Imaging the Eastern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Veracruz Basin with Ambient Seismic noise and Earthquake Body Waves
Abstract
The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) is a prominent and enigmatic feature of the subduction system in Mexico. Its volcanic style diversity and oblique orientation to the trench are explained by the large along-strike variations in the subduction parameters of the Rivera and Cocos plates. However, the abrupt termination of the TMVB on its eastern end with the Pico de Orizaba volcano is puzzling as the current slab model suggests that the transition of the Cocos flat-slab geometry to normal subduction is smooth through this region. There is evidence that suggests that a tear in the slab might be developing, but it is unclear how this feature can support the unusually large topographic gradient that connects the volcanic high peaks with the Veracruz basin just south of the volcanic front. To provide further insight into the transition anatomy of this portion of the slab, and its relation with surface topography, we present a detailed and unified model of the structure of the crust and uppermost mantle built from fundamental-mode Rayleigh and Love surface waves, and high-quality arrival-time data of regional and teleseismic earthquakes. The anisotropic behavior of the subsurface of this region and its relation with present and past flow of material is also quantified and integrated into the model to explain the tectonic evolution of this area.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFM.T23F0670C
- Keywords:
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- 1242 Seismic cycle related deformations;
- GEODESY AND GRAVITY;
- 7215 Earthquake source observations;
- SEISMOLOGY;
- 8123 Dynamics: seismotectonics;
- TECTONOPHYSICS;
- 8180 Tomography;
- TECTONOPHYSICS