Search

We constrain olivine fabrics in the oceanic lithosphere using active and passive seismic observations of Pn azimuthal anisotropy. We first analyze active‐source data derived from a broadband ocean bottom seismometer array that was deployed in the Northwestern Pacific. We infer the azimuthal dependence of the Pn velocity, including the 2ϕ and 4ϕ terms of the sinusoidal functions, where ϕ is the back azimuth. We observe a skewed azimuthal dependence of the Pn velocity, with a large peak‐to‐peak amplitude of about 12%. Similar features are observed using an independent data set of teleseismic Pn waves. We constrain the direction of the crystallographic axes of olivine to explain the observed azimuthal dependence and identify A‐type olivine with a slightly dipping a‐axis and slightly tilting b‐axis being compatible with our observations. In contrast, we find that D‐type olivine with any direction of crystallographic axes cannot explain our observations. Secondary deformation and recrystallization in the older Pacific may be responsible for this strong and complex seismic anisotropy in the study region. Plain Language Summary: Olivine is the most abundant mineral in the oceanic upper mantle and exhibits preferred crystallographic orientations when it experiences plastic strain‐induced deformation (Nicolas & Christensen, 1987, https://doi.org/10.1029/GD016p0111). Olivine in the oceanic lithosphere is considered to retain the orientations from its formation at the mid‐ocean ridge unless it experiences tectonic perturbations such as reheating by hotspot volcanisms. Seismic anisotropy observations in the oceanic lithosphere therefore provide clues to plate tectonics processes. In this study, we analyze two independent data sets (active‐ and passive‐source data) and reveal the detailed azimuthal dependence of the P velocity traversing the oceanic lithosphere in the northwestern Pacific. We find that the two data sets consistently show a strong and skewed anisotropic signal. We infer that secondary deformation and recrystallization in the Pacific Plate may be responsible for these observations. Key Points: Strong and skewed azimuthal dependence of Pn velocity is robustly observedCompatible direction of the crystallographic axes of olivine is constrainedSecondary deformation and recrystallization in the older Pacific is suggested [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We performed waveform inversion of the P waveforms recorded by our BroadBand Ocean Bottom Seismometers (BBOBSs) deployed in the Northwestern Pacific. Consequently, the depth profile of the P velocity of the oceanic upper mantle, which has not been well resolved by previous surface wave or receiver function analyses, was revealed. We considered the azimuthal anisotropy in the lithosphere, which significantly improved the variance reduction from 34% to 44%. The resulting P model exhibited higher and lower velocities in the lithosphere and asthenosphere, respectively. The velocity contrast was found to be second/third of that observed in the previous S models; however the obtained model appeared to have some trade‐off with the VS structures in the vicinity of the source. We compared our P model with the previous S model obtained using our BBOBSs and obtained the VP/VS model. The resulting VP/VS model has two notable features. First, the lithosphere is characterized by a rapid increase in the VP/VS values with depth, which implies chemical stratification. Second, the VP/VS values in the vicinity of the lithosphere‐asthenosphere boundary (LAB) are larger than the synthetic values of any major upper mantle mineral predicted by considering the anharmonic effects, which suggests the effects of anelasticity or melt. Key Points: We inverted P waveforms recorded by our BBOBSs to obtain the depth profile of the P velocity beneath the older Pacific plateCombining our P model with a previous S model revealed two notable features in Vp/VS structuresThe obtained Vp/Vs model suggests chemical stratification in the lithosphere and the effects of anelasticity or melt at the LAB [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted broadband dispersion survey by deploying two arrays of broadband ocean bottom seismometers in the northwestern Pacific Ocean at seafloor ages of 130 and 140 Ma. By combining ambient noise and teleseismic surface wave analyses, dispersion curves of Rayleigh waves were obtained at a period range of 5–100 s and then used to invert for one‐dimensional isotropic and azimuthally anisotropic βV (VSV) profiles beneath each array. The obtained profiles show ~2% difference in isotropic βV in the low‐velocity zone (LVZ) at a depth range of 80–150 km in spite of the small difference in seafloor ages and the horizontal distance of ~1,000 km. Forward dispersion‐curve calculation for thermal models indicates that simple cooling models cannot explain the observed difference and an additional mechanism, such as sublithospheric small‐scale convection, is required. In addition, the fastest azimuths of azimuthal anisotropy in the LVZ significantly deviate from the current plate motion direction. We infer that these observations are consistent with the presence of small‐scale convection beneath the study area. As for azimuthal anisotropy in the Lid, the peak‐to‐peak intensity is 3–4% at the depth from Moho to ~40 km. The fastest direction is almost perpendicular to magnetic lineation in area A at 130 Ma and oblique to magnetic lineations in area B at 140 Ma, suggesting complex mantle flow beneath the infant Pacific Plate surrounded by three ridge axes. The intensity of azimuthal anisotropy in the LVZ is ~2%, indicating that radial anisotropy is stronger than azimuthal anisotropy therein. Key Points: Broadband ocean bottom seismic observation is conducted in the NW Pacific Ocean at two sites with seafloor ages of 130 and 140 MaSignificant seismic velocity variation in the LVZ of two areas is revealed that may indicate the presence of small‐scale convectionAzimuthal anisotropy depth profiles indicate that the fast directions do not necessarily coincide with the ancient spreading directions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]