Crust-mantle decoupling beneath Afar revealed by Rayleigh-wave tomography.

The Afar triple junction accustoms the diverging plate dynamics between the Arabian, Nubian, and Somalian plates along the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and East African rifts. The average anisotropy obtained from shear-wave splitting measurements agrees with the surface motion recovered by geodetic analyses. However, the vertical layering of anisotropy in this region is yet to be accurately determined. Here, we use earthquake seismic data to map Rayleigh-wave azimuthal anisotropy in the crust and lithospheric mantle beneath the East African Rift System. Our results suggest that a layering of anisotropy is present around the East African Rift System. At shorter periods that sample the crust, rift-parallel anisotropy is present in the vicinity of the rift, but in the central part of the rift, rift-normal anisotropy is found. At longer periods, sampling the lithospheric mantle, the anisotropic pattern is quite different. These observations suggest that the crust and lithospheric mantle are mechanically decoupled beneath the environs of the East African Rift System. Similarly, these results suggest complex dynamics within the crust and lithosphere in the region of the Afar triple junction.

Rayleigh-wave dispersion reveals crust-mantle decoupling beneath eastern Tibet.

The Tibetan Plateau results from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian Plates during the Cenozoic, which produced at least 2,000 km of convergence. Its tectonics is dominated by an eastward extrusion of crustal material that has been explained by models implying either a mechanical decoupling between the crust and the lithosphere, or lithospheric deformation. Discriminating between these end-member models requires constraints on crustal and lithospheric mantle deformations. Distribution of seismic anisotropy may be inferred from the mapping of azimuthal anisotropy of surface waves. Here, we use data from the CNSN to map Rayleigh-wave azimuthal anisotropy in the crust and lithospheric mantle beneath eastern Tibet. Beneath Tibet, the anisotropic patterns at periods sampling the crust support an eastward flow up to 100°E in longitude, and a southward bend between 100°E and 104°E. At longer periods, sampling the lithospheric mantle, the anisotropic structures are consistent with the absolute plate motion. By contrast, in the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons, the direction of fast propagation remains unchanged throughout the period range sampling the crust and lithospheric mantle. These observations suggest that the crust and lithospheric mantle are mechanically decoupled beneath eastern Tibet, and coupled beneath the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons.