Author(s)

Serge H. Kengni Pokam^1,2*, Charles T. Tabod^1,2, Eric N. Ndikum^1,3, Alain P. Tokam Kamga¹, Blaise P. Pokam Gounou¹

¹Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon.
²Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, The University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon.
³Department of Physics, HTTC Bambili, The University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon.

Teleseismic events have been selected from a database of earthquakes with three components which were recorded between February 2005 and January 2007 by five seismic stations across the Garoua rift region which constitutes a part of the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL). The iterative time deconvolution performed by [1] applied on these teleseismic events, permitted us to obtain P-receiver functions. The latter were subsequently inverted in order to obtain S-wave velocity models with respect to depth which were then associated to the synthetic receiver functions. This made it possible to explain the behavior of the wave and the medium through which they traveled. The main results obtained indicate that: (1) The lithosphere appears to be thin in its crustal part with a mean Moho depth of 28 km and S wave velocity of 3.7 km/s. (2) In its mantle part, the lithosphere is thick in nature having a thickness that varies between 42 km and 67.2 km. The greatest depth is noticed towards the center located around Garoua while the least depth corresponds to a location around Yagoua in the North. The Low velocity zone which makes it possible to determine the depth of the lithosphere was seen to have a thickness which varies between 42 km and 118.8 km. (3) The synthetic receiver functions associated to shear velocity models reveal that, on one hand the wave has really undergone a conversion and multiple conversions such that the existing Ps phase and subsequent reverberations PpPs and PpSs have mean times of 3.7 s, 11 s and 17.6 s respectively. On the other hand, they reveal an attenuation shown by the decrease in the amplitude of the aforementioned phases along a South-North direction in the Garoua rift.

Teleseismic, Receiver Functions, Depth of Lithosphere, Low Velocity Zone, Garoua Rift Region

Pokam, S. , Tabod, C. , Ndikum, E. , Kamga, A. and Gounou, B. (2019) Depth Variation of the Lithosphere beneath Garoua Rift Region (Cameroon Volcanic Line) Studied from Teleseismic P-Waves. Open Journal of Earthquake Research, 8, 116-131. doi: 10.4236/ojer.2019.82008.