Trans-dimensional inference identifies a class of methods for inverse problems where the number of free parameters is not fixed. In seismic imaging these methods are applied to let the data, and any prior information, decide the complexity of the models and how the inferred fields partition the inversion domains. Monte Carlo trans-dimensional inference is performed implementing the reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (rjMcMC) algorithm; the nature of Monte Carlo exploration allows the algorithm to be completely non-linear, to explore multiple possibilities among models with different dimensions and meshes and to extensively investigate the under-determined nature of the tomographic problems, showing quantitative evidence for the limitations in the data-sets used. Implementations of this method overcome the main limitations of traditional linearized solvers: the arbitrariness in the selection of the regularization parameters, the linearized iterative approach and in general the collapse of the information behind the solution into a unique inferred model.

We present applications of the rjMcMC algorithm to anisotropic seismic imaging of Mt. Etna with P-waves. Mt. Etna is one of the most active and monitored volcanoes in the world, typically investigated under the assumption of isotropic seismic speeds. However, since body waves manifest strong sensitivity to seismic anisotropy, we parametrize a multi-fields inversion to account for the directional dependence in the seismic velocities. Anisotropy increases the ill-condition of the tomographic problem and the consequences of the under-determination become more relevant. When multiple seismic fields are investigated, such as seismic speeds and anisotropy, the data-sets used may not be able to independently resolve them, resulting in non-independent estimates and corresponding trade-offs. Monte Carlo exploration allows for the evaluation of the robustness of seismic anomalies and anisotropic patterns, as well as the trade-offs between isotropic and anisotropic perturbations, key features for the interpretation of tomographic models in volcanic environments. The approach is completely non-linear, free of any explicit regularization and it keeps the computational time feasible, even for large data-sets.

How to cite: Del Piccolo, G., Lo Bue, R., VanderBeek, B. P., Faccenda, M., Cocina, O., Firetto Carlino, M., Giampiccolo, E., Morelli, A., and Byrnes, J.: Trans-dimensional Mt. Etna P-wave anisotropic seismic imaging, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-18148, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-18148, 2024.

Complex tectonics and significant crustal anisotropy are observed at the intersection of the Red River Fault (RRF) and the Xiaojiang Fault (XJF) in the southern Sichuan-Yunnan block, in the SE Tibetan Plateau. The fast S polarization of upper crustal anisotropy varies from NW-SE in the west to NE-SW in the east near the Yimen region. However, small-scale anisotropic structures remain challenging due to limited measurements. Using two years of seismic data from the temporary linear HX Array and permanent stations, this study employed machine learning to construct a high-precision earthquake catalog for S-wave splitting, revealing the upper crustal anisotropy. The new catalog has nearly twice as many earthquakes as the China Earthquake Networks Center. The seismicity is concentrated in the Yimen region with various strike-slip faults, which has a strong correlation with high- and low-velocity boundaries, especially near the edge of the low-velocity zone. Spatial variations in upper crustal anisotropy along the HX Array correspond to geological structures and regional stress. Despite a dominant NE-SW PFS (i.e., fast S-wave polarization) in the Yimen region, stations show dual dominant directions with high values of DTS (i.e., delay times between split S-waves), indicating intricate tectonic and stress interactions. The middle segment of the RRF shows significantly lower DTS values than either side, along with a vertically distributed earthquake swarm, possibly indicating locked structures with high seismic hazard. A comparison between the upper and whole crustal anisotropy reveals consistent deformation within blocks and nearly orthogonal deformation near the RRF and the XJF. The boundary faults likely play a crucial role in influencing the crustal anisotropy both horizontally and vertically. The faults like the Shiping-Jianshui and the Puduhe, running parallel to the RRF and the XJF, are believed to affect the crustal structure. This study highlights that microseismic detection enhances earthquake catalog completeness, providing insights into detailed structures [supported by NSFC Projects 42074065 & 41730212].

