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Mantle Deformation Beneath India Inferred from Shear Wave Splitting

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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

We attempt to synthesize the mantle deformation patterns beneath India by assembling ∼2500 published shear wave splitting measurements from more than 350 broadband seismic stations. On a continental scale, the delay times are clustered around 0.8s, with the fast polarization azimuths (FPAs) predominantly oriented parallel to the absolute plate motion (APM) direction. This can be attributed to basal shear due to the interaction between the lithosphere and asthenosphere. In addition, the FPAs reveal a significant deviation from the APM from south to north. This deviation is analysed in four sub-regions namely northeast (NE), north, central and south India. In the NE and northern India, the deviation is attributed to the Indo-Eurasian collision tectonics. In NE India, the deviation from APM is found to be parallel to the strike of the orogens, suggesting coherent deformation in the upper mantle. In central India, the deviation from APM is attributed to frozen anisotropy associated with widespread magmatism in the Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP), paleo rifting and collisional events in the eastern Indian shield. The deviation is stronger in southern India than in central or northern India, primarily in the DVP, Western Dharwar Craton and northern part of Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT). This probably reflects the lithospheric evolution process in the mid-to-late-Archean, continental rifting in the western and eastern margins, ocean closure and subduction in the northern part of SGT. Back azimuthal variation in the splitting measurements in southern India suggests layered anisotropy and/or variation among different blocks.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Director, CSIR-NGRI for his invitation to write this article. We sincerely thank Prof. Harsh Gupta and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments. The CSIR-NGRI reference number of the manuscript is NGRI/Lib/2021/Pub-35.

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    Sunil K. Roy, M. Ravi Kumar & D. Srinagesh

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Roy, S.K., Kumar, M.R. & Srinagesh, D. Mantle Deformation Beneath India Inferred from Shear Wave Splitting. J Geol Soc India 97, 1200–1206 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-021-1849-1

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