The style of convective force transmission to plates and
strain-localization within and underneath plate boundaries remain
debated. To address some of the related issues, we analyze a range of
deformation indicators in southern California from the surface to the
asthenosphere. Present-day surface strain rates can be inferred from
geodesy. At seismogenic crustal depths, stress can be inferred from
focal mechanisms and splitting of shear waves from local earthquakes via
crack-dependent seismic velocities. At larger depths, constraints on
rock fabrics are obtained from receiver function anisotropy, Pn and P
tomography, surface wave tomography, and splitting of SKS and other
teleseismic core phases. We construct a synthesis of deformation-related
observations focusing on quantitative comparisons of deformation style.
We find consistency with roughly N-S compression and E-W extension near
the surface and in the asthenospheric mantle. However, all lithospheric
anisotropy indicators show deviations from this pattern. Pn fast axes
and dipping foliations from receiver functions are fault-parallel with
no localization to fault traces and match post-Farallon block rotations
in the Western Transverse Ranges. Local shear wave splitting inferences
deviate from the stress orientations inferred from focal mechanisms in
significant portions of the area. We interpret these observations as an
indication that lithospheric fabric, developed during Farallon
subduction and subsequent extension, has not been completely reset by
present-day transform motion and may influence the current deformation
behavior. This provides a new perspective on the timescales of
deformation memory and lithosphere-asthenosphere interactions.