Distribution of hydrous minerals in the subduction system beneath Mexico

Abstract

Teleseismic converted phases are used to probe the composition of the downgoing oceanic crust as a function of depth along the Cocos slab in central and southern Mexico. Previously, modeling of the receiver function (RF) conversion amplitude of the flat Cocos slab beneath central Mexico at 45 km depth revealed a thin low-velocity upper oceanic crust of a thickness of 4 ± 1 km, which has much lower seismic velocities (∼20–30% reduction in shear wave velocities) than (normal) lower crust. High Vp/Vs ratio (∼2.0) also suggested a large concentration of hydrous minerals such as talc in combination of high pore-fluid pressure in the horizontal segment. We extend this previous effort to examine seismic properties of both the steeply subducting Cocos oceanic crust beneath the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) in central Mexico and the shallowly dipping crust beneath southern Mexico. Inverted seismic velocities using the converted amplitudes at the top and bottom of the dipping oceanic crust are compared with experimentally constrained seismic velocities of candidate mineral phases in a range of likely pressures and temperatures. The composition of the oceanic crust downdip in the steep part of slab beneath the TMVB includes the minerals such as lawsonite and zoisite at 60–100 km depth, and the eclogitization occurs around 100 km depth. This is related to arc volcanism in the TMVB directly above the slab as well as the slab rollback. In contrast, the dominant mineral phase in the upper oceanic crust of southern Mexico beneath the Isthmus of Tehauntepec is amphibole on top of unaltered gabbroic oceanic crust. The difference in mineral assemblages of the subducted oceanic crust may help explain the difference in slab geometries between central and southern Mexico.