A model of electrical conductivity in the mid–mantle transition zone was obtained with improved constraints. An L₁‐norm regularization inversion algorithm is proposed here that reduces the influence of noisy data on three‐dimensional geomagnetic depth sounding inversion from C‐responses. Here the regularization is implemented by using an L₁‐norm to measure the predicted data error, which is normalized by the C‐response covariance, but an L₂‐norm is used to measure the regularization term associated with model parameters. The limited‐memory quasi‐Newton method (L‐BFGS) is used to invert for the three‐dimensional electrical conductivity model. The model is discretized by curved rectangular prisms in spherical coordinates. Sensitivity tests show that for good‐quality data contaminated by Gaussian noise, L₁ inversion, which could perform as well as L₂ inversion, can adequately recover the main features of the electrical conductivity structure within the region of data coverage. When data errors are drawn from an exponential distribution, L₁ inversion obtains relatively reliable reconstruction of the electrical structure, even when the noise level is comparable to that of actual C‐responses. C‐responses from 129 low‐latitude and midlatitude geomagnetic observatories are inverted using L₁‐norm minimization of the data error. The resulting model reveals an electrically conductive feature in the lower mantle transition zone and upper lower mantle that is broadly coincident with that found in previous studies. The reduced influence of data with large variances on L₁‐norm misfits, along with inclusion of responses estimated from more observatories, makes L₁ inversion more clearly identify these deep conductive features while identifying previously obscured anoconductive zones. A feature of particular interest is the high electrical conductivity anomaly beneath the Bermuda‐Sargasso Sea region in the mid–mantle transition zone and the uppermost lower mantle. Rock physics analysis indicates that the anomaly is most possibly caused by the wet upwelling material with excessive ~650 K higher temperature, suggesting a narrow tail with a broad head.

Mantle plumes have played a key role in tectonic events such as continental break-up and large magmatic events since at least the formation of Gondwana. However, as their signatures on Earth’s surface, many of large igneous provinces have disappeared into the mantle during Earth’s long-term evolution, meaning that plume remnants in the mantle are crucial in advancing mantle plume theory and accurately reconstructing Earth history. Here we present an electrical conductivity model for North Asia constructed from geomagnetic data. The model shows a large high-electrical-conductivity anomaly in the mantle transition zone beneath the Siberian Traps at the time of their eruption that we interpret to be a thermal anomaly with trace amounts of melt. This anomaly lies almost directly over an isolated low-seismic-wave-velocity anomaly known as the Perm anomaly. The spatial correlation of our anomaly with the Siberian Traps suggests that it represents a remnant of a superplume that was generated from the Perm anomaly. This plume was responsible for the late Permian Siberian large igneous province. The model strengthens the validity of the mantle plume hypothesis.