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SKS arrivals from ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) data from an offshore southern California deployment are analysed for shear wave splitting. The project involved 34 OBSs deployed for 12 months in a region extending up to 500 km west of the coastline into the oceanic Pacific plate. The measurement process consisted of removing the effects of anisotropy using a range of values for splitting fast directions and delay times to minimize energy along the transverse seismometer axis. Computed splitting parameters are unexpectedly similar to onland parameters, exhibiting WSW-ENE fast polarization directions and delays between 0.8 and 1.8 s, even for oceanic plate sites. This is the first SKS splitting study to extend across the entire boundary between the North America and Pacific plates, into the oceanic part of the Pacific plate. The splitting results show that the fast direction of anisotropy on the Pacific plate does not align with absolute plate motion (APM), and they extend the trend of anisotropy in southern California an additional 500 km west, well onto the oceanic Pacific plate. We model the finite strain and anisotropy within the asthenosphere associated with density-buoyancy driven mantle flow and the effects of APM. In the absence of plate motion effects, such buoyancy driven mantle flow would be NE-directed beneath the Pacific plate observations. The best-fit patterns of mantle flow are inferred from the tomography-based models that show primary influences from foundering higher-density zones associated with the history of subduction beneath North America. The new offshore SKS measurements, when combined with measurements onshore within the plate boundary zone, indicate that dramatic lateral variations in density-driven upper-mantle flow are required from offshore California into the plate boundary zone in California and western Basin and Range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Intraslab events recorded by ocean-bottom seismometers in the Okinawa trough provide an extended depiction of shear wave splitting in the southwest section of the Ryukyu subduction zone. At 100–200km from the western edge of the subduction system, we observed trench-normal fast polarization direction in the back arc compatible with 2D slab- or rifting-driven corner flow. Towards the edge, the fast directions are sub-parallel to the trench in the arc—back arc region, and rotate to trench-normal within 50km of the edge. Splitting constrained by land stations with paths mostly in the mantle wedge exhibits similar trench-normal fast directions in the subduction edge zone. Further inland, the dominant component of fast directions becomes roughly parallel to the Taiwan orogenic fabric. Splitting of P-to-S phases converted at the Moho of the Okinawa trough and of S phases from shallow events suggest that crustal anisotropy may affect the measured splitting, but the observed pattern reflects predominantly mantle anisotropy. The variation in splitting along the Okinawa trough cannot be explained by a B-type–A-type olivine fabric transition in the mantle wedge. It may indicate the presence of an along-arc flow in the mantle wedge towards the edge where it is blocked and deflected by the Eurasian lithosphere. This scenario bolsters previous studies suggesting a significant impact of Eurasian lithosphere on the dynamics of the Ryukyu subduction system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

SUMMARY This paper uses data from the Capital Area Seismograph Network in North China (NC), currently the largest regional seismograph network in China to investigate the compressional stress orientations from the polarizations of faster shear waves (PFS), a parameter of shear wave velocity anisotropy. Data are restricted to earthquakes deeper than 5 km to reduce the influence of the heterogeneous uppermost few kilometres of the crust. The results show that the regional compressional stress direction is ENE-WSW to nearly EW in NC, which agrees with seismic mechanisms and drilling and GPS data. Predominantly, PFS are also nearly EW in NC and are influenced by faults, geology and tectonics. PFS orientations at stations on seismically active faults are consistent with the strike of strike-slip faults and indicate large seismically active faults breaking, or nearly breaking, the free surface. PFS orientations are influenced by both regional compressional stress and by nearby faults. It is an effective way to study detailed spatial distribution of crustal compressional stress by shear wave anisotropy with dense seismograph network. Shear wave splitting may also be used to indicate hitherto unknown faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements of the splitting or birefringence of seismic shear waves constitute a powerful and popular technique for characterizing azimuthal anisotropy in the upper mantle. The increasing availability of data sets from dense broad-band seismic arrays has driven interest in the development of techniques for the tomographic inversion of shear wave splitting data and in comparing splitting measurements with anisotropic upper-mantle models obtained from other constraints, such as surface wave analysis. Two different theoretical approaches have been developed for predicting apparent shear wave splitting parameters (fast direction and delay time) for models that include multiple layers of anisotropy at depth, which is useful for comparing azimuthally anisotropic surface wave models with shear wave splitting measurements. These approaches differ in one key aspect, which is whether or not the shear wave splitting operator can be treated as commutative. In this paper, we investigate the theoretical source of this discrepancy, and show that at frequencies relevant to most studies of upper-mantle anisotropy, the term that results in the