Confidential manuscript submitted to Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems

1 Mantle deformation in Eastern Himalaya, Burmese arc and

2 adjoining regions

3 Dipankar Saikia1 ,M. Ravi Kumar2,3 ,Arun Singh4 ,Sunil K. Roy2 , P. Solomon Raju2

4
1 Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad, India

5
2 CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India
6
3 Institute of Seismological Research, Gandhinagar
7
4 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

8 Key Points:

9 • Shear wave splitting

10 • Upper mantle anisotropy

11 • deformation

Corresponding author: M. Ravi Kumar, mravingri@gmail.com

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 Confidential manuscript submitted to Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems

12 Abstract

13 This study presents new results of shear wave splitting at 56 broadband stations in-
14 stalled in the eastern Himalaya, Burmese arc and adjoining regions. The fast polarization

15 directions (FPDs) within the Himalaya, Burmese Arc and the foredeep are parallel to the
16 strike of the orogens, suggesting a coherently deformed lithospheric mantle under compres-
17 sion. The FPDs follow the Main Boundary Thrust and the Main Central Thrust in the central
18 segment of Arunachal Himalaya. Null measurements in the Siang window may be due to In-

19 dian plate interaction with Eurasia and Burma plates, causing different layers of anisotropic
20 fabric. Another possibility is the coincidence of source polarization direction with the fast
21 axis. In the Bengal Basin, the Nulls could be due to annihilation of frozen anisotropy in the

22 downwelling Indian lithosphere and the APM related strain or a highly heterogeneous mantle
23 affected by Kereguelen plume magmatism at ∼116 Ma.

24 1 Introduction

25 Shear wave splitting measurements are frequently used to decipher mantle deformation

26 patterns of a region with a lateral resolution of <50 km [Savage, 1999]. Traditionally, split-
27 ting in core refracted phases (SKS, SKKS, PKS) is analysed to estimate azimuthal anisotropy
28 in terms of fast polarization direction (φ) and delay time (δt) that reflects the strength of
29 anisotropy. Global observations of azimuthal anisotropy are primarily explained based on

30 the Absolute Plate Motion (APM) related strain caused due to shear at the base of the litho-
31 sphere [Vinnik et al., 1989] or frozen anisotropy in the cool lithospheric mantle due to the
32 last significant tectonic event [Silver and Chan, 1991]. These simplistic models fail to local-
33 ize the anisotropic signatures with depth, since the core refracted phases sample a long path

34 from the core-mantle boundary to the seismic station. However, the dominant source is ex-
35 pected to lie within the lithospheric or sub-lithospheric mantle, since olivine deformed by
36 diffusion creep at depths >200 km [Savage, 1999] does not generate anisotropy [Karato and

37 Wu, 1993].

38 During the past few decades, shear wave splitting analysis resulted in a plethora of
39 measurements spanning diverse tectonic environments in various continents [Wüstefeld et al.,

40 2008]. In the Indian sub-continent, more than 1000 individual splitting parameters using
41 SKS/SKKS waves and 231 using direct S waves are obtained from various studies (Singh
42 et al. [2006], northeast Himalaya; Singh et al. [2007], Sikkim Himalaya; Kumar and Singh

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43 [2008], Indian shield; Oreshin et al. [2008], western Himalaya; Heintz et al. [2009], Indian
44 shield; Kumar et al. [2010], Godavari Graben; Saikia et al. [2010], Indian shield; Mandal
45 [2011], northwest India; Roy et al. [2012], eastern Dharwar craton; Rao et al. [2013], north-
46 west Deccan Volcanic Province, Hazarika et al. [2013], northeast India; Roy et al. [2014],

47 northern and northeast India; Kumar et al. [2015], southern India; [Mandal, 2016], Singhb-
48 hum Craton and Roy et al. [2016], northern southern granulite terrain). While a dominance
49 of APM related strain is revealed beneath the Indian Shield, the observed fast-axis orienta-

50 tions in the Himalaya are parallel to the strike of the orogen. However, the Nepal Himalaya
51 shows different characteristics, where the plate motion related strain seems prevalent [Kumar
52 and Singh, 2010].