How to cite: Li, Y., Gao, Y., and Tian, J.: Microseismic records based on machine-learning reveal the crustal anisotropy beneath the southern Sichuan-Yunnan block in the SE Tibetan Plateau, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-4528, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-4528, 2024.

The seismic moment tensor, which represents the equivalent body-force system of the seismic source (Backus and Mulcahy, 1973), may exhibit non-double couple components (NDCs) when the earthquake occurs on a planer fault if the source medium is anisotropic (Aki and Richards, 1981; Kawasaki and Tanimoto, 1981). Kawakatsu (1991, GRL) reported that the NDCs of the moment tensors for shallow earthquakes from the Harvard CMT catalog (Dziewonski et al.,1981; predecessor of GCMT) exhibit a systematic characteristic dependent on faulting types. Specifically, the sign of NDC on average systematically switches between normal-faulting and reverse-faulting. The average NDC parameter ε (Giardini, 1983) is negative for thrust faulting and positive for normal faulting. This behavior can be explained if the source region is transversely isotropic with a vertical symmetry axis (radially anisotropic). In fact, the transverse isotropy model of PREM at a depth of 24.4 km predicts the observed systematic NDC pattern, although the magnitude is slightly underestimated, indicating the potential to enhance our understanding of the lithospheric transverse isotropy using the NDC of the moment tensors.

To investigate the lithospheric transverse isotropy structure utilizing the NDCs of the moment tensors, we propose a novel inversion scheme, building upon the approaches employed by Vavrycuk (2004) and Li, Zheng, et al. (2018) for deep and intermediate-depth earthquakes, but with necessary modifications to address shallow sources (Kawakatsu, 1996, GJI). Synthetic tests conducted under conditions of random faulting indicate the potential to constrain the S-wave anisotropy (ξ) and the fifth parameter (η_κ; Kawakatsu, 2016, GJI). However, in realistic scenarios where a predominant stress regime influences earthquake occurrence to limit the diversity of faulting types, a significant correlation between these two parameters is anticipated, especially in regional-scale cases. Preliminary application of this method to real data sourced from the GCMT catalog suggests that the lithospheric transverse isotropy of PREM serves as a suitable initial model. However, some adjustments may be necessary, particularly regarding the fifth parameter, to enhance the model's fidelity in representing observed NDCs of the moment tensors.

How to cite: Kawakatsu, H.: Characterizing Lithospheric Transverse Isotropy via Non-double Couple Components of Moment Tensors, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-3697, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-3697, 2024.

The Indian Lithosphere has been shaped by multiple tectonic processes, which include break-up from the Gondwana Supercontinent, traversing over the Reunion and Kerguelen hotspots, collision with Eurasia, and underthrusting beneath the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau. Seismic velocity structure and radial anisotropy of the lithosphere preserves imprints of these  tectonic processes and related deformation. We perform joint-modeling of fundamental-mode Rayleigh (LR) and Love (LQ) wave group-velocity dispersion, for periods between 10 and 120s, to obtain radially anisotropic shear-wave velocity structure across India, Himalaya and Tibet. 1D path-average dispersion curves, computed for ~14700 regional earthquake-receiver raypaths, has been passed through systematic quality control of signal-to-noise ratio (>3), elimination of multipathed energy using polarization analysis, and removal of overtone interference, by synthetic tests. These 1D dispersion data are combined through a tomographic formulation to obtain 2D maps. The tomographic parametrization is done using  4906 nodes as apex of triangular elements of side 1°. LR and LQ fundamental-mode group-velocity dispersion data at these nodes are the observation input to the joint inversion. The inversion is done in 2-steps, first by parameterizing the model as isotropic layers and using an isotropic inversion scheme to obtain the best fitting Vs model; second using this output Vs model into an anisotropic inversion scheme, implemented using Genetic Algorithms (GA). GA exhaustively searches the model-space composed of Vsh, Vph and Xi[Vsh^2/Vsv^2] as free parameters. The fit to both LR and LQ datasets significantly improve in the anisotropic inversion. 

