Shear-Wave Splitting from Teleseismic Arrivals at Seismic Stations in the Basin and Range and the Transition to the San Andreas Fault, California

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This research is to further develop and document the phenomenon of shear-wave splitting due to anisotropy, a topic that has important implications for plate tectonics and models of the earth. The work will map the alignment of olivine in the mantle beneath the Basin and Range and eastward to the San Andreas Fault. This will allow the researchers to examine the transition between the transform regime in California and the extension beneath the Basin and Range, and the relation between the styles of past and present extension in the Basin and Range. The technique involves analyzing shear-wave splitting from recordings of S, SKS, and ScS phases of earthquakes at teleseismic distances to measure the velocity anisotropy of the mantle and possibly the crust. Shear-wave splitting may be a diagnostic in the process of preparation of earthquakes and this research is therefore a contribution to the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program.