53 Although a lot of SK(K)S splitting measurements are now available from the Indian
54 shield, the northeast India region still remains less explored. The few SKS/SKKS measurem-
55 nts from earlier studies [Singh et al., 2006; Hazarika et al., 2013; Roy et al., 2014] fail to
56 capture the full-scale deformation pattern of its diverse tectonic units. The region is com-

57 posed of the eastern Himalaya and its foredeep (Assam Valley), Shillong plateau, Mikir hills,
58 the Burmese arc region and the Bengal Basin (Fig. 1). The tectonics of northeast India in-
59 cluding Arunachal Himalaya, is complex due to the interplay of the India-Eurasia and India-
60 Burma plate motions, which form a junction at the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis (EHS) [Cur-

61 ray, 1989]. While the northern portion of the region is marked by a collision environment
62 involving the Indian and Eurasian plates resulting in the formation of the gigantic Himalayan
63 mountains, the eastern margin is characterized by subduction of the Indian plate beneath the

64 Burma plate [Ni et al., 1989], whose continuation is a matter of debate.

70 This paper presents the first results of shear wave anisotropy of the Arunachal Hi-
71 malaya using data from a new, temporary network of seismic stations operated by the Na-

72 tional Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad and in other regions of the north-
73 east India using data from permanent stations of the national network. Results from this
74 study fill crucial gaps in understanding the mantle flow patterns in the northeastern part of
75 the Indian plate.

76 2 Shear Wave Splitting Measurements

77 We performed shear wave splitting analysis of core refracted phases (SKS,SKKS and
78 PKS) using waveforms recorded at 55 (VERIFY) broadband seismic stations of three net-

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70˚ 80˚ 90˚ 100˚

40˚
EURASIA

Tibet
30˚

INDIA
20˚
30˚
10˚

29˚ ITSZ

AL
28˚ A CH
UN
GTK
BHUTAN AR DIBR
LKP
MCT
27˚ ITAN
MBT
JORH
MFT
TEZP MOKO
GUWA
26˚ DHUB

eg
KOHI

an
TURA SHL
SP

eR
JAFL
25˚

es
Dauki Fault SUST

urm
IMP
MPUR
BARL SILR

o-B
SKPR
24˚

Ind
MANK AGT
AZL

Bangladesh BELO
23˚

SAIH

22˚

88˚ 89˚ 90˚ 91˚ 92˚ 93˚ 94˚ 95˚ 96˚ 97˚

65 Figure 1. Distribution of seismic stations in northeast India used for shear wave splitting measure-

66 ments.along with the major tectonic features in the region: MH, Mikir Hills; SP, Shillong Plateau; MFT,

67 Main Frontal Thrust; MBT, Main Boundary Thrust; MCT, Main Central Thrust; ITSZ, Indus-Tsangpo Su-

68 ture Zone; SW, Siang Window; EHS, Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis. Arunanchal Network, red filled triangle;

69 BanglaQuake Network, light blue filled triangle; North East India Network, blue filled traingle

79 works in the Arunachal Himalaya, other parts of northeast India and Bangladesh, spanning
80 different tectonic units (Fig. 1). The Arunachal Himalaya network, comprising 32 closely

81 located stations between the eastern margin of Bhutan and the Siang Window, is being oper-
82 ated by NGRI, Hyderabad since 2010. The National Center for Seismology is maintaining
83 the northeast network of 18 stations well distributed in the Assam foredeep and the Indo-
84 Burmese arc, since 2011. We analyzed data from these two networks till 2016. The Bangla

85 Quake network in Bangladesh was operated by the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO),
86 Columbia University during 2007 and 2010. We used data from 6 broadband stations of this
87 network.