Results are presented as 2D depth-slice maps and cross-sections constructed using bilinear interpolation. The main findings from our models are lateral variation in the voigt-average Vs beneath the Tibetan Plateau at depth between 80-140 km. Western Tibet has high Vs and positive Xi, while Central-Eastern TIbet has Low Vs and negative Xi. From cross-sections across both regions, we infer that the dip and underthrusting of the Indian Plate beneath Tibet has lateral variation. The high Vs and positive anisotropy in Western Tibet indicates a shallow underthrusting of the Indian lithosphere up to the Tarim Basin, with simple-shear deformation. Where as, the lower Vs and negative anisotropy in Central-Eastern Tibet is a result of partial-underthrusting of India at a steeper-angle up to the Bangong-Nujiang Suture, and pure-shear deformation of thickened Tibet Lithosphere beneath North-Central Tibet. A negative anisotropy signature along the Reunion volcanic track is observed between 100 and 160 km depth. We infer this to be the signature of  Reunion hotspot volcanism in the Indian lithosphere caused by the vertical ascent of a huge volume of melt arising from the plume-head. Similar observations are also made beneath the track of the Kergulean hotspot. 

How to cite: Chakraborty, A., Ghosh, M., Dey, S., Sharma, S., Bhattacharya, S. N., and Mitra, S.: Deformation of the Indian Lithosphere from radial anisotropy: Signatures of laterally varying plate geometry beneath Tibet and hotspot volcanism beneath the Deccan Plateau. , EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-17055, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-17055, 2024.

How continental plate boundary faults develop with depth has been under debate. We inverted SKS shear wave splitting data along the San Andreas Fault (SAF) into two layers of anisotropy using a Bayesian inversion. While the two layers are statistically required, the fast polarization directions of the upper layer do not match the strike of the SAF as previously reported. To capture the lithospheric shear zone, we progressively decrease the upper limit of the delay time of the upper layer. In northern California where SAF strikes 140-150, the upper layer fast directions get close to these azimuths when the delay time is reduced to ~0.5 s. In southern California where the SAF strikes 120-130, the upper layer fast directions capture the SAF with delay times of a similar magnitude. For olivine LPO with vertical shear plane, these delay times translate to a anisotropy layer of 40 km thickness, or a depth of 70 km from the surface, assuming the seismogenic zone in the crust is too localized to influence the SKS splitting. This depth coincides with the depth of lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary independently estimated. The lower-layer fast directions are in between the absolute plate motion directions of the American and the Pacific plates, or at least agree with that predicted from surface wave study in northern California. We picture a vertical continental shear zone widening to at least 200 km at the bottom of the lithosphere, transitioning to a horizontal shear regime in the asthenosphere driven by plate motions. This architecture of continental shear zone is consistent with our understanding of the rheology of crust and mantle.

How to cite: Kuo, B.-Y., Peng, C.-C., and Wang, P.-C.: Structures of the continental shear zone beneath the San Andreas Fault inferred from two-layer modeling of SKS splitting, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-3339, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-3339, 2024.

The continental lithosphere of the Iranian plateau is complicated by a multitude of tectonic processes resulting from the convergence between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. In order to investigate the deformation mechanisms of the uppermost mantle, this study presents a radial anisotropy model beneath the Iranian Plateau constructed by long period (10-100 s) Rayleigh and Love waves from ambient noise data. The broadband Rayleigh and Love signals are extracted from continuous data recorded by 88 seismic stations using a double-beamforming algorithm. Due to utilizing long period surface waves, we apply finite-frequency ambient noise tomography to generate two-dimensional dispersion maps. These phase velocity maps are consistent with those obtained from conventional methods. Finally, we invert Rayleigh and Love local phase velocity dispersion curves using a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo inversion method. The obtained radial anisotropy model shows negative values in Central Iran suggesting a horizontal character of the minerals likely due to a channelized asthenospheric flow in the upper mantle.

