Subduction of the Rivera Plate Beneath the Jalisco Block as Imaged by Magnetotelluric Data

Two magnetotelluric profiles perpendicular to the trench provide information on the subduction of the Rivera plate under the Jalisco Block (JB). The geometry of the subducting slab is inferred by the anomalous conductor on the top of the profile in the central part of the JB. High-conductivity zones (< 50 ohm-m) at depths shallower than 10 km are associated to dewatering of the oceanic crust below the accretion prism in the SW portion of the profile. Away from the coast, observed upper crustal conductors (< 10 km) are interpreted as partial melt related to the Central Jalisco Volcanic Lineament. The source of the crustal conductor in the central part of the MT profile, ~150 km inland and down to depths of 40 km is interpreted as a region of interconnected fluids associated with the metamorphic dehydration of the oceanic plate. Contrasting resistivity at the mantle wedge at depths below 40 km suggest to us that hot mantle material may be migrating upwards, mixing with dehydration reaction products. Across Bahia de Banderas fault (BBF) zone subduction appears to stop or to occur closer to the trench at a steeper angle. The conductivity image at the NW edge of JB reveals no downwards dipping plate but an extended conductor apparently rising from depths > 40 km. Our results supports the mantle upwelling theory as an explanation to the reported 1.5 km uplift of the central part of the Jalisco Block, and the Rivera plate discontinuity across the BBF zone as suggested by seismicity data.