93 For shear wave splitting analysis, we selected waveforms within the epicentral dis-
94 tance range of 85◦ to 130◦ for SKS phases, 90◦ to 150◦ for SKKS phases and 129◦ to 150◦

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30˚
SW
ITSZ

MCT
28˚
p
ee
ed
F or
MBT
s am
MFT As

eg
26˚

an
eR
es
urm
o-B
Bangladesh
24˚

Ind
22˚ 1s

88˚ 90˚ 92˚ 94˚ 96˚

88 Figure 2. Epicentral distribution of earthquake events used for shear wave splitting measurements. The

89 green circles, red triangles and blue squares represent events for which SKS, SKKS and PKS phases are

90 analysed respectively.

95 for PKS phases. The epicentral locations of the events used in this study are shown in Fig-
96 ure S1. The splitting parameters, fast polarization direction (φ) and delay time (δt), are es-
97 timated by employing the minimization of transverse component energy [Silver and Chan,

98 1991] (SC) and the rotation-correlation (RC) methods [Bowman and Ando, 1987] simulta-
99 neously, using the SplitLab software package [Wüstefeld et al., 2008]. The measurement
100 window around the predicted arrival of the particular phase of interest was selected manually.
101 A bandpass filter with cutoff frequencies at 0.05 Hz and 0.25 Hz was applied to all the mea-

102 surements to enhance the signal to noise ratio. On very few occasions, we adjusted the upper
103 and lower cutoff frequencies to achieve optimal results. The splitting results that are similar
104 from the application of the SC and RC methods are only retained. All the results are visu-

105 ally inspected and ranked as “good” and “fair” based on the 95% confidence region, signal
106 to noise ratio and linearity of the particle motion after correction. Typically, a “good” mea-
107 surement has 95% confidence regions of up to roughly ±20◦ in φ and ±0.5s in δt and “fair”
108 measurements up to roughly ±30◦ in φ and ±1.0s in δt. SK(K)S/PKS arrivals that have good

109 signal-to-noise ratios and linear or very nearly linear uncorrected particle motion are classi-
110 fied as “Null” measurements and ranked as “good” or “fair” quality based on the linearity of

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34˚

32˚

30˚ TIBET
HIM
28˚ A LA
YA

26˚

24˚ INDIA BANGLA

DESH
MYANMAR
22˚

20˚
76˚ 78˚ 98˚ 100˚
80˚ 82˚ 84˚ 86˚ 88˚ 90˚ 92˚ 94˚ 96˚

91 Figure 3. Example plot showing (a) good splitting measurement from PKS phase for the seismic station

92 MIGN (b) good “Null” measurement from SKS phase at station BAGR located in the Siang Window.

111 the uncorrected particle motion. Examples of good splitting measurements at stations MIGN
112 and a “Null” measurement at station BAGR are shown in Figure S2.

113 3 Results

114 A total of 236 well constrained individual splitting measurements and 356 “Null” mea-
115 surements are obtained in this study. The 236 measurements comprise 166 SKS, 4 sSKS, 29
116 SKKS and 37 PKS phases. The individual splitting and null measurements plotted at the sta-
117 tion locations are shown in Figure 2 and Figure S3. Results clearly show complex patterns

118 of anisotropy with relatively smaller delay times (<1s), than observed globally. Although
119 significant variations are observed in the delay times, a coherency is seen in the FPDs. For
120 example, the FPDs at stations in the vicinity or within the Himalaya and the Burmese Arc

121 regions are parallel to the strike of the mountain belts. The individual splitting measurements
122 are presented in Table S1.

127 The variation in the anisotropic behavior of a region can be best observed by exam-

128 ining the splitting parameters obtained from events recorded at multiple stations. We found
129 three such events from the southeastern backazimuth, mainly recorded by the Arunachal Hi-
130 malaya network. The event 2013.116 is recorded at 13 stations, out of which 7 show splitting
131 and 6 are “Null”. Similarly, event 2014.033 results in 7 splitting and 7 “Null” measurements

132 and the event 2014.085, results in 7 splitting and 10 “Null” measurements. The delay times
133 for these three events vary from 0.4 s to 1.4 s, and the FPDs are mainly oriented in the E-W

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30˚
SW
ITSZ

MCT
28˚
p
ee
ed
F or
MBT m
sa
MFT As

ge
26˚

an
eR
es
urm
o-B
Bangladesh
24˚

Ind
22˚ 1s

88˚ 90˚ 92˚ 94˚ 96˚

123 Figure 4. Individual splitting measurements plotted at the station locations. Blue bars represent measure-

124 ments from SKS phase, green bars represent measurements from SKKS and cyan bars represent measure-

125 ments from PKS phases obtained in this study, while brown bars represent measurements from previous

126 studies. The lengths of the bars are proportional to δt and their orientations are along φ.

