We calibrated the magnitude and symmetry of seismic anisotropy for 132 mica‐ or amphibole‐bearing metamorphic rocks to constrain their departures from transverse isotropy (TI) which is usually assumed in the interpretation of seismic data. The average bulk V_p anisotropy at 600 MPa for the chlorite schists, mica schists, phyllites, sillimanite‐mica schists, and amphibole schists examined is 12.0%, 12.8%, 12.8%, 17.0%, and 12.9%, respectively. Most of the schists show V_p anisotropy in the foliation plane which averages 2.4% for phyllites, 3.3% for mica schists, 4.1% for chlorite schists, 6.8% for sillimanite‐mica schists, and 5.2% for amphibole schists. This departure from TI is due to the presence of amphibole, sillimanite, and quartz. Amphibole and sillimanite develop strong crystallographic preferred orientations with the fast c axes parallel to the lineation, forming orthorhombic anisotropy with V_p(X) > V_p(Y) > V_p(Z). Effects of quartz are complicated, depending on its volume fraction and prevailing slip system. Most of the mica‐ or amphibole‐bearing schists and mylonites are approximately transversely isotropic in terms of S wave velocities and splitting although their P wave properties may display orthorhombic symmetry. The results provide insight for the interpretation of seismic data from the southeast Tibetan Plateau. The N‐S to NW‐SE polarized crustal anisotropy in the Sibumasu and Indochina blocks is caused by subvertically foliated mica‐ and amphibole‐bearing rocks deformed by predominantly compressional folding and subordinate strike‐slip shear. These blocks have been rotated clockwise 70–90° around the east Himalayan Syntaxis, without finite eastward or southeastward extrusion, in responding to progressive indentation of India into Asia.

This study presents a unique database of 172 plagioclase Crystallographic Preferred Orientations (CPO) of variously deformed gabbroic rocks. The CPO characteristics as a function of the deformation regime (magmatic or crystal-plastic) are outlined and discussed. The studied samples are dominantly from slow- and fast-spread present-day ocean crust, as well as from the Oman ophiolite. Plagioclase is the dominant mineral phase in the studied samples. Plagioclase CPOs are grouped into three main categories: Axial-B, a strong point alignment of (010) with a girdle distribution of [100]; Axial-A, a strong point maximum concentration of [100] with parallel girdle distributions of (010) and (001); and P-type, point maxima of [100], (010), and (001). A majority of CPO patterns are Axial-B and P-type, in samples showing either magmatic or crystal-plastic deformation textures. Axial-A CPOs are less common; they represent 21% of the samples deformed by crystal-plastic flow. Although fabric strength (ODF J index) does not show any consistent variation as a function of the CPO patterns, there is a significant difference in the relationship between the ODF and pole figures J indices; the magmatic type microstructures have high (010) pole figures J indices, which increase linearly with ODF J index, whereas the high [100] pole figures J indices of plastically deformed samples vary in a more scattered manner with ODF J index. The multistage nature of plastic deformation superposed on a magmatic structure compared with magmatic flow, and the large number of possible slip-systems in plagioclase probably account for these differences. Calculated seismic properties (P wave and S wave velocities and anisotropies) of plagioclase aggregates show that anisotropy (up to 12% for P wave and 14% for S wave) tends to increase as a function of ODF J index. In comparison with the olivine 1998 CPO database, the magnitude of P wave anisotropy for a given J index is much less than olivine, whereas it is similar for S wave anisotropy. Despite a large variation of fabric patterns and geodynamic setting, seismic properties of plagioclase-rich rocks have similar magnitudes of anisotropy. There is a small difference in the aggregate elastic symmetry, with magmatic microstructures having higher orthorhombic and hexagonal components, whereas plastic deformation microstructures have a slightly higher monoclinic component, possibly correlated with predominant monoclinic simple shear flow in plastically deformed samples. Overall, plots for CPO strength (ODF J index), pole figure strength, CPO symmetry and seismic anisotropy show significant scattering. This could be related to sampling statistics, although our database is a factor of ten higher than the olivine database of 1998, or it could be related to the low symmetry (triclinic) structure of plagioclase resulting in the addition of degrees of freedom in the processes creating the CPOs.

Investigations of the Mantle Transition Zone (MTZ; 410–660 km deep) by deformation experiments and geophysical methods suggest that the MTZ has distinct rheological properties, but their exact cause is still unclear due to the lack of natural samples. Here we present the first direct evidence for crystal-plastic deformation by dislocation creep in the MTZ using a chromitite from the Luobusa peridotite (E. Tibet). Chromite grains show exsolution of diopside and SiO₂, suggesting previous equilibration in the MTZ. Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis reveals that olivine grains co-existing with exsolved phases inside chromite grains and occurring on chromite grain boundaries have a single pronounced crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO). This suggests that olivine preserves the CPO of a high-pressure polymorph (wadsleyite) before the high-pressure polymorph of chromite began to invert and exsolve. Chromite also shows a significant CPO. Thus, the fine-grained high-pressure phases were deformed by dislocation creep in the MTZ. Grain growth in inverted chromite produced an equilibrated microstructure during exhumation to the surface, masking at first sight its MTZ deformation history. These unique observations provide a window into the deep Earth and constraints for interpreting geophysical signals and their geodynamic implications in a geologically robust context.

A dense network of seismic stations has been deployed across the northeast Japan arc to investigate mantle wedge structures. To attain independent petrophysical constraints, we determined the seismic properties of Ichinomegata mantle xenoliths from the back‐arc region that were brought to the surface from the mantle lithosphere by volcanic eruptions. We calculated the seismic properties of the xenoliths from olivine and pyroxene crystal‐preferred orientations and single crystal elastic constants. The small magnitude of measured S‐wave splitting (delay time of 0.22 s in the area where the xenoliths were entrained) can be explained by the average seismic properties of mantle xenoliths for an approximately 20‐km thick horizontal anisotropic layer, indicating that the mantle lithosphere could be one of the dominant sources of seismic anisotropy; this layer is possibly related to deformation in the uppermost mantle lithosphere due to back‐arc spreading along the northeast Japan arc.