Seismic properties of lawsonite eclogites from the southern Motagua fault zone, Guatemala

Daeyeong Kim, Simon Wallis, Shunsuke Endo, Jin Han Ree

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    14 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We present new data on the crystal preferred orientation (CPO) and seismic properties of omphacite and lawsonite in extremely fresh eclogite from the southern Motagua fault zone, Guatemala, to discuss the seismic anisotropy of subducting oceanic crust. The CPO of omphacite is characterized by (010)[001], and it shows P-wave seismic anisotropies (AVP) of 1.4%-3.2% and S-wave seismic anisotropies (AVS) of 1.4%-2.7%. Lawsonite exhibits (001) planes parallel to the foliation and [010] axes parallel to the lineation, and seismic anisotropies of 1.7%-6.6% AVP and 3.4%-14.7% AVS. The seismic anisotropy of a rock mass consisting solely of omphacite and lawsonite is 1.2%-4.1% AVP and 1.8%-6.8% AVS. For events that propagate more or less parallel to the maximum extension direction, X, the fast S-wave velocity (VS) polarization is parallel to the Z in the Y-Z section (rotated from the X-Z section), causing trench-normal seismic anisotropy for orthogonal subduction. Based on the high modal abundance and strong fabric of lawsonite, the AVS of eclogites is estimated as ~11.7% in the case that lawsonite makes up ~75% of the rock mass. On this basis, we suggest that lawsonite in both blueschist and eclogite may play important roles in the formation of complex pattern of seismic anisotropy observed in NE Japan: weak trench-parallel anisotropy in the forearc basin domains and trench-normal anisotropy in the backarc region.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)88-98
    Number of pages11
    JournalTectonophysics
    Volume677-678
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2016 May 23

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    The authors appreciate the technical support of T. Nagaya in performing the EBSD analyses. Special thanks to Dr. Bjarne Almqvist and an anonymous reviewer for constructive comments that greatly develop our manuscript. This research was largely funded by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to SW ( 24244079 ), with partial funding by grants from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea (NRF- 2014R1A1A2056836 ) and KOPRI projects ( PM15030 and PE16050 ).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

    Keywords

    • Crystal preferred orientation (CPO)
    • Eclogite
    • Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD)
    • Lawsonite
    • Seismic anisotropy
    • Subducting oceanic crust

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Geophysics
    • Earth-Surface Processes

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