134 and ENE-WSW directions. These events from the southeastern backazimuth reveal splitting
135 mainly in the western part of Arunachal Himalaya and to the north of the Siang Window.

136 The stations located in the eastern and central parts show predominantly “Null” measure-
137 ments, except for a few stations that show splitting, like station TABA, which shows a very
138 small delay time for the event 2014.085.

139 In the eastern and central parts of Arunachal Himalaya, the splitting is mainly observed
140 in SKKS and PKS phases. The events used for PKS splitting analysis are mostly from the
141 north-northeastern back azimuth, while those for SKKS are mainly from the southeastern

142 backazimuth, with a very few from the north-northeastern and southwestern back azimuths.
143 The strike of the Himalayan mountain belt gradually changes from E-W to N-E from west to
144 east. Since most of the SKS events are from a close back azimuthal range of 100◦ to 130◦ ,
145 the observation of a significant number of “Null” measurements might be due to the coin-

146 cidence of source polarization, with the fast or slow axis of anisotropy. Interestingly, a few
147 stations in the Siang window, directly south of the Eastern Himalayan syntaxis, show “Null”

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34˚

32˚

30˚ TIBET
HIM
28˚ A LA
YA

26˚

24˚ INDIA BANGLA

DESH
MYANMAR
22˚

20˚
76˚ 78˚ 98˚ 100˚
80˚ 82˚ 84˚ 86˚ 88˚ 90˚ 92˚ 94˚ 96˚

155 Figure 5. All splitting measurements obtained in this study plotted (red bars) along with measurements

156 from previous studies (light blue bars)in the surrounding region.

148 measurements from multiple backazimuths. In the Burmese Arc, the FPDs are in accordance
149 with the arc curvature, which varies from N-S direction in the southern part to NE direction
150 in the northern part. Also, the delay times vary from 0.4 to 2.1 s and tend to cluster around

151 1.5 s. Seismic stations located in the Bengal Basin also show clear null results. The results
152 suggest a significant local variation in the study region. Based on the coherency of splitting
153 parameters, we divide the study region into six sub-regions, for which the splitting results are

154 presented in detail, in the supplementary text.

157 4 Discussion

158 4.1 Strike Parallel Flow/Deformation

159 In orogenic belts, pervasive ductile deformation of the lithosphere and mantle flow

160 parallel to the strike, result in strike parallel fast polarization directions [Vauchez and Nico-
161 las, 1991]. The global observation shows that for continents the FPDs tend to be correlated
162 with the local tectonic fabric in the crust beneath the stations [Silver, 1996]. In Arunachal

163 Himalaya, a transition of FPDs from E-W to NE and then to ENE-WSW and E-W from west
164 to east, is observed, parallel to the strike (Fig. 2). This can be best explained in terms of a
165 coherently deformed lithospheric mantle under the compressional effects ensuing from the
166 collision between India and Asia. A comparison between the predicted continuous surface

167 deformation field and the shear wave splitting directions in the eastern Himalayan syntaxis
168 shows an average misfit as low as 11.7◦ [Chang et al., 2015]. Chang et al. [2015] argued in

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169 favor of a coherently deformed lithosphere, which requires a vertical stress coupled through
170 the lithosphere, to generate the same deviatoric stress in the crust and mantle. Holt [2000]
171 suggested that the correlation of crustal and mantle strain field beneath Tibet is due to the
172 alignment of FPDs with the zones of crustal shear.

