Published November 2011
| Published
Journal Article
Open
Evidence of a collision between the Yucatán Block and Mexico in the Miocene
Abstract
We present the evidence for an anomalous southwest-dipping slab in southern Mexico. The main evidence comes from a clear receiver function image along a seismic line across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and is also supported by a previous global tomographic model. The slab dips at 35°, is approximately 250 km in length and appears to truncate the Cocos slab at about 120 km depth. We hypothesize that the slab was created by subduction of oceanic lithosphere prior to the collision of the Yucatán Block with Mexico at approximately 12 Ma. This scenario would explain the Chiapas Fold and Thrust Belt as the product of this collision, and its age constrains the date of the event to be in the Miocene.
Additional Information
© 2011 The Authors. Geophysical Journal International © 2011 RAS. Accepted 2011 August 10. Received 2011 July 29; in original form 2011 June 1. Article first published online: 15 Sep. 2011. This study was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through the Tectonics Observatory at California Institute of Technology (Contribution number 131) and NSF award EAR 0609707. We thank Xyoli Pérez-Campos, Arturo Iglesias and others at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México for deploying and maintaining the VEOX line. We also thank Servicio Sismológico Nacional (SSN) of Mexico for data and Oscar Alberto Castro Artola for the relocated seismicity from the VEOX line. We also thank Joann Stock from California Institute of Technology for discussions. Finally, we thank Editor Christine Thomas and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments which improved the manuscript.Attached Files
Published - Kim2011p16521Geophys_J_Int.pdf
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Kim2011p16521Geophys_J_Int.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 28512
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20111219-095119813
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- EAR-0609707
- NSF
- Created
-
2011-12-20Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Caltech Tectonics Observatory, Seismological Laboratory, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
- Other Numbering System Name
- Caltech Tectonics Observatory
- Other Numbering System Identifier
- 131