How to cite: Movaghari, R. and Yang, Y.: Uppermost mantle radial anisotropy based on double-beamforming of ambient noise cross correlation beneath Iranian plateau, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-3769, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-3769, 2024.

The Taiwan orogenic belt originates from the collision between the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP) and the Eurasian Plate (EU) with a subduction polarity reversal. The reversal around northern Taiwan creates a complex geodynamic process from subduction waning to post-collision extension. We study the deformation fabric with the shear wave splitting (SWS) method to unravel this tectonic complexity using multiple core phases (PKS, SKS, and SKKS, hereafter XKS). Prevailing SWS research acknowledged the presence of orogen-parallel anisotropy. However, recent studies with numerical modeling and coherency analysis suggested that the anisotropy source is in the asthenosphere. A recent dense seismic array (Formosa Array) of 148 seismic stations in northern Taiwan enables us to revisit this debate with improved spatial and back azimuthal coverage of the SWS measurements. The results show distinct variations in fast direction (Φ) from different back-azimuths and a much larger average delay time (dt) of ~2 sec compared to that derived from local subduction events (at 100-250 km depth). Application of the Fresnel zone and spatial coherency analysis also support an asthenospheric source for the observed anisotropy. The findings emphasize the need for depth-source analysis of anisotropy to better elucidate the responsible mechanisms of complex tectonic settings.

How to cite: Gupta, R. M., Huang, H.-H., Chen, P.-F., Lin, C.-H., and Peng, C.-C.: Examining Depth Origin of Anisotropy in an Active Orogenic Belt of Taiwan Using Shear Wave Splitting Results from the Formosa Array., EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-14416, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-14416, 2024.

Earth’s upper mantle and lithosphere show significant evidence for anisotropy related to deformation and composition. First-generation GLAD (GLobal ADjoint) models (GLAD-M15 (Bozdag et al. 2016), GLAD-M25 (Lei et al. 2020), GLAD-M35 (Cui et al. submitted)) are radially anisotropic in the upper mantle. Starting from GLAD-M25, we performed 25 conjugate gradient iterations and constructed model GLAD-M50-AZI by including azimuthal anisotropy in the parameterization of the inverse problem. We inverted azimuthally anisotropic normalized parameters Gc’ and Gs’ simultaneously with vertically and horizontally polarized shear waves beta_v and beta_h, respectively. Due to our parameterization, our data set consists of only minor- and major-arc Rayleigh and Love waves from 300 globally distributed earthquakes. GLAD-M50-AZI captures plate motions globally well, which are also supported by the transverse isotropy, specifically at the subducted slabs and mid-ocean ridges. Furthermore, it approaches continental-scale resolution in regions with good data coverage depicting smaller-scale tectonic and flow patterns, giving us a chance to have a more detailed and unified view of the anisotropy globally. In the next step, we explore how anisotropy derived from seismic tomography compares to geodynamical modeling observations to have better insight into mantle dynamics. We perform numerical simulations to compute synthetic seismograms and full-waveform inversion on Texas Advanced Computing Center’s Frontera system. 

How to cite: Bozdag, E., Orsvuran, R., Liu, L., and Peter, D.: Azimuthal and radial anisotropy in the upper mantle from global adjoint tomography, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-13005, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-13005, 2024.

Splitting of shear waves proves their propagation within an anisotropic medium. Frequently used methods of evaluating of upper mantle anisotropy search for two parameters - the delay time of the slow split shear wave and the polarization direction of the fast split shear wave. The parameters retrieved by the standard methods such as energy minimization on the transverse component of the shear waveforms or eigenvalue of cross-correlation matrix suffer from e.g., ubiquitous noise, errors in sensor orientation and numerous so-called ‘null splits’ or unrealistically large values. However, well-resolved splitting parameters from core-mantle refracted shear SK(K)S phases are limited to relatively narrow fans of back azimuths. Such incomplete back-azimuth coverage prevents modelling anisotropic structures with symmetry axes oriented generally in 3D, i.e., with tilted axes, to be compatible with 3D anisotropic models from independent observables.  Generally used averages of time delays and polarization pairs lead to simplified models of the upper mantle, which concentrate on modelling the present-day flow in the sub-lithospheric mantle.

