Martian seismic anisotropy underneath Elysium Planitia revealed by direct S wave splitting

TL;DR

This study uses low-frequency marsquake data from InSight to detect shear wave splitting, revealing significant seismic anisotropy in Mars's deeper crust or mantle beneath Elysium Planitia, indicating complex geological structures.

Contribution

First direct observation of shear wave splitting in Mars using marsquake records, indicating deep seismic anisotropy and potential active mantle processes.

Findings

Shear wave splitting observed in three marsquake recordings.

Seismic anisotropy likely exists deeper than 10 km beneath InSight.

Implication of porous crust with aligned cracks or mantle plume activity.

Abstract

Seismic anisotropy, arising from the crystallographic or lattice-preferred orientation of anisotropic minerals or the shape-preferred orientation of melts or cracks, can establish a critical link between Mars's past evolution and its current state. So far, although seismic anisotropy in Mars has been proposed due to different velocities of vertically and horizontally polarized shear waves in the Martian crust, obtained from crustal converted waves, multiples, and surface waves recorded by the InSight seismometer, the evidence is plausible. Notably, the shear wave splitting, which stands out as a straight indicator of seismic anisotropy, has not been reported using marsquake records. In this study, we employ Low-frequency marsquakes detected by the InSight seismometer to reveal shear wave splitting in Mars. We find that the direct S waves of three marsquake recordings (S0173a, S0235b, and S1133c) with high signal-to-noise ratios exhibit the splitting pheonmenon. We rule out the possibility of apparent anisotropy through synthetic tests, affirming the presence of seismic anisotropy in Mars. The delay time (about 1.33 s on average) measured from the direct S wave splitting is too large to be solely attributed to the seismic anisotropy in the upper crust (0 - 10 km) beneath the InSight. Thus, seismic anisotropy in the deeper region of Mars is indispensable. Combined with other geophysical evidence near the InSight landing site, the strong seismic anisotropy observed in this study implies the porous crust with aligned cracks being greater than 10 km beneath the InSight and/or the presence of an active mantle plume underneath the Elysium Planitia of Mars.