Three-dimensional, prestack, plane wave migration of teleseismic P-to-S converted phases: 2. Stacking multiple events

In part 1 we developed the theoretical foundations of a prestack migration procedure to image forward scattered P to S (PdS) converted waves in the coda of teleseismic P waves. This paper addresses the issue of how to optimally stack data from multiple events migrated by this procedure. We apply matrix perturbation theory to develop an objective way to quantify noise in deconvolved PdS data. Application of the theory demonstrates that an optimal stack requires weighting the migrated data from each event by a signal‐to‐noise ratio criterion. We also find that the migrated PdS images have to be binned by back azimuth and balanced prior to the final stack. This is necessary to mitigate coherent noise that results from aliased microseism noise that is enhanced by our processing method. We processed 23 events recorded by the Lodore array in northwestern Colorado with our procedure. The results indicate the presence of a major, lithospheric scale discontinuity defined by a south dipping boundary within the crust that we interpret as the subsurface expression of the Cheyenne Belt. The suture is also marked by a transition in crustal thickness from 35 km on the Archean side to over 40 km on the Colorado Plateau side. We also observe a strong difference in the lithospheric mantle PdS conversion signature on opposite sides of the suture that suggests delamination and northward convergence of the Colorado lithosphere beneath the Wyoming province.