SKS SPLITTING BENEATH CONNECTICUT: CONSTRAINTS FROM THE SEISCONN ARRAY

The crustal structure of eastern North America was created during two supercontinent cycles over the past 1.35 billion years. The Mesoproterozoic Grenville orogenic cycle culminated in the supercontinent Rodinia. Neoproterozoic rifting of Rodinia created a passive eastern Laurentian margin. The Paleozoic Appalachian orogenic cycle ended with the supercontinent Pangea. Mesozoic rifting formed the present eastern North American passive margin. The present structure of the crust and mantle lithosphere beneath eastern North America preserves evidence of this complicated tectonic history, and new geophysical datasets are shedding light on this structure. The Seismic Experiment for Imaging Structure beneath Connecticut (SEISConn) consisted of 15 broadband seismometers deployed (between 2015 and 2019) across northern Connecticut at ~10-15 km station spacing. Here we present preliminary results from the analysis of SKS splitting using data from SEISConn stations. Shear wave splitting results from seismic anisotropy in the upper mantle, which in turn reflects the deformation of the lithosphere during past tectonic processes.