We study the mantle structure below the southwest Pacific in order to exami
ne the geometry of the Tonga slab at depth and its interaction with the 410
- and 660-km discontinuities thereafter called the 410 and the 660). We uti
lize data from stations of both the Lau Basin Ocean Bottom Seismogram exper
iment and island stations of the Southwest Pacific Seismic Experiment. The
tectonic complexity of this region, containing both the Tonga subduction zo
ne and the associated Lau back are spreading center make it an ideal area t
o investigate the upper mantle discontinuities using a high resolution tech
nique such as common conversion point slacking of receiver functions. We pr
oduce a high-resolution image of the upper mantle near the Tonga subduction
zone to show the interaction between the discontinuities and the subductin
g slab. Our results show the 410 uplifted by 30 km near the Tonga slab and
the 660 depressed by 20 to 30 km as expected for thermally controlled olivi
ne phase transitions.