Subducted slabs stagnant above, penetrating through, and trapped below the 660 km discontinuity

Abstract A new P wave tomographic model of the mantle was constructed using more than 10 million travel times. The finite‐frequency effect of seismic rays was taken into account by calculating banana‐donut kernels at 2 Hz for all first arrival time data, and at 0.1 Hz for broadband differential travel time data. Based on this model, a systematic survey for subducted slab images was developed for the circum‐Pacific; including the Kurile, Honshu, Izu‐Bonin, Mariana, Java, Tonga‐Kermadec, southern and northern South America, and Central America, arcs. This survey revealed a progressive lateral variation of the configuration of slabs along arc(s), which we interpret as an indication for successive stages of slab…