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Travel times from central Pacific nuclear explosions and inferred mantle structure

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Abstract

Travel time data, from widely recorded nuclear detonations in the Eniwetok and Bikini atolls of the central Pacific, have been compiled and are presented. Although a number of stations recorded ten or more events from each atoll, the resulting data may be considered as from a single point source, precisely known in time and place. Composite P-wave travel times are presented in a graphical form and, in the distance range from 3 to 102 degrees, are represented as eight near straight-line segments. P-wave speeds in the top of the mantle average about 8.2 km/sec to distances beyond 17 degrees, and a sharp discontinuity at 19.5 degrees is indicated. There is no evidence for or against a low-speed layer in the upper mantle nor for a regional shadow zone. A mantle model consisting of a number of discrete spherical shells has been constructed. A core depth of 2,870 km, 30 km short of the accepted value, is calculated from PcP arrival times at Matsushiro and College, which are 2.5 and 3.5 sec. earlier than are indicated in the Jeffreys-Bullen tables.