Therefore, we propose a new method directly exploiting variations in width and orientation of particle motion (PM) of split shear waves, which allows measuring anisotropic characteristics for a larger amount of waveforms and improves azimuthal coverage in a region. We characterize the PM by two parameters, the PM width and the PM orientation. At each station, we plot the normalized width of the PM as a ratio of lengths of the minor to major axes in dependence on back-azimuths. Variations of the PM width with back-azimuth exhibit oscillations with several extremes of different amplitudes. Such behaviour results from wave propagation through the anisotropic upper mantle. One of the advantages of the method is that the width of the PM is invariant of potential mis-orientation of sensors.

We test the PM method on a set of SKS waveforms recorded at a subset of stations included in several recent or running passive seismic experiments (EASI, AlpArray, PACASE, AdriaArray). The stations form a band of about 200km broad running from the western Bohemian Massif through the Eastern Alps to the Adriatic Sea. Stations characterized by similar variations of the PM parameters group into sub-regions, which are compatible with the main tectonic features of the whole region. The formation of such lithospheric blocks of similar anisotropic signals is in agreement with 3D self-compatible anisotropic models of the mantle lithosphere domains derived from independent observables. We present complementary studies of the anisotropic structure of the mantle lithosphere in contributions by Zlebcikova et al. (GD7.1, EGU 2024), which shows anisotropic model of the upper mantle derived from 3D coupled anisotropic-isotropic teleseismic tomography (code anitomo), and in contribution by Kvapil et al. (GD7.1, EGU 2024), in which anisotropic structure of the lower crust is modelled from ambient noise.

How to cite: Vecsey, L., Plomerová, J., and Working Groups and AdriaArray Seismology Group, A. A.-E. P.: A new method to measure seismic anisotropy of the upper mantle directly from the width and orientation of the particle motion of shear waves , EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-8694, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-8694, 2024.

The Cascadia subduction system is an ideal location to investigate the nature of mantle flow and associated driving forces at a convergent margin owing to the dense network of on- and off-shore seismic instrumentation. While numerous shear wave splitting and tomography studies have been performed with these data, they have produced conflicting views of mantle dynamics collectively referred to as the Cascadia Paradox. On the overriding plate, splitting observations are consistent with large-scale 3D toroidal flow while off-shore splitting patterns are more easily explained by 2D plate-driven flow. Either geometry is difficult to reconcile with seismic tomographic models that image a fragmented Juan de Fuca slab descending beneath the Western USA. However, these observations offer only an incomplete image of Cascadia mantle structure. Shear wave splitting provides a depth integrated view of anisotropic fabrics making inferences regarding the 3D nature of mantle deformation difficult. Prior high-resolution body wave tomography typically neglects anisotropic effects which can in turn yield significant isotropic imaging artefacts that complicate model interpretation. To overcome these limitations, we invert P-wave delay times for a 3D hexagonally anisotropic model with arbitrarily oriented symmetry axes using the reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. This stochastic imaging approach is particularly well-suited to the highly non-linear and under-determined nature of the anisotropic seismic tomography problem. The resulting ensemble of solutions allows us to rigorously assess model parameter uncertainties and trade-off between isotropic and anisotropic heterogeneity. We investigate whether the fragmented nature of the subducted Juan de Fuca slab is a well-resolved feature and to what extent its geometry trades off with anisotropic parameters. In light of our new 3D anisotropic model, we re-evaluate the Cascadia Paradox and attempt to reconcile disparate views of Western USA mantle dynamics.

