Open AccessAnisotropy beneath a highly extended continental rift
Author(s) -
Eilon Zachary,
Abers Geoffrey A.,
Jin Ge,
Gaherty James B.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.928
H-Index - 136
ISSN - 1525-2027
DOI - 10.1002/2013gc005092
Subject(s) - geology , rift , seismology , mantle (geology) , shear wave splitting , anisotropy , plate tectonics , rift valley , mid ocean ridge , east african rift , tectonics , triple junction , geophysics , physics , quantum mechanics
We have employed shear wave splitting techniques to image anisotropy beneath the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, in southeastern Papua New Guinea. Our results provide a detailed picture of the extending continent that lies immediately ahead of a propagating mid‐ocean ridge tip; we image the transition from continental to oceanic extension. A dense shear wave splitting data set from a 2010 to 2011 passive‐source seismic deployment is analyzed using single and multichannel methods. Splitting delay times of 1–1.5 s are observed and fast axes of anisotropy trending N‐S, parallel to rifting direction, predominate the results. This trend is linked to lattice‐preferred orientation of olivine, primarily in the shallow convecting mantle, driven by up to 200 km of N‐S continental extension ahead of the westward‐propagating Woodlark Rift. This pattern differs from several other continental rifts that evince rift‐strike‐parallel fast axes and is evident despite the complex recent tectonic history. We contend that across most of this rift, the unusually high rate and magnitude of extension has been sufficient to produce a regime change to a mid‐ocean‐ridge‐like mantle fabric. Stations in the south of our array show more complex splitting that might be related to melt or to complex inherited structure at the edge of the extended region.