173 The oblique convergence between India and Eurasia best explains the variation in ve-
174 locity and topography of the collision boundary [Soofi and King, 2002; Styron et al., 2011].
175 The active plate convergence rate is higher for the eastern Himalaya, resulting in a higher

176 degree of deformation [Wang, 2001; Burgess et al., 2012]. GPS observations show that the
177 northern part of the Indian plate is moving in two different directions [Wang, 2001]. While
178 the eastern part is moving in a northeastern direction, the western part is moving in the north-

179 ward direction. The strike parallel FPDs observation in the Arunachal Himalaya could be
180 associated with extension due to the deformation induced by high convergence rate and
181 plate motion in the northeastward direction. The observed FPDs orientation are parallel to
182 the shear directions of the active crustal deformation. The FPDs obtained from the core-

183 refracted phases should be parallel to the shear direction in the mantle [Mainprice and Silver,
184 1993; Zhang and Karato, 1995]. This suggests for the correlation of the present-day crustal
185 and mantle strain. However, we cannot rule out the possible contribution from the astheno-
186 sphere. For the Indian shield, the FPDs are aligned in the APM direction, implying source of

187 anisotropy lies in the asthenosphere and lithosphere [Heintz et al., 2009]. Chen et al. [2015]
188 also suggest that anisotropy in southern Tibet, is caused by asthenospheric flow beneath the
189 downgoing Indian plate.

190 The fast axis orientations in the Burmese Arc follow the arc curvature, orientated along
191 the NS direction in the southern part and NE direction in the northern part (Fig. 2). Larger
192 delay times compared to those in the Eastern Himalaya and the foredeep plains might reflect

193 contribution from both the lithosphere and the asthenosphere, where the flow is probably
194 parallel to the arc curvature. In the middle part of the Burmese Arc, small delay times and
195 variation in the orientation of the FPDs is seen. A possible reason for this could be tearing
196 of the slab, due to which the asthenosphere flows through the tear zone along with the up-

197 welling asthenosphere flow, resulting in small delay time and variation in the anisotropic
198 orientation. Russo [2012] suggest asthenospheic flow as the main source of anisotropy be-
199 neath the Burmese Arc. The fast axis orientations in the foredeep plains are mostly oriented

200 in ENE-WSW direction. This might be due to the compression effect of the Indo-Eurasian
201 collision [Singh et al., 2006; Roy et al., 2014]. The direction of anisotropy in the Arunachal

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202 Himalaya and its foredeep is in accordance with the finite deformation, in which the orienta-
203 tion of FPDs are aligned in the principal axis of elongation [Davis et al., 1997].

204 4.2 Null or Negligible Anisotropy

205 The Null splitting measurements represent an isotropic lithospheric mantle, multiple
206 layers of anisotropy with strong heterogeneities or initial polarization direction coinciding
207 with the FPDs [Saltzer et al., 2000]. Various studies using SKS/SKKS measurements ob-

208 served null or negligible anisotropy beneath southern Tibet [Huang et al., 2000; Chen et al.,
209 2010; Sandvol et al., 1997]. The majority of null or negligible anisotropic measurements are
210 confined to specific regions of southern Tibet between MCT and ITSZ [Chen et al., 2010].

211 The onset of seismic anisotropy north of ITSZ is interpreted as the southern limit of the
212 Eurasian lithospheric mantle [Chen et al., 2010], with a highly anisotropic tectonic fabric.
213 The main mechanism which explains null or negligible anisotropy in southern Tibet is sub-
214 vertical mantle shear strain produced by the downwelling Indian lithosphere [Sandvol et al.,

215 1997]. Significant seismic anisotropy observed beneath southern Tibet using data from long
216 running stations like LHSA [Gao and Liu, 2009] or splitting of direct S-waves [Singh et al.,
217 2016a] has been interpreted in terms of complex patterns of anisotropy. Models of azimuthal
218 anisotropy derived from surface wave tomography reveal multi-layered anisotropy beneath

219 India and Tibet [Wei et al., 2013; Pandey et al., 2015]. Also, variations in P-wave azimuthal
220 anisotropy in regions showing null measurements in southern Tibet are explained in terms of
221 multiple layers of anisotropy [Wei et al., 2013].

