Fig. 4: Comparison of the observed P-wave seismic velocity and reflectivity structure of the HESC compared to the calculated flexure (thick dashed white lines) on Emperor Seamounts Line 1 and Hawaiian Ridge Lines 1 and 2 (Fig. 1).
The observed P-wave velocity is based on Xu et al.30, MacGregor et al.31, and Dunn et al.32. The reflectivity structure is based on Boston et al.33. The calculated flexure is based on the best fit Te and load and infill density derived from gravity modeling along the profile closest to the 3 seismic transects (Supplementary Table S1). The Te for Emperor Seamounts Line 1 and Hawaiian Ridge Lines 1 and 2 are 18, 29, and 35 km, respectively. The seismic profiles have been stacked at the center of the volcanic edifice. There is a close agreement between the observed seismic structure and the calculated flexure for Emperor Seamounts Line 1 (a) and Hawaiian Ridge Line 2 (b). The agreement is not as close for Hawaiian Ridge Line 1 (c), even though we have taken into account the contribution to the flexure of both the Cretaceous seamounts and the thinner oceanic crust to the north of Hawaii than to the south31.
