Laura S. MacKenzie

Imaging the source region of Cascadia tremor and intermediate-depth earthquakes

The subduction of hydrated oceanic crust releases volatiles that weaken the plate boundary interface, trigger earthquakes, and regulate transient phenomena such as episodic tremor and slip (ETS). It is not clear how dehydration can separately induce earthquakes within the subducting plate and ETS, partly because few data exist on their relationship to subduction zone structures. We present results of a seismic experiment in the Washington Cascades, United States, that images a region producing both earthquake types. Migration of scattered teleseis-mic waves provides images of low-velocity subducting crust at depths <40–45 km with sharp boundaries above and below it. The sharp upper boundary indicates a layer of weak sediment or an overpressured fault zone that terminates abruptly downdip at 40–45 km depth. Regular earthquakes are at the top of the mantle within the downgoing plate everywhere the plate is <95 km deep, but ETS only exists where the sharp upper boundary occurs. The ETS location supports models of slow slip that require near-lithostatic fluid pressure, whereas regular earthquakes nucleate closer to the origin of metamorphic dehydration. Very low shear stresses on the plate boundary may limit seismicity to ETS and similar phenomena.

Seismic tomography and earthquake locations in the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican upper mantle

The Central American subduction zone exhibits large variations in geochemistry, downgoing plate roughness and dip, and volcano locations over a short distance along the arc. Results from joint inversions for Vp, Vp/Vs, and hypocenters from the Tomography Under Costa Rica and Nicaragua (TUCAN) experiment give insight into its geometry and structure. In both Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the intermediate-depth seismic zone is a single layer no more than 10 to 20 km thick. Tomographic images show that throughout Nicaragua and Costa Rica the slowest mantle P wave velocities appear below and behind the volcanic front, indicating likely zones of highest temperature extending 80 to 120 km depth. A sheet of high Vp/Vs, thought to be caused by melt, is imaged directly beneath the Nicaraguan volcanoes, whereas a weaker, broader anomaly is imaged beneath the Costa Rican volcanoes, potentially indicating a greater extent of melting beneath Nicaragua. Within the downgoing plate, anomalously low velocities occur at least 20–30 km below Wadati-Benioff zone seismicity, to depths of 140 km beneath Nicaragua and to 60 km depth beneath Costa Rica. They indicate 10–20% serpentinized upper mantle of the downgoing plate beneath Nicaragua, similar to that inferred from refraction seaward of the trench, but continuing to subarc depths. This unusually hydrated lithosphere may introduce more water into the Nicaraguan mantle, initiating increased amount of melting and fluid flux to the arc.

Crustal structure along the southern Central American volcanic front

Subduction alters continents several ways, including accretion, magmatic addition, mantle wedge serpentinization, and crustal differentiation. These changes affect seismic velocities, so characterizing upper plate crust establishes a baseline for composition and continental growth. Teleseismic P and PP arrivals from a temporary deployment of broadband seismometers in Central America have been used to estimate crustal thickness and Vp/Vs ratio from receiver functions and to image crust across the active arc. Crustal thickness ranges from 25 to 44 km with formal errors of 1.6–9.2 km. The thinnest crust (24.6 ± 3.5 km) lies directly beneath the Nicaraguan arc, whereas the thickest crust lies in the Nicaraguan back arc (43.5 ± 2.5 km) and beneath the Costa Rican arc (37.9 ± 5.2 km). Crustal structure and Vp/Vs show sharp transitions at terrane boundaries. The Moho exhibits strong velocity contrasts throughout the study area of ∼0.5–1.0 km/s, even beneath arc and fore arc, precluding extensive serpentinization or ponded melt below the Moho. Crust is thicker beneath the Costa Rican arc, consistent with 10–23 km3/km/Ma crustal growth. The crust is thinner by 11–18 km beneath the large depression in central Nicaragua, with the thinnest crust beneath the arc. There, the relationship between thin crust, arc location, and deeper seismic velocities suggests that upper plate structure plays a critical role in focusing magma to the surface.