Patricia A. McCrory

Cascadia subducting plate fluids channelled to fore-arc mantle corner: ETS and silica deposition

In this study we first summarize the constraints that on the Cascadia subduction thrust, there is a 70 km gap downdip between the megathrust seismogenic zone and the Episodic Tremor and Slip (ETS) that lies further landward; there is not a continuous transition from unstable to conditionally stable sliding. Seismic rupture occurs mainly offshore for this hot subduction zone. ETS lies onshore. We then suggest what does control the downdip position of ETS. We conclude that fluids from dehydration of the downgoing plate, focused to rise above the fore-arc mantle corner, are responsible for ETS. There is a remarkable correspondence between the position of ETS and this corner along the whole margin. Hydrated mineral assemblages in the subducting oceanic crust and uppermost mantle are dehydrated with downdip increasing temperature, and seismic tomography data indicate that these fluids have strongly serpentinized the overlying fore-arc mantle. Laboratory data show that such fore-arc mantle serpentinite has low permeability and likely blocks vertical expulsion and restricts flow updip within the underlying permeable oceanic crust and subduction shear zone. At the fore-arc mantle corner these fluids are released upward into the more permeable overlying fore-arc crust. An indication of this fluid flux comes from low Poissons Ratios (and Vp/Vs) found above the corner that may be explained by a concentration of quartz which has exceptionally low Poissons Ratio. The rising fluids should be silica saturated and precipitate quartz with decreasing temperature and pressure as they rise above the corner.

Relationship between the Cascadia fore-arc mantle wedge, nonvolcanic tremor, and the downdip limit of seismogenic rupture

Great earthquakes anticipated on the Cascadia subduction fault can potentially rupture beyond the geodetically and thermally inferred locked zone to the depths of episodic tremor and slip (ETS) or to the even deeper fore-arc mantle corner (FMC). To evaluate these extreme rupture limits, we map the FMC from southern Vancouver Island to central Oregon by combining published seismic velocity structures with a model of the Juan de Fuca plate. These data indicate that the FMC is somewhat shallower beneath Vancouver Island (36–38 km) and Oregon (35–40 km) and deeper beneath Washington (41–43 km). The updip edge of tremor follows the same general pattern, overlying a slightly shallower Juan de Fuca plate beneath Vancouver Island and Oregon (∼30 km) and a deeper plate beneath Washington (∼35 km). Similar to the Nankai subduction zone, the best constrained FMC depths correlate with the center of the tremor band suggesting that ETS is controlled by conditions near the FMC rather than directly by temperature or pressure. Unlike Nankai, a gap as wide as 70 km exists between the downdip limit of the inferred locked zone and the FMC. This gap also encompasses a ∼50 km wide gap between the inferred locked zones and the updip limit of tremor. The separation of these features offers a natural laboratory for determining the key controls on downdip rupture limits.

Upper plate contraction north of the migrating Mendocino triple junction, northern California: Implications for partitioning of strain

Geologic measurement of permanent contraction across the Cascadia subduction margin constrains one component of the tectonic deformation along the convergent plate boundary, the component critical for the seismic hazard assessment of crustal faults. A comprehensive survey of active faults in onshore subduction margin rocks at the southern end of the Cascadia subduction zone indicates that these thrust faults accommodate ∼10 mm/yr of convergence oriented 020°–045°. Seismotectonic models of subduction zones typically assign this upper plate strain to the estimate of aseismic slip on the megathrust. Geodetic models include this permanent crustal strain within estimates of elastic strain accumulation on the megathrust. Both types of models underestimate the seismic hazard associated with crustal faults. Subtracting the observed contraction from the plate convergence rate (40–50 mm/yr; directed 040°–055°) leaves 30–40 mm/yr of convergence to be partitioned between slip on the megathrust, contraction within the southern Juan de Fuca plate, and crustal contraction outside the subduction complex rocks. This simple estimate of slip partitioning neglects the discrepancy between the plate convergence and contraction directions in the vicinity of the Mendocino triple junction. The San Andreas and Cascadia limbs of the Mendocino triple junction are not collinear. The eastern edge of the broad San Andreas boundary is ∼85 km east of the Cascadia subduction boundary, and across this zone the Pacific plate converges directly with the North America plate. The skewed orientation of crustal structures just north of the leading edge of the Pacific plate suggests that they are deforming in a hybrid stress field resulting from both Juan de Fuca-North America motion and Pacific-North America motion. The composite convergence direction (50 mm/yr; directed 023°) is consistent with the compressive stress axis (020°) inferred from focal mechanisms of crustal earthquakes in the Humboldt region. Deformation in such a hybrid stress field implies that the crustal faults are being loaded from two major tectonic sources. The slip on crustal faults north of the Mendocino triple junction may consume 4–5 mm/yr of Pacific-Humboldt convergence. The remaining 17–18 mm/yr of convergence may be consumed as distributed shortening expressed in the high rates of uplift in the Cape Mendocino region or as northward translation of the continental margin, north of the triple junction.