How to cite: VanderBeek, B., Del Piccolo, G., and Faccenda, M.: Exploring Mantle Dynamics of the Cascadia Subduction System through Anisotropic Tomography with Transdimensional Inference Methods, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-15225, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-15225, 2024.

The faceting behaviour of olivine controls many properties on the grain surface such as diffusion and storage.  This behaviour and its effects are poorly understood due to the difficulty of examining them and the many controls that are on this paper.  In this talk I shall present a thermodynamic model of olivine faceting and how it is controlled by temperature, pressure, iron, grain size and water content.  In turn I shall discuss how this faceting then controls other important properties such as storage of water on the grain boundaries and how these are perhaps an overlooked sink in the Earth’s mantle.

How to cite: Muir, J.: Olivine faceting and water storage: A complex dynamic anisotropic sink, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-2395, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-2395, 2024.

Both elastic and viscoplastic behaviors of the Earth’s upper mantle are highly anisotropic, because olivine, which composes 60-80% of the mantle, has a strong intrinsic anisotropy and develops strong crystal preferred orientations (CPO). Predicting the evolution of anisotropy with strain is essential to: (1) probe indirectly the deformation in the mantle based on seismic measurements and (2) accounting for the deformation history when simulating the long-term dynamics of the Earth. However, traditional micro-mechanical approaches to model the evolution of CPO-induced elastic and viscous anisotropies are too memory-costly and time-consuming for coupling into geodynamical simulations. To speed up the prediction of seismic anisotropy in the mantle, we developed deep-learning (DL) surrogates trained on a synthetic database built with viscoplastic self-consistent simulations of texture evolution of olivine polycrystals in typical 2D geodynamical flows. A first challenge was the choice of memory-saving representations of the CPO. Training the DL models on the evolution of the elastic tensor components avoided the need of storing the CPOs. However, the major challenge has been to prevent error compounding in a recursive-prediction scheme – where a model prediction at a given time step becomes the input for the next one - to evaluate the anisotropy evolution along a flow line. We implemented multilayer feed-forward (FFNN), ensemble, and transformer neural networks, obtaining the best efficiency/accuracy ratio for the FFNN. The results highlight the importance of (1) the standardization of the outputs in the training stage to avoid overfitting in predictions, (2) the statistical characteristics of the strain histories in the training database, and (3) the influence of non-monotonic strain histories on error propagation. Predictions for complex unseen strain histories are accurate, much more time-efficient and memory-costly than the traditional micro-mechanical models. Our work opens thus new avenues for modeling the strain-controlled evolution of mechanical anisotropy in the Earth’s mantle. This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme [grant agreement No 882450 – ERC RhEoVOLUTION.

How to cite: Tommasi, A., Cerpa, N., Carazo, F., and Signorell, J.: Predicting seismic anisotropy in the upper mantle using supervised deep-learning, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-17743, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-17743, 2024.

Seismic anisotropy, which involves directionally dependent wave propagation, is likely to occur in the lowermost few hundreds km of the mantle, especially at the edges of Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs). This anisotropy may be indicative of significant deformation, potentially due to mantle flow interacting with the sides of these provinces or the generation of mantle plumes. In this study, we investigate subducted slab induced plume generation from an LLSVP boundary and the flow behaviour of the lower mantle using compressible 2-D and 3-D mantle convection models in the geodynamic modeling software ASPECT combined with mantle fabric simulation in ECOMAN. In our geodynamic simulation, we assume that the LLSVPs are chemically distinct piles with intrinsically high viscosity. We use the Clapeyron slope of the phase transition from Bridgmanite to post-Perovskite from the previous mineralogical study by Oganov & Ono (2004) in the mantle fabric calculation. Modeling lattice preferred orientation of Bridgmanite and post-Perovskite in the lower mantle reveals that the lower mantle is overall isotropic except the regions of plume conduits and the surroundings of the subducted slab where vertically polarized shear wave (V_sv ) is faster. The generation of anisotropy are caused by the accumulation of high finite strain in these regions. The bottom 300 km of the lower mantle is characterized by fast horizontally polarized shear wave (V_sh ) beneath the subducted slab which deflects to fast V_sv at the margins of the LLSVPs due to the rheological contrast between the highly viscous LLSVP and less viscous ambient mantle. Our result shows that six possible slip systems [100](010), [100](001), [010](100), [001](100), [110](-110) and [-110](110) of Bridgmanite and the slip system [100](001) of post-Perovskite can produce a fast V_sv in the plume generation zones where post-Perovskite transforms to Bridgmanite and fast V_sh at the base of the subducted slab where post-Perovskite is preserved in the D”. However, our models do not show anisotropy inside of the LLSVPs and the subducted slab, possibly because of their high viscosity. Our findings are comparable with the previous seismic observations beneath the Iceland plume where V_sv > V_sh and the slab-driven flow at the base of the mantle beneath the northeastern Pacific Ocean where V_sh > V_sv .

