S U M M A R YThe convergence between the Nazca and South America tectonic plates generates a seismically active backarc region near 31 • S. Earthquake locations define the subhorizontal subducted oceanic Nazca plate at depths of 90-120 km. Another seismic region is located within the continental upper plate with events at depths <35 km. This seismicity is related to the Precordillera and Sierras Pampeanas and is responsible for the large earthquakes that have caused major human and economic losses in Argentina. South of 33 • S, the intense shallow continental seismicity is more restricted to the main cordillera over a region where the subducted Nazca plate starts to incline more steeply, and there is an active volcanic arc. We operated a portable broadband seismic network as part of the Chile-Argentina Geophysical Experiment (CHARGE) from 2000 December to 2002 May. We have studied crustal earthquakes that occurred in the back arc and under the main cordillera in the south-central Andes (29 • S-36 • S) recorded by the CHARGE network. We obtained the focal mechanisms and source depths for 27 (3.5 < M w < 5.3) crustal earthquakes using a moment tensor inversion method. Our results indicate mainly reverse focal mechanism solutions in the region during the CHARGE recording period. 88 per cent of the earthquakes are located north of 33 • S and at middle-to-lower crustal depths. The region around San Juan, located in the western Sierras Pampeanas, over the flat-slab segment is dominated by reverse and thrust fault-plane solutions located at an average source depth of 20 km. One moderate-sized earthquake (event 02-117) is very likely related to the northern part of the Precordillera and the Sierras Pampeanas terrane boundary. Another event located near Mendoza at a greater depth (∼26 km) (event 02-005) could also be associated with the same ancient suture. We found strike-slip focal mechanisms in the eastern Sierras Pampeanas and under the main cordillera with shallower focal depths of ∼5-7 km. Overall, the western part of the entire region is more seismically active than the eastern part. We postulate that this is related to the presence of different pre-Andean geological terranes. We also find evidence for different average crustal models for those terranes. Better-fitting synthetic seismograms result using a higher P-wave velocity, a smaller average S-wave velocity and a thicker crust for seismic ray paths travelling through the crust of the western Sierras Pampeanas (Vp = 6.2-6.4 km s −1 , Vp/Vs > 1.80, th = 45-55 km) than those of the eastern Sierras Pampeanas (Vp = 6.0-6.2 km s −1 , Vp/Vs < 1.70, th = 27-35 km). In addition, we observed an apparent distribution of reverse crustal earthquakes along the suture that connects those terranes. Finally, we estimated average P and T axes over the CHARGE period. The entire region showed P-and T-axis orientations of 275 • and 90 • , plunging 6 • and 84 • , respectively.

[1] We examine shear wave splitting in teleseismic phases to observe seismic anisotropy in the South American subduction zone. Data is from the CHARGE network, which traversed Chile and western Argentina across two transects between 30°S and 36°S. Beneath the southern and northwestern parts of the network, fast polarization direction (j) is consistently trench-parallel, while in the northeast j is trench-normal; the transition between these two zones is gradual. We infer that anisotropy sampled by teleseismic phases is localized within or below the subducting slab. We explain our observations with a model in which eastward, Nazca-entrained asthenospheric flow is deflected by retrograde motion of the subducting Nazca plate. Resulting southward flow through this area produces N-S j observed in the south and northwest; E-W j result from interaction of this flow with the local slab geometry producing eastward mantle flow under the actively flattening part of the slab.

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Although fault‐bounded thrust sheets are common in the geological record, seismic evidence for their motion is sparse. The April 29, 1991, Racha earthquake (Ms = 7.0), the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in the Greater Caucasus, is one of the largest recent earthquakes in continental thrust belts and provides evidence on mechanisms of thrust sheet motion. Using data from a deployment of Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL) digital seismographs and various other instruments, we locate 1952 aftershocks occurring between May 7 and June 30, 1991. The aftershocks form a zone ∼70 km long and 10–25 km wide striking E‐W, following the Racha ridge at the southern boundary of the Greater Caucasus thrust system. Teleseismic body waves are inverted for source parameters of the mainshock and the two largest aftershocks. The solutions show thrust faulting with centroid depths of 3–10 km, comparable to depths of locally recorded aftershocks (∼2–12 km). The shallow‐dipping nodal plane, the aftershock distribution, and surface geology demonstrate that the main event was caused by faulting on a thrust system dipping NNE at 20°–31° bounding the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus. This fault system thrusts the Greater Caucasus structures south over the Dzhirula basement massif. The inferred fault geometry suggests that the active fault is either a detachment between sediments and Dzhirula basement or cuts through the basement at shallow depths. The 1500‐m‐high Racha ridge overlies the aftershock zone and is a likely consequence of repeated similar earthquakes. Hence the 1991 earthquake sequence shows that the western Greater Caucasus is accommodating plate convergence at a rate possibly comparable to the eastern Greater Caucasus (a few millimeters per year). Along‐strike geological discontinuities above and below the thrust surface correspond to the eastern end of the mainshock rupture area. No strong evidence for transfer structures could be found along strike, suggesting that differences in collisional style between the western and eastern Greater Caucasus may reflect differences in mechanical properties rather than differences in convergence rate. A June 15, 1991, event and its aftershocks, southeast of the primary aftershock zone along strike, show fault planes and slip vectors rotated ∼41° clockwise from the mainshock. This rotation is consistent with an along‐strike change in direction of the thrust front, near 44°E longitude, and demonstrates strong local structural or topographic control on slip direction. The rotation requires along‐strike shortening within the Greater Caucasus thrust system at a rate comparable to the rate of thrusting.

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