SUPPLEMENTING GROUND TRUTH DATA WITH SHEAR WAVE VELOCITY, SEISMIC ATTENUATION, AND THERMAL STRUCTURE OF THE CONTINENTAL LITHOSPHERE Walter D. Mooney, 1 Irina Artemieva, 1,2 Shane T. Detweiler, 1 Magali Billien, 2 Jean-Jacques Leveque 2 United States Geological Survey, 1 Ecole et Observatoire de Sciences de la Terre 2 Sponsored by National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Nonproliferation Research and Engineering Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Contract No. DE-A104-98AL79758 ABSTRACT Ground truth data provide the opportunity to calibrate regional seismic velocity and Q (inverse attenuation) models. However, in many cases, available wave propagation data are too sparse to characterize seismic velocities and Q everywhere. It is therefore of interest to examine on a global basis the relationship between regional geology and heat flow versus the seismic properties (Vs and Qs) of the upper mantle. To better understand the propagation of seismic waves caused by nuclear explosions, we have developed new, theoretical models of the dissipation of energy in the crystalline rocks typical for the Earth’s mantle. Using laboratory results, we suggest a temperature dependence of attenuation through the activation energy. We therefore compare maps of the thermal structure of the continental lithosphere with the inverse attenuation of seismic shear waves Qs and seismic velocity Vs as determined from surface wave dispersion and amplitudes. Our study is based on recently available global databases. We compare the values of Qs , Vs, and temperature T at the depths of 50, 100, and 150 km in the continental lithosphere. We find that qualitatively (by the sign of the anomaly) the maps of Qs closely correlate with lithospheric temperatures. The best correlation is observed for the depth of 100 km, where the resolution of the attenuation model is the highest. At this depth, the contour of zero attenuation anomaly approximately corresponds to the 1000 o C contour of lithospheric temperature, in agreement with laboratory data on a sharp change in seismic attenuation and shear velocities in upper mantle rocks at 900-1000 o C. The correlation between Vs and two other parameters (T and Qs), though present, is less distinct. We find that most cratonic regions show high lithospheric Vs, Qs and low T. Several prominent low Qs regions correlate with high lithospheric temperatures. We calculate that even if temperature variations in the lithosphere are the main cause of seismic velocity and attenuation variations, the relation between temperature and seismic properties is non-linear. 25th Seismic Research Review - Nuclear Explosion Monitoring: Building the Knowledge Base 83