Progress of seismological research in Antarctica region

This paper gives a comprehensive review on the progress and current status of seismic research in Antarctica region, including summary of the applied seismic techniques and obtained results. Firstly, we introduce the seismic activity in Antarctica and surrounding area, then we talk about the crust and upper mantle structure constructed by surface wave and body wave inversion. Finally, the seismic anisotropic structures inferred from Rayleigh wave and shear wave splitting in Antarctica are reviewed. These studies have revealed that the seismicity level and earthquake magnitude of the Antarctic plate are relatively low, and obvious seismic activity were only observed at Transantarctic Mountain, Victoria Land, Adelie Land and Wilkes Land. The Transantarctic Mountain divides the Antarctic plate into two different tectonic units, with the crust and upper mantle of West Antarctica having lower seismic velocity and East Antarctica showing higher velocity. Significant seismic anisotropy has also been detected beneath the whole Antarctic plate and the anisotropy strength of the West Antarctica is higher than that of East Antarctica.