Seismic anisotropy in the continental crust of northwestern Canada

Abstract

S U M M A R Y Most studies of the seismic structure of continental crust assume that the wave speeds are isotropic at seismic wavelengths. The ability to measure surface wave propagation speed from the cross-correlation of ambient seismic noise provides new opportunities to image the crust and uppermost mantle. We investigate radial anisotropy in the continental crust of northwestern Canada from group-velocity curves of Love and Rayleigh waves obtained from ambient-noise cross-correlation. We test the null hypothesis that the Love and Rayleigh group-speed curves can be simultaneously fit by an earth model containing isotropic seismic velocities throughout the crust. Group velocity is predicted for 200 000 one-dimensional earth models, which are generated by randomly varying the crustal shear velocity and radial anisotropy within a prescribed range. The goodness-of-fit of the predictions is assessed by comparison with two sets of observed dispersion curves that correspond to two tectonically distinct terranes: the Archean/early Proterozoic craton and the transition from craton to Cordillera. The majority of best-fitting models contain VSH > VSV (4–5 per cent) in the middle crust. The finding that the middle/lower crust is seismically anisotropic across a large swath of northwestern Canada, combined with recent observations of anisotropic crust in much of the western United States, suggests that anisotropy may be ubiquitous in the continental crust.