Two‐dimensional modelling of subduction zone anisotropy with application to southwestern Japan

SUMMARY We present a series of 2‐D numerical models of viscous flow in the mantle wedge induced by a subducting lithospheric plate. We use a kinematically defined slab geometry approximating the subduction of the Philippine Sea plate beneath Eurasia. Through finite element modelling we explore the effects of different rheological and thermal constraints (e.g. a low‐viscosity region in the wedge corner, power law versus Newtonian rheology, the inclusion of thermal buoyancy forces and a temperature‐dependent viscosity law) on the velocity and finite strain field in the mantle wedge. From the numerical flow models we construct models of anisotropy in the wedge by calculating the evolution of the finite strain ellipse and combining its geometry with appropriate elastic constants for effective transversely isotropic mantle material. We then predict shear wave splitting for stations located above the model domain using expressions derived from anisotropic perturbation theory, and compare the predictions to ∼500 previously published shear wave splitting measurements from seventeen stations of the broad‐band F‐net array located in southwestern Japan. Although the use of different model parameters can have a substantial effect on the character of the finite strain field, the effect on the average predicted splitting parameters is small. However, the variations with backazimuth and ray parameter of individual splitting intensity measurements at a given station for different models are often different, and rigorous analysis of details in the splitting patterns allows us to discriminate among different rheological models for flow in the mantle wedge. The splitting observed in southwestern Japan agrees well with the predictions of trench‐perpendicular flow in the mantle wedge along with B‐type olivine fabric dominating in a region from the wedge corner to about 125 km from the trench.