In many parts of the global plates,including subduction zones,mid-ocean ridges and even the interior of the continental plates,seismic anisotropy has a certain correlation with image of absolute plate motion( APM),or is in accord with the predominant direction of the intraplate stress field. In our study,a statistical analysis is done on the correlations of plate motion with seismic anisotropy as well as a stress field within nine plate boundaries which contain major subduction zones in the globe. Results indicate that absolute or relative plate motion( RPM) controls the seismic anisotropy and stress field of the plate boundary,which is especially obvious for the RPM. It can also be inferred that the correlation of RPM is better than that of APM. Because of the complexity of subduction mechanism and diversity of controlling factors at plate boundaries containing subduction zones,the correlation becomes much complex. Sources of anisotropy at various depths show different characteristics,and stress state is controlled by many factors,thus further discussions on the correlations are required.
Subduction zones can generally be classified into Mariana type and Chilean type depending on plate ages,plate thicknesses, subduction angles, back-arc deformation patterns, etc. The double seismic zones(DSZs) in subduction zones are mainly divided into type I and type II which, respectively, correspond to the Mariana type and Chilean type in most cases. Seismic anisotropy is an important parameter characterizing the geophysical features of the lithosphere, including the subduction zones,and can be described by the two parameters of delay time dt and fast wave polarization direction /. We totally collected 524 seismic anisotropy data records from 24 DSZs and analyzed the statistical correlations between seismic anisotropy and the related physical parameters of DSZs.Our statistical analysis demonstrated that the fast wave polarization directions are parallel to the trench strike with no more than 30° for most type I DSZs, while being nearlyperpendicular to the trench strike for type II DSZs. We also calculated roughly linear correlations that the delay time dt increases with dip angles but decreases with subduction rates. A linear equation was summarized to describe the strong correlation between DSZ's subduction angle aDSZ and seismic anisotropy in subduction zones. These results suggest that the anisotropic structure of the subducting lithosphere can be described as a possible equivalent crystal similar to the olivine crystal with three mutually orthogonal polarization axes, of which the longest and the second axes are nearly along the trench-perpendicular and trench-parallel directions, respectively.
