Crustal Seismic Anisotropy and Structure from Textural and Seismic Investigations in the Cycladic Region, Greece

Abstract

In the first article, the seismic properties for a suite of rocks along the West Cycladic Detachment System (Greece) are calculated, using Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements and the minerals’ elastic stiffness tensors. Muscovite and glaucophane well defined crystallographic preferred orientation increases the seismic anisotropy. Maximum Pwave velocities have the same orientation as the Miocene extension and maximum S-wave anisotropy is subhorizontal, parallel with mineral alignment, suggesting strong radial anisotropy with a slow subvertical axis of symmetry. In the second article, teleseismic receiver functions are calculated for an array of stations in the Cyclades and decomposed into back-azimuth harmonics to visualise the variations in structure and anisotropy across the array. Synthetic receiver functions are modeled using the first order structural observations of seismic discontinuities and EBSD data. They indicate 5% of anisotropy with slow symmetry axis in the upper crust, and demonstrate the importance of rock textural constraints in seismic velocity profile interpretation.