Spatial variation of crustal anisotropy in the Arunachal Himalaya inferred from splitting of local S waveforms

Abstract

• A large spatial variability in crustal deformation is found beneath the western and eastern parts of the Arunachal Himalaya. • Small delay times and large scattering in the fast axis of anisotropy characterize the western part. • Crustal anisotropy beneath the western part is due to a combination of structure- and stress-induced mechanisms. • Correlation of local S and XK(K)S measurements in the central part suggests coherent deformation. • Combined delay times from the central and eastern parts show a correlation with depth. Shear wave anisotropy of the crust beneath the Arunachal Himalaya is investigated by analysing the splitting of steeply incident (i c ≤ 45°) direct S-phases of 396 local earthquakes, recorded at 32 stations. The 76 well constrained splitting measurements reveal that the delay times between fast and slow waves range from 0.02 to 0.30 s, clustered around 0.07 s. A large variation in the orientation of fast polarization directions (FPDs) is found. The smallest delay times (mostly < 0.10 s) and large variation in the orientation of FPDs are found at stations located in the western part of the Arunachal Himalaya. This is likely associated with heterogeneities in the lithological properties and a combined effect of stress-induced and structure-induced anisotropy. For a small crustal block in the central part of Arunachal, the FPDs are parallel to the strike of the Himalayan arc and are associated with structure-induced anisotropy. In this region, the FPDs representing the upper mantle are also found to be parallel to the strike of the Himalayan arc, suggesting a coherent deformation. In the eastern part, a variation in the FPDs is observed from north to south, being parallel to the strike of the Siang river in the former and mostly parallel to the average maximum horizontal stress in the latter. The delay times show a correlation with depth when the observations in the central and eastern parts of the Arunachal Himalaya are combined.