How to cite: Roy, P., Steinberger, B., Faccenda, M., and Dannberg, J.: Exploring the Development of Shear Wave Radial Anisotropy in the Lower Mantle due to Slab-induced Plume Generation from LLSVPs, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-13585, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-13585, 2024.

The presence of ponding slabs at the base of the mantle transition zone (600-700 km) has been well known for a long time and can be explained by the changes in material properties related to phase changes around this depth. However, recent tomographic studies have shown the presence of slabs stagnating at larger depths of around 1000 km. While geodynamic simulations and experiments provide different insights, seismic tomography is crucial to constrain these geodynamic models. More specifically, seismic anisotropy is of particular interest to understand the dynamics of the mantle because of its sensitivity to the flow of mantle material.

The south-west pacific zone is an area with a very complex tectonic setting, with several subduction zones in a relatively small area, illuminated by a very high level of seismicity. It is thus of particular interest to understand the dynamics of the extended transition zone. As such, it has been the object of numerous tomographic studies, including high-resolution full-waveform tomography. In most cases, these studies only invert for radial anisotropy, as azimuthal anisotropy is generally more difficult to measure. However, azimuthal anisotropy is equally important as radial anisotropy and a proper interpretation in terms of mantle flow requires both. We present updated results of a full-waveform inversion of the region including azimuthal anisotropy recovered from body and surface waveforms and XKS-splitting data.

How to cite: Soergel, D., Kumar, U., Valencia, N., and Romanowicz, B.: Full waveform anisotropic tomography of the transition zone beneath the south west Pacific, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-12689, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-12689, 2024.

Detection of D" anisotropy is usually carried-out with shear wave splitting analysis. To constrain azimuthal anisotropy and infer mineralogy and deformation style, a number of crossing paths is necessary. Here we use an approach that utilises the polarity of P- and S- wave reflections from the D" discontinuity, compared with the main phases P and S, and combines these measurements with ScS splitting results. Using deformation scenarios for a number of lower(most) mantle candidate materials, we calculate the reflection coefficient for P and S-wave reflections and ScS splitting predictions. From our modelling, a clear distinction between different anisotropic media is possible by using both types of observations together. Furthermore, the approach allows to use only a single direction to distinguish between different scenarios. We apply the method to the Central/South Atlantic and South Africa, across the border of the large-low seismic velocity province (LLSVP). Shear wave splitting observations suggest that anisotropy is present in this region of the mantle, in agreement with previous studies that partially sampled this region. Modelling the observations with lattice preferred orientation and shape preferred orientation of materials expected in the D" region, we find two domains of mineralogy and deformation: sub-horizontally aligned post-perovskite outside the LLSVP, beneath the South and Central Atlantic, which is replaced by up-tilted aligned bridgmanite within the LLSVP beneath South Africa.

How to cite: Thomas, C. and Pisconti, A.: Constraining D" seismic anisotropy with reflections and splitting, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-8851, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-8851, 2024.