Seismic Anisotropy in the Earth

Structural geologists are well aware of the fact that isotropic rocks are quite exceptional in nature. Whicheverorigin, sedimentary, metamorphicormagmatic, rocks are shaped with a plane of mineral flattening, the foliation in geologists' jargon, and with a line ofmineral elongation, the lineation. Just like a good quarryman, a trained structural geologistwill detectapreferredorientationin an apparently isotropic granite. Preferred mineral orientation and thus structural anisotropy are the r...