Abstract:

The Reykjanes Peninsula is heavily instrumented with seismic stations to monitor both geothermal regions and the ongoing volcanic unrest.  Here we utilise both current and historic seismic data, to produce updated images of deep crustal and upper most mantle structure down to 40km depth. Our new model of shear wave velocity is inverted from global earthquake data (through receiver function analysis) and local surface wave dispersion data. We compare the model to stacks of depth migrated waveforms which highlight structural boundaries. Results reveal shallow changes to geothermal systems with depth within the upper crust, a mid/lower crustal structural boundary at ~10km depth, variations in crustal thickness along the peninsula and indications of a partially molten upper-most mantle. These new seismic images of the Reykjanes Peninsula crust provide insight into regional crustal structure and tectonic processes, as well as giving large-scale context for the seismicity and magmatism linked to the continuing volcano-tectonic unrest the region is experiencing.

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