Deriving mantle temperatures from global seismic models: A quantitative analysis in the light of uncertain mineralogy and limited tomographic resolution

Mantle convection is driven by buoyancy forces in Earth’s interior. The resulting radial stresses generate vertical deflections of the surface, leaving traces in the geological record. Utilizing new data assimilation techniques, geodynamic inverse models of mantle flow can provide theoretical estimates of these surface processes, which can be tested against geological observations. These inverse models are emerging as powerful tools, providing the potential for tighter constraints on the relevant physical parameters governing mantle flow.

The geodynamic inversions mentioned above require an estimate of the present-day thermal state of the mantle, which can be derived from seismic observations. Using thermodynamically self-consistent models of mantle mineralogy, it is possible to convert the seismic structure imaged by global tomographic models to temperature. However, both seismic and mineralogical models are significantly affected by inherent limitations and different sources of uncertainty. In addition, owing to the complexity of the mineralogical models, the relation between temperature and seismic velocities is highly non-linear and not strictly bijective: In the presence of phase transitions, different temperatures can result in the same seismic velocity, making the conversion from seismic heterogeneity to thermal structure non-unique.

We investigate the theoretical ability to estimate the present-day thermal state of the mantle based on tomographic models in the case of isochemical convection. The temperature distribution from a 3-D mantle circulation model with earth-like convective vigour serves as the “true” temperature field. Using a closed-loop experiment, we aim to recover this initial model after: 1) mineralogical mapping from the “true” temperatures to seismic velocities, 2) application of a tomographic filter to mimic the effect of limited tomographic resolution, and 3) mapping of the “imaged” seismic velocities back to temperatures. We test and quantify the interplay of smoothed seismic structure due to tomographic filtering with different approximations for the conversion from seismic to thermal structure. Additionally, owing to imperfect knowledge of the parameters governing mineral anelasticity, we test the effects of changes to the anelastic correction applied in the mineralogical mapping. The observed mismatch between the recovered and initial temperature field is dominated by the effect of tomographic filtering, with a depth-dependent average error of up to 200 K. Additionally, we observe systematic large errors in the vicinity of phase transitions. Our results highlight that, given the current limitations of tomographic models and the incomplete knowledge of mantle mineralogy, magnitudes and spatial scales of a temperature field obtained from global seismic models will deviate significantly from the true state, even under the assumption of purely thermally driven mantle flow. Strategies to estimate the present-day thermodynamic state of the mantle must be carefully selected to minimize additional uncertainties.