non-commutivity of the shear wave splitting operator in the expressions for multiple-layer splitting must be retained. In contrast, the quantity known as the splitting intensity, which is closely related to the apparent fast direction and delay time, does commute at these frequencies. We illustrate these inferences with forward modelling examples and discuss their implications for the tomographic inversion of shear wave splitting measurements, the comparison of surface wave models with shear wave splitting observations and the joint inversion of surface wave and shear wave splitting observations for upper-mantle anisotropic models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Azimuthal seismic anisotropy has been identified from the analysis of S-waves generated by P to S mode conversion in the Pleistocene sediments that form the northern headwall of the Storegga Slide, which were investigated with a seismic experiment employing a seabed array of ocean-bottom seismometers and a grid of airgun shots. The principal technique used to detect the anisotropy was azimuthal stacking of the radial and transverse horizontal geophone components, after the application of moveout, to show the variations in amplitude, phase and cumulative traveltime effects of S-waves, ultimately providing information that identified the ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ S-wave polarization orientations. Particle-motion analysis was used to corroborate the results and provide further information on the magnitudes of cumulative S-wave splitting. A 2-D ray-traced inversion of the traveltimes of pre-critical P and PS arrivals provided a velocity model from which the variation with depth of Vp, Vs and anisotropy could be compared with lithological and stratigraphic data from a borehole at the centre of the OBS array. Increased anisotropic response was observed to be coincident with high velocity units, which have high mica but low water content and are interpreted to be of glacial origin. The analysis of azimuthal seismic anisotropy shows clear evidence for horizontal transverse isotropy or an orthorhombic symmetry. The distribution in orientations of the fast plane of symmetry is broadly bimodal (E–W and NE–SW) across the OBS array. The E–W group showed correlation with the headwalls of old, buried slides and other faults visible within coherency attributes calculated from an accompanying 3-D seismic data set and with the strike of some of the headwalls of slides shown in multibeam bathymetry. However, the pattern of headwall fractures shown in the bathymetry is complicated and reticulate, and the NE–SW orientation is also well represented. We infer that the cause of the anisotropy is the presence of vertical to sub-vertical, fluid-filled fractures and micro-cracks, partially held open by high pore-fluid pressure. The fracture orientations are controlled primarily by the present-day gravitationally induced down-slope stress, which is mediated by the heterogeneous nature of sub-surface, causing local changes in the orientation of the principal stresses at the margins of incipient or failed slides. The fractures, if connected, are likely to increase vertical permeability within the sediment column significantly, and influence the distribution of gas hydrate within the strata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

P and mode-converted S waves from airgun shots recorded along a line of ocean bottom seismometers were used to construct a 2-D velocity section across the Nankai Trough and the toe of the accretionary complex, offshore southeast Japan. The site was chosen because of plans to drill into the seismogenic zone of the main subduction thrust, which has a history of earthquakes. The section is constrained by well-log data from three Ocean Drilling Program boreholes. S-wave velocities of the sediments over the entire section, down to >1.1 km below seafloor, range from 107 to 915 m s−1. Shear wave splitting indicates anisotropy in all the sediments except possibly the distal trench fill. If interpreted conventionally as being due to vertical stress-aligned cracks, the anisotropy in both the trench and the toe of the accretionary wedge is consistent with crack orientation NW–SE, parallel to the direction of maximum tectonic compression. Crack density is ∼0.01–0.03, consistent with closeness to fracture criticality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Shear waves from intermediate and deep focus South American events recorded by California broadband seismometers reveal complex anisotropy in the lowermost mantle. ScS waves densely sample the D″ region beneath the Cocos Plate, just west of Central America (1–16°N; 267–277°E). Our data show evidence for significant near-source anisotropy, which we constrain for each event by performing polarization analyses on an expanded dataset of S waveforms. ScS waveforms are corrected for upper mantle and near-source anisotropy, and estimates of D″ anisotropy are made using the covariance method. We find splits between fast and slow components of ScS ranging from 0.4 to 2.5 s, with an average of 1.6 s. Fast polarization directions in the southern portion of our study area are approximately orthogonal to the raypaths. North of 7° latitude there is a rapid change in fast polarization direction to nearly raypath parallel. Beyond 10° latitude fast directions are more highly scattered than in southern regions. Past work in the region has inferred strong lateral variations in shear wave velocity, but fairly uniform transverse isotropy. In contrast, our results indicate that the lowermost mantle beneath the Cocos plate has azimuthal anisotropy that varies laterally over scales of 100–200 km. In addition, our data suggest connections between previously imaged topography on the D″ discontinuity and the character of anisotropy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]