225 In the present study, null measurements are dominant in the Bengal Basin and the
226 Siang Window (Fig. S3). The Siang region is under the influence of subduction along both
227 the Himalaya and Burmese Arc regions. The possibility of a complex anisotropic pattern

228 due to subduction of the Indian plate downwelling beneath Tibet and Burma may result in
229 different layers of anisotropic fabric with completely different orientations. Variation of az-
230 imuthal anisotropy observed from tomographic studies indicate presence of multi-layered
231 fabric beneath northeast India and Burma [Wei et al., 2013; Pandey et al., 2015]. Another

232 possibility is the coincidence of source polarization direction with the dominant FPDs, since
233 most of the seismic events are from a narrow backazimuthal range of 100-125◦ and E-W
234 FPDs coinciding with the backazimuth of the source may result in smaller delays. The ob-

235 servations from Bengal Basin are interesting. The APM related strain is observed north of
236 Bengal Basin, west of the Shillong Plateau (Fig. 2). However, most of the region south of it

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30˚
SW
ITSZ

MCT
28˚

p
MBT e dee
MFT For
am
Ass

e
26˚

ng
Ra
e
es
urm
o-B
24˚

Ind
Bangladesh

22˚
88˚ 90˚ 92˚ 94˚ 96˚

222 Figure 6. Null measurements plotted at the individual station locations. The orientation of the bars is along

223 the backazimuth of the earthquake events while their colors, blue, green and cyan represent measurements

224 from SKS, SKKS and PKS phases respectively.

237 in the Bengal Basin reveals null splitting. Null measurements in Himalaya may reflect can-
238 cellation of anisotropy caused by APM related flow (NE) and compressional effects of the
239 Himalaya (EW). A similar situation may prevail in the Bengal Basin where two different

240 mechanisms, frozen anisotropic fabric developed due to the downwelling Indian lithosphere
241 beneath the Burmese arc and APM related strain of the Indian plate are producing nulls. An-
242 other strong possibility is a disturbed and highly heterogeneous mantle lithosphere beneath
243 the Bengal Basin under the effect of the Kereguelen plume magmatism at ∼116 Ma [Singh

244 et al., 2016b].

245 4.3 Variations across Himalaya

246 In the study area, the FPDs are mostly parallel to the strike of the Indo-Eurasian colli-
247 sion zone or the Indo-Burma subduction zone. However, such a correlation is not observed

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248 in the western and central parts of Himalaya (Fig. 3). There is a distinct variation in the fast
249 axis azimuths from the western part to the eastern part of Himalaya and to its north in south-
250 ern Tibet. In the western Himalaya and western Tibet, the FPDs are mainly oriented in the
251 NE, ENE-WSW and EW directions (Fig. 3). The FPDs are orthogonal to the Himalaya-

252 Karakorum ranges [Heintz et al., 2009]. Herquel and Tapponnier [2005] interpreted the
253 ENE-WSW orientation in western Tibet in terms of crustal shear. In the Kashmir and Ladakh
254 Himalaya segments, Oreshin et al. [2008] have reported two different patterns across a N-

255 S profile. The southern stations, south of STDZ (Southern Tibet Detachment Zone) have
256 N-E FPDs, probably reflecting the influence of Indian plate motion, while the E-W FPDs ob-
257 served in the north are ascribed to frozen tectonic fabrics of the extinct subduction zones in
258 the region [Oreshin et al., 2008]. In the central Himalaya, the FPDs are mostly oriented in

259 the NE and ENE-WSW directions (Fig. 3) [Singh et al., 2007; Heintz et al., 2009]. Drastic
260 changes occur to the east, from Sikkim Himalaya [Singh et al., 2007], where mantle defor-
261 mation is along the strike of the Himalayan mountain belt. The trend continues further east

262 into Bhutan [Singh et al., 2007] and Arunachal Himalaya [this study] (Fig. 3).

