Spatial Variations of Upper Crustal Anisotropy along the San Jacinto Fault Zone in Southern California: Constraints from Shear Wave Splitting Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enyuan Jiang ◽  
Kelly H Liu ◽  
Yuan Gao ◽  
Xiaofei Fu ◽  
Stephen S. Gao
Keyword(s):  
Shear Wave ◽  
Fault Zone ◽  
Southern California ◽  
Shear Wave Splitting ◽  
Spatial Variations ◽  
Crustal Anisotropy ◽  
San Jacinto Fault ◽  
San Jacinto Fault Zone ◽  
Wave Splitting

scholarly journals Spatial variations of shear wave anisotropy near the San Jacinto Fault Zone in Southern California

2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (12) ◽  
pp. 8334-8347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zefeng Li ◽  
Zhigang Peng ◽  
Yehuda Ben‐Zion ◽  
Frank L. Vernon
Keyword(s):  
Shear Wave ◽  
Fault Zone ◽  
Southern California ◽  
Spatial Variations ◽  
San Jacinto Fault ◽  
San Jacinto Fault Zone

High-frequency borehole seismograms recorded in the San Jacinto Fault zone, Southern California. Part 1. Polarizations

1991 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 1057-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Aster ◽  
Peter M. Shearer
Keyword(s):  
Shear Wave ◽  
Fault Zone ◽  
Particle Motion ◽  
Southern California ◽  
Shear Waves ◽  
P Wave ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
San Jacinto Fault ◽  
San Jacinto Fault Zone

Abstract Two borehole seismometer arrays (KNW-BH and PFO-BH) have been established in the Southern California Batholith region of the San Jacinto Fault zone by the U.S. Geological Survey. The sites are within 0.4 km of Anza network surface stations and have three-component seismometers deployed at 300 m depth, at 150 m depth, and at the surface. Downhole horizontal seismometers can be oriented to an accuracy of about 5° using regional and near-regional initial P-wave particle motions. Shear waves recorded downhole at the KNW-BH indicate that the strong alignment of initial S-wave particle motions previously observed at the (surface) KNW Anza site (KNW-AZ) is not generated in the near-surface weathered layer. The KNW-BH surface instrument, which sits atop a highly weathered zone, displays a significantly different (≈ 20°) initial S-wave polarization direction from that observed downhole and at KNW-AZ, which is bolted to an outcrop. Although downhole initial shear-wave particle motion directions are consistent with a shear-wave splitting hypothesis, observations of orthogonally polarized slow shear waves are generally elusive, even in seismograms recorded at 300 m. A cross-correlation measure of the apparent relative velocities of Sfast and Sslow horizontally polarized S waves suggests shallow shear-wave anisotropy, consistent with the observed initial S-wave particle motion direction, of 2.3 ± 1.7 per cent between 300 and 150 m and 7.5 ± 3.5 per cent between 150 and 0 m.

Upper‐Crustal Anisotropy of the Conjugate Strike‐Slip Fault Zone in Central Tibet Analyzed Using Local Earthquakes and Shear‐Wave Splitting

2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (5) ◽  
pp. 1968-1984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenglong Wu ◽  
Xiaobo Tian ◽  
Tao Xu ◽  
Xiaofeng Liang ◽  
Yun Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shear Wave ◽  
Fault Zone ◽  
Shear Wave Splitting ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Fast Wave ◽  
Lithospheric Deformation ◽  
Crustal Anisotropy ◽  
Local Earthquakes ◽  
Wave Splitting ◽  
Central Tibet

Abstract Remarkable V‐shaped conjugate strike‐slip faults extend along the Bangong–Nujiang suture in central Tibet. Motions of these faults are considered to accommodate ongoing east–west extension and north–south contraction. Fabrics within the fault zone that are anisotropic to seismic waves can provide clues as to the unusual scale and style of lithospheric deformation. With the goal of determining the upper‐crustal anisotropy pattern in central Tibet, we measured shear‐wave splitting parameters (fast wave polarization direction and delay time) using waveforms generated by 194 local earthquakes recorded by 49 stations of the SANDWICH network. Stations located in eastern and western zones of the study area show anisotropy directions that agree well with the maximum horizontal compressive stress direction. The fast polarization directions at stations near active strike‐slip faults generally run parallel to the strikes of these faults. Pervasive inactive thrust faults caused by Cretaceous–Tertiary shortening in central Tibet also clearly correlate with the anisotropy detected at nearby stations. These results demonstrate that both local structures and stress contribute to upper‐crustal anisotropy in the region. Combining the new results with previous SKS‐wave splitting results and other seismic evidence, we propose that deformation in the upper crust is mechanically decoupled from that in the upper mantle, due to eastward middle‐lower crustal flow. This crustal flow causes basal shearing required for the formation of conjugate strike‐slip faults in central Tibet.

scholarly journals Measuring Crustal Seismic Anisotropy through Shear Wave Splitting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kenny Graham
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Shear Wave ◽  
Seismic Anisotropy ◽  
Shear Wave Splitting ◽  
Anisotropic Structure ◽  
Crustal Anisotropy ◽  
Physical Mechanisms ◽  
Alpine Fault ◽  
Wave Splitting

