| Abstract: | Cannikin atomic bomb recordings indicate that there are differences in travel-times from the Aleutian Islands test site to Phanerozoic and Precambrian provinces in Australia of up to 1.1 s. Explosion seismic studies in central and southeastern Australia enable travel-time corrections for crustal and upper mantle structure to be made to recordings of such teleseismic events. Structure in the upper 60 km can account for, at most, about 0.2 s of the residual difference, but attempts to constrain the remaining residual time to the region above the Lehmann discontinuity at about 200 km depth are difficult to reconcile with explosion seismic models. Regional differences in seismic velocity structure between Phanerozoic and Precambrian Australia therefore appear to exist at depths greater than 200 km.Electrical conductivities within the mantle have been investigated using two methods. Long-period electromagnetic depth sounding using magnetometer arrays demonstrates that conductivities increase at about 200 km under Phanerozoic Australia but not until about 500 km depth under Precambrian Australia. Shorter period magnetotelluric measurements can only resolve shallower structures; these too indicate a similar trend but with sub-crustal conductivities increasing at less than 100 km under Phanerozoic Australia. Magma at these depths and shallower may be the source for Cainozoic volcanism in eastern Australia. Under Precambrian central and northern Australia magnetotelluric investigations indicate that pronounced conductivity increases do not occur until depths of 150–200 km are reached.Oceanic magnetic observations indicate that the Australian lithospheric plate as a whole is separating from Antarctica at a rate of about 7 cm/yr. The seismic and conductivity structures under the continental region of this plate indicate that lateral inhomogeneities possibly extend to depths as great as 500 km and are probably caused by the passage of eastern Australia over a hot spot. Hawaiian studies indicate that hot spots are not local features but result from large scale disturbances in the mantle. Conductivity increases commencing in the depth range 100–250 km may give an indication of uppermost zones within which the Palaeozoic lithospherc has been substantially modified resulting in elevated surface heat flow, volcanism and seismic travel-time anomalies. |
