unit (CPU) parallel acceleration (15,000 models within 2 hr with 100 CPUs) and is portable to other inversion problems that can be described by a relatively small number of model parameters.