<p>This thesis involves the study of crustal seismic anisotropy through shear wave splitting. For the past three decades, shear wave splitting (SWS) measurements from crustal earthquakes have been utilized as a technique to characterize seismic anisotropic structures and to infer in situ crustal properties such as the state of the stress and fracture geometry and density. However, the potential of this technique is yet to be realized in part because measurements on local earthquakes are often controlled and/or affected by physical mechanisms and processes which lead to variations in measurements and make interpretation difficult. Many studies have suggested a variety of physical mechanisms that control and/or affect SWS measurements, but few studies have quantitatively tested these suggestions. This thesis seeks to fill this gap by investigating what controls crustal shear-wave splitting (SWS) measurements using empirical and numerical simulation approaches, with the ultimate aim of improving SWS interpretation. For our empirical approach, we used two case studies to investigate what physical processes control seismic anisotropy in the crust at different scales and tectonic settings. In the numerical simulation test, we simulate the propagation of seismic waves in a variety of scenarios.  We begin by measuring crustal anisotropy via SWS analysis around central New Zealand, where clusters of closely-spaced earthquakes have occurred. We used over 40,000 crustal earthquakes across 36 stations spanning close to 5.5 years between 2013 and 2018 to generate the largest catalog of high-quality SWS measurements (~102,000) around the Marlborough and Wellington region. The size of our SWS catalog allowed us to perform a detailed systematic analysis to investigate the processes that control crustal anisotropy and we also investigated the spatial and temporal variation of the anisotropic structure around the region. We observed a significant spatial variation of SWS measurements in Central New Zealand. We found that the crustal anisotropy around Central New Zealand is confined to the upper few kilometers of the crust, and is controlled by either one mechanism or a combination of more than one (such as structural, tectonic stresses, and gravitational stresses). The high correspondence between the orientation of the maximum horizontal compressive stress calculated from gravitational potential energy from topography and average fast polarization orientation around the Kaikōura region suggests that gravitationally induced stresses control the crustal anisotropy in the Kaikōura region. We suggest that examining the effect of gravitational stresses on crustal seismic anisotropy should not be neglected in future studies. We also observed no significant temporal changes in the state of anisotropy over the 5.5 year period despite the occurrence of significant seismicity.   For the second empirical study, we characterized the anisotropic structure of a fault approaching failure (the Alpine Fault of New Zealand). We performed detailed SWS analysis on local earthquakes that were recorded on a dense array of 159 three-component seismometers with inter-station spacing about 30 m around the Whataroa Valley, New Zealand. The SWS analysis of data from this dense deployment enabled us to map the spatial characteristics of the anisotropic structure and also to investigate the mechanisms that control anisotropy in the Whataroa valley in the vicinity of the Alpine Fault. We observed that the orientation of the fast direction is parallel to the strike of the Alpine Fault trace and the orientations of the regional and borehole foliation planes. We also observed that there was no significant spatial variation of the anisotropic structure as we move across the Alpine Fault trace from the hanging wall to the footwall. We inferred that the geological structures, such as the Alpine Fault fabric and foliations within the valley, are the main mechanisms that control the anisotropic structure in the Whataroa valley.    For our numerical simulation approach, we simulate waveforms propagating through an anisotropic media (using both 1-D and 3-D techniques). We simulate a variety of scenarios, to investigate how some of the suggested physical mechanisms affect SWS measurements. We considered (1) the effect on seismic waves caused by scatterers along the waves' propagation path, (2) the effect of the earthquake source mechanism, (3) the effect of incidence angle of the incoming shear wave. We observed that some of these mechanisms (such as the incidence angle of the incoming shear wave and scatterers) significantly affect SWS measurement while others such as earthquake source mechanisms have less effect on SWS measurements. We also observed that the effect of most of these physical mechanisms depends on the wavelength of the propagating shear wave relative to the size of the features. There is a significant effect on SWS measurements if the size of the physical mechanism (such as scatterers) is comparable to the wavelength of the incoming shear wave. With a larger wavelength, the wave treats the feature as a homogeneous medium.</p>

Crustal anisotropy in the southern Aegean from shear wave splitting of local earthquakes

2021 ◽  
Vol 143 ◽  
pp. 101810
Author(s):  
K.I. Konstantinou ◽  
V. Syahra ◽  
P. Ranjan
Keyword(s):  
Shear Wave ◽  
Shear Wave Splitting ◽  
Crustal Anisotropy ◽  
Local Earthquakes ◽  
Wave Splitting

scholarly journals Crustal seismic anisotropy of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau and the adjacent areas from shear-wave splitting measurements

2019 ◽  
Vol 220 (3) ◽  
pp. 1491-1503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Hu ◽  
Yonghua Li ◽  
Liangxin Xu
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Shear Wave ◽  
Seismic Anisotropy ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Shear Wave Splitting ◽  
Crustal Anisotropy ◽  
Western Qinling ◽  
Northeastern Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Wave Splitting ◽  
Mantle Anisotropy

SUMMARY The Northeastern Tibetan Plateau has thickened crust and is still undergoing strong active crustal shortening and deformation. Crustal anisotropy can provide clues to how the crust is currently deforming and evolving. We use an automatic method to analyse the upper-crustal anisotropy of the NE Tibetan Plateau and the adjacent region using local earthquakes recorded at 39 permanent seismic stations during the period 2009–2018. The majority of the dominant fast directions are consistent with the maximum horizontal stress orientation, suggesting that the upper-crustal anisotropy is mainly controlled by the regional or local stress field. Several fault-parallel measurements are observed for stations on or near to the main faults. These fault-parallel fast directions indicate that the main mechanism of upper-crustal anisotropy is associated with shear fabric caused by deformation. Fast directions neither fault-parallel nor stress-parallel are observed at stations lying several kilometres away from fault zones, likely reflecting the combined influence of stress-aligned microcracks and active faults. A comparison between our upper-crustal anisotropy parameters and those inferred from previous anisotropy studies that used receiver function and teleseismic shear wave splitting measurements suggests that the crust has the same deformation mechanisms as mantle anisotropy in the southern part of the Western Qinling Fault, whereas the upper-crustal anisotropic mechanism is different from those of lower crust and mantle anisotropy in the northern part of the Western Qinling Fault. These observations imply that the Western Qinling Fault may be an important boundary fault.

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