Shear wave anisotropy beneath the Andes from the BANJO, SEDA, and PISCO experiments

We present the results of a detailed shear wave splitting analysis of data collected by three temporary broadband deployments located in central weste rn South America: the Broadband Andean Joint experiment (BANJO), a 1000-km- long east-west line at 20 degrees S, and the Projecto de Investigacion Sism ologica de la Cordillera Occidental (PISCO) and Seismic Exploration of the Deep Altiplano (SEDA), deployed several hunderd kilometers north and south of this line. We determined the splitting parameters phi (fast polarization direction) and delta t (splitting delay time) for waves that sample the ab ove- and below-slab regions: teleseismic *KS and S, ScS waves from local de ep-focus events, as well as S waves from intermediate-focus events that sam ple only the above-slab region. All but one of the *KS stacks for the BANJO stations show E-W fast directions with delta t varying between 0.4 and 1.5 s. However, for *KS recorded at most of the SEDA and PISCO stations, and f or local deep-focus S events north and south of BANJO, there is a rotation of phi to a more nearly trench parallel direction. The splitting parameters for above-slab paths, determined from events around 200 km deep to western stations, yield small delay times (less than or equal to 0.3 a) and N-S fa st polarization directions. Assuming the anisotropy is limited to the top 4 00 km of the mantle (olivine stability field), these data suggest the follo wing spatial distribution of anisotropy. For the above-slab component, as o ne goes from east (where *KS reflects the above-slab component) to west, ph i changes from E-W to N-S, and delay times are substantially reduced. This change may mark the. transition from the Brazilian craton to actively defor ming (E-W shortening) Andean mantle. We see no evidence for the strain fiel d expected for either corner flow or shear in the mantle wedge associated w ith relative plate motion. The small delay times for above-slab paths in th e west require the existence of significant, spatially varying below-slab a nisotropy to explain the *KS results. The implied anisotropic pattern below the slab is not easily explained by a simple model of slab-entrained shear flow beneath the plate. Instead, flow induced by the retrograde motion of the slab, in combination with local structural variations, may provide a be tter explanation.