The paper presents a new approach based on the joint use of differential travel times of refracted P or S and the corresponding reflected PP and SS rays whose bounce points are located within a selected study region. This approach, called the RR-R scheme, allows imaging of the upper mantle in “blank” regions not covered by seismological networks. Estimation of travel times by the RR-R scheme includes discrimination of anomaly-related delays and elimination of effects outside the scanned volume. The obtained upper mantle image can be efficiently used in studies of lithospheric structure. The new scheme has been applied to investigate the upper mantle beneath southern Siberia and eastern Kazakhstan and has revealed considerable lateral heterogeneities in the lithosphere.

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