263 For Arunachal Himalaya, the FPDs are in accordance with arc-parallel extension (Fig.
264 2) [Styron et al., 2011]. However, the orientation of FPDs in the western and central Hi-
265 malaya are not in accordance with the arc-parallel extension, although GPS results reveal

266 arc-parallel extension in these regions [Styron et al., 2011]. The deformation pattern for the
267 western and central Himalaya is mainly correlated with the absolute plate motion (APM) of
268 the Indian plate and/or the Indo-Eurasian collision tectonics [Singh et al., 2006, 2007; Heintz

269 et al., 2009; Roy et al., 2014]. The compression rate being smaller in the western part might
270 result in the small degree of deformation compared to the eastern part of the Himalaya. In
271 the western and central Himalaya, the anisotropic orientations could reflect a transition phase
272 towards arc-parallel extension. Thus, the observed variation of anisotropy along the Hi-

273 malayan arc might be associated with extension due to the deformation induced by differ-
274 ent convergence rates and the two distinct plate motion orientations in the northern part of
275 the Indian plate. Lithospheric thickness variations revealed in the tomographic images and

276 receiver functions suggest diïňĂerent styles of subduction and drastic changes in the litho-
277 spheric thickness along various segments of the Himalaya [Devi et al., 2011; Kumar et al.,
278 2006; Li et al., 2008; Singh et al., 2014; Van Der Voo et al., 1999]. The complex geodynam-
279 ics where lithospheric and sub-lithospheric mantle may deform diïňĂerently will result in

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280 variations in FPDs and strengths of anisotropy, as the case for the Himalaya-Tibet collision
281 zone.

282 As we move further closer to the eastern syntaxis and Burmese arc, the fast axis az-

283 imuths follow the same pattern (Singh et al. [2006] and present study). The Siang Window
284 in Arunachal Himalaya produced null anisotropy, possibly due to multilayered anisotropy
285 resulting from change in flow patterns at diïňĂerent depths. This region is close to the East-
286 ern Himalayan syntaxis, where lithospheric material escaping from Tibet undergoes drastic

287 changes in the flow direction from E-W to NS, as evident from surface geology. However,
288 since a few seismic stations show E-W dominance further east [Hazarika et al., 2013], it
289 could be the eïňĂect of APM related flow of Indian plate and lithospheric deformation in-
290 troduced due to compressional eïňĂects resulting from the collision in the region. Based

291 on source side splitting observations, Russo [2012]] reported intermittent flows across the
292 Burmese Arc, which could be a plausible source to explain E-W dominance for few seis-
293 mic stations located in the close vicinity of the Burmese Arc. Significant lateral variations

294 all along the Himalayan collision zone support varied strain fields active in its different seg-
295 ments.

296 5 Conclusions

297 New results of shear wave splitting in the eastern Himalaya, Burmese arc and adjoin-
298 ing regions reveal coherent fast polarisation directions (FPDs), parallel to the strike of the
299 orogens. These strike parallel FPDs can be best explained in terms of a coherently deformed
300 lithospheric mantle under the compressional effects ensuing from the collision between In-

301 dia and Asia. Null measurements in regions like the Siang window may reflect a complex
302 anisotropic pattern due to Indian plate interaction with the Eurasia and Burma plates, causing
303 diïňĂerent layers of anisotropic fabric with completely diïňĂerent orientations. Alterna-

304 tively, the source polarization direction could be coinciding with the fast axis. Null directions
305 in the Bengal Basin could be due to two diïňĂerent mechanisms, namely, frozen anisotropic
306 fabric developed due to the downwelling Indian lithosphere beneath the Burmese Arc and
307 APM related strain of the Indian plate, annihilating each other. A disturbed and highly het-

308 erogeneous mantle lithosphere beneath the Bengal Basin under the eïňĂect of the Keregue-
309 len plume magmatism is also a strong possibility.

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310 Acknowledgments
311 We thank V. Venkatesh, Yugun Kumar for field support and D. Srinagesh and N. Purnachan-
312 dra Rao for help in planning and execution of the project. This work has been performed
313 under the GENIAS project of CSIR-NGRI.

314 References

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