Tectonic model explaining divergent contraction directions along the Cascadia subduction margin, Washington

Differential motion across the central Cascadia subduction boundary in Washington results in a complex pattern of folds and faults within the shelf and onshore parts of the accretionary margin. Faults and folds above a coastal, north-northwest–trending thrust system provide evidence of ongoing subduction-related contraction. South of this coastal thrust system many fold axes and thrust faults trend east-northeast, in the direction of convergence. These structures are not consistent with a simple subduction system undergoing northeastward convergence. This deformation, adjacent to the boundary between the subduction complex and the Siletz terrane, may be driven by relative convergence between the northward-translating Siletz terrane and the subduction complex. The regional pattern of modern uplift rates is consistent with ongoing north-south contraction across this boundary and the north-south compressional stress field in the area.

Cascadia subduction tremor muted by crustal faults

Deep, episodic slow slip on the Cascadia subduction megathrust of western North America is accompanied by low-frequency tremor in a zone of high fluid pressure between 30 and 40 km depth. Tremor density (tremor epicenters per square kilometer) varies along strike, and lower tremor density statistically correlates with upper plate faults that accommodate northward motion and rotation of forearc blocks. Upper plate earthquakes occur to 35 km depth beneath the faults. We suggest that the faults extend to the overpressured megathrust, where they provide fracture pathways for fluid escape into the upper plate. This locally reduces megathrust fluid pressure and tremor occurrence beneath the faults. Damping of tremor and related slow slip caused by fluid escape could affect fault properties of the megathrust, possibly influencing the behavior of great earthquakes.

Marine terrace deformation, san diego county, California

Abstract The NW—SE trending southern California coastline between the Palos Verdes Peninsula and San Diego roughly parallels the southern part and off-shore extension of the dominantly right-lateral, strike-slip, Newport—Inglewood fault zone. Emergent marine terraces between Newport Bay and San Diego record general uplift and gentle warping on the northeast side of the fault zone throughout Pleistocene time. Marine terraces on Soledad Mt. and Point Loma record local differential uplift (maximum 0.17 m/ka) during middle to late Pleistocene time on the southwest side of the fault (Rose Canyon fault) near San Diego. The broad Linda Vista Mesa (elev. 70–120 m) in the central part of coastal San Diego County, previously thought to be a single, relatively undeformed marine terrace of Plio—Pleistocene age, is a series of marine terraces and associated beach ridges most likely formed during sea-level highstands throughout Pleistocene time. The elevations of the terraces in this sequence gradually increase northwestward to the vicinity of San Onofre, indicating minor differential uplift along the central and northern San Diego coast during Pleistocene time. The highest, oldest terraces in the sequence are obliterated by erosional dissection to the northwest where uplift is greatest. Broad, closely spaced (vertically) terraces with extensive beach ridges were the dominant Pleistocene coastal landforms in central San Diego County where the coastal slope is less than 1% and uplift is lowest. The beach ridges die out to the northwest as the broad low terraces grade laterally into narrower, higher, and more widely spaced (vertically) terraces on the high bluffs above San Onofre where the coastal slope is 20–30% and uplift is greatest. At San Onofre the terraces slope progressively more steeply toward the ocean with increasing elevation, indicating continuous southwest tilt accompanying uplift from middle to late Pleistocene time. This southwest tilt is also recorded in the asymmetrical valleys of major local streams where strath terraces occur only on the northeast side of NW—SE-trending valley segments. The deformational pattern (progressively greater uplift to the northwest with slight southwest tilt) recorded in the marine and strath terraces of central and northern coastal San Diego County conforms well with the historic pattern derived by others from geodetic data. It is not known how much of the Santa Ana structural block (between the Newport—Inglewood and the Elsinore fault zones) is affected by this deformational pattern.