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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2025-1231</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Seismic anisotropy under Zagros foreland from SKS splitting observations</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Motaghi</surname>
<given-names>Khalil</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2653-5188</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kaviani</surname>
<given-names>Ayoub</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5818-1594</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Abdulnaby</surname>
<given-names>Wathiq</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7337-8993</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Mahdi</surname>
<given-names>Hanan</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Al-Shukri</surname>
<given-names>Haydar</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Department of Earth Sciences, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan 45137-66731, Iran</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Institute of Geosciences, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Seismological Laboratory of University of Basrah (SLUB), Department of Geology, College of Science,  University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), Little Rock, Arkansas, US</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>28</day>
<month>04</month>
<year>2025</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2025</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>27</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2025 Khalil Motaghi et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2025</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1231/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1231/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1231/egusphere-2025-1231.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1231/egusphere-2025-1231.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>We present SK[K]S splitting measurements from 18 newly deployed seismic stations in the foreland of the Zagros collision zone, providing new insights into asthenospheric flow and lithospheric deformation associated with the Arabian-Eurasian continental collision. Our results reveal two distinct fast-axis orientations: NE-SW in northern Iraq and NW-SE in the Mesopotamian Plain and Persian Gulf. The NE-SW anisotropy in northern Iraq aligns with fast-axis orientations observed in the Iranian-Anatolian Plateau and the azimuth of absolute plate motion, indicating large-scale asthenospheric flow as the primary influence across the northern Middle East. In contrast, the NW-SE anisotropy in the Mesopotamian Plain and Persian Gulf, characterized by smaller splitting times, parallels previously reported Pn anisotropy, suggesting a contribution from lithospheric mantle anisotropy, likely a remnant of past rifting. The influence of asthenospheric flow on the observed seismic anisotropy in this region appears minor. These findings refine our understanding of mantle dynamics and lithosphere-asthenosphere interactions in the Zagros collision zone.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="27"/></counts>
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