A new P wave mantle tomographic model for Africa and a receiver function study of the Ethiopian plateau

Originating below southern Africa, the African superplume is a ubiquitous feature of global seismic tomographic models. Readily interpreted as a broad (~ 500km wide) thermochemical anomaly, it is considered responsible for the~ 30Ma Ethiopian Traps and the uplifted plateaus of eastern Africa. However, exactly how and where this feature crosses the mantle transition zone is debated. The numerous African temporary seismograph networks, of aperture< 1500km, yield often-noisy body-wave seismograms previously limiting processing to relative arrival-time methods that consequently cannot easily be combined. The Absolute Arrival-time Recovery Method (AARM) of Boyce et. al.,(BSSA: 2017) addresses this issue. P-wave data from all networks that have operated on the African plate since 1990 can therefore be incorporated into the most up-to-date absolute delay-time P-wave mantle tomographic model for the …