Based on analysis of data from a trans‐Mexico temporary broadband seismic network centered on Mexico City, we report that the subducting Cocos Plate beneath central Mexico is horizontal, and tectonically underplates the base of the crust for a distance of 250 km from the trench. It is decoupled from the crust by a very thin low viscosity zone. The plate plunges into the mantle near Mexico City but is truncated at a depth of 500 km, probably due to an E‐W propagating tear in the Cocos slab. Unlike the shallow slab subduction in Peru and Chile, there is active volcanism along the Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) that lies much further inland than regions to either side where subduction dip is not horizontal. Geodynamical modeling indicates that a thin weak layer such as imaged by the seismic experiment can explain the flat subduction geometry.

Geodetic measurements from a network of permanent GPS stations along the Pacific coast of Mexico reveal a large “silent earthquake” along the segment of the Cocos‐North American plate interface identified as the Guerrero seismic gap. The event began in October of 2001 and lasted for 6–7 months. Average slip of ∼10 cm produced measurable displacements over an area of ∼550 × 250 km2. The equivalent moment magnitude of the event was Mw ∼ 7.5. Recognition of this and previous slow event here indicate that the seismogenic portion of the plate interface is not loading steadily, as hitherto believed, but is rather partitioning the stress buildup with episodic, as opposed to steady‐state or periodic, slip downdip of the seismogenic zone. This process increases the stress at the base of the seismogenic zone, bringing it closer to failure. These results call for a reassessment of the seismic potential of Guerrero and other seismic gaps in Mexico.

Seismic mapping suggests that silent earthquakes may be related to an ultralow velocity layer on top of a subducting slab.

The network of strong motion accelerographs in Mexico includes instruments that were installed, under an international cooperative research program, in sites selected for the high potenial of a large earthquake. The 19 September 1985 earthquake (magnitude 8.1) occurred in a seismic gap where an earthquake was expected. As a result, there is an excellent descripton of the ground motions that caused the disaster.

A great earthquake (surface-wave magnitude, 7.8) occurred along the coast of central Chile on 3 March 1985, causing heavy damage to coastal towns. Intense foreshock activity near the epicenter of the main shock occurred for 11 days before the earthquake. The aftershocks of the 1985 earthquake define a rupture area of 170 by 110 square kilometers. The earthquake was forecast on the basis of the nearly constant repeat time (83 +/- 9 years) of great earthquakes in this region. An analysis of previous earthquakes suggests that the rupture lengths of great shocks in the region vary by a factor of about 3. The nearly constant repeat time and variable rupture lengths cannot be reconciled with time- or slip-predictable models of earthquake recurrence. The great earthquakes in the region seem to involve a variable rupture mode and yet, for unknown reasons, remain periodic. Historical data suggest that the region south of the 1985 rupture zone should now be considered a gap of high seismic potential that may rupture in a great earthquake in the next few tens of years.

[1] We take advantage of a relatively dense network of seismic stations in the Guerrero segment of the Mexican subduction zone to study seismicity and state of stress in the region. We combine our results with recent observations on the geometry of the subducted Cocos plate imaged from receiver function (RF) analysis, an ultraslow velocity layer mapped in the upper crust of the subducted slab, and episodic slow slip events (SSEs) and nonvolcanic tremors (NVTs) reported in the region to obtain a comprehensive view of the subduction process. Seismicity and focal mechanisms confirm subduction of the Cocos plate below Mexico at a shallow angle, reaching a depth of 25 km at a distance of 65 km from the trench. The plate begins to unbend at this distance and becomes horizontal at a distance of $120 km at a depth of 40 km. Some of the highlights of the inslab seismicity are as follows: (1) A cluster of earthquakes in the depth range of 25-45 km, immediately downdip from the strongly coupled part of the plate interface, revealing both downdip compressional and extensional events. This seismicity extends from $80 to 105 km from the trench and may be attributed to the unbending of the slab. (2) The slab devoid of seismicity in the distance range of $105-160 km. (3) Sparse inslab seismicity revealing downdip extension in the distance range of 160-240 km. The NVTs are also confined to this distance range. The episodic SSEs occur on the horizontal segment, in the distance range of $105-240 km, where an ultraslow velocity layer in the upper crust of the slab has been mapped from waveform modeling of converted SP phases. Thus, in the distance range of $105-160 km, SSEs occur but NVTs and inslab earthquakes are absent. This suggests that metamorphic dehydration reactions in the subducting oceanic crust and upper mantle begin at a distance of $160 km, giving rise to both the inslab earthquakes and NVTs. No inslab earthquake occurs beyond 240 km. The receiver function images and P wave tomography suggest that the slab begins a steep plunge at a distance of $310 km, reaching a depth of 500 km around 340 km from the trench. The negative buoyancy of such a slab should give rise to large extensional stress in the slab. Yet inslab seismicity is remarkably low, which may be explained by a slab that is not continuous up to a depth of 500 km, but is broken at a shallower depth. The resulting slab window may permit subslab material to flow through the gap. This may provide an explanation for the recent rift-related basalts found near Mexico City. The fore-arc, upper plate seismicity, which during the period of study (1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) consisted of a moderate earthquake (M w 5.8) near the coast (H = 12 km), its numerous aftershocks, and two shallow events farther inland, demonstrates a trench-normal extension in the upper plate near this convergent margin, a state of stress that may be explained by tectonic erosion and/or seaward retreat of the trench. Seismicity, location of the ...

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A network of nine broad-band seismographs was operated from March to May 1994 to study the propagation of seismic waves across the Mexican Volcanic Belt (MVB) in the region of the Valley of Mexico. Analysis of the data from the network reveals an amplification of seismic waves in a wide period band at the stations situated in the southern part of the MVB.The group velocities of the fundamental mode of the Rayleigh wave in the period range 2-13s are found to be lower in the southern part of the MVB than in its northern part and in the region south of the MVB. The inversion of dispersion curves shows that the difference in group velocities is due to the presence of a superficial lowvelocity layer (with an average S-wave velocity of 1.7 km s-' and an average thickness of 2 km) beneath the southern part of the MVB. This low-velocity zone is associated with the region of active volcanism.Numerical simulations show that this superficial low-velocity layer causes a regional amplification of 8-10 s period signals, which is of the same order as the amplification measured from the data. This layer also increases the signal duration significantly because of the dispersion of the surface waves. These results confirm the hypothesis of Singh et al. (1995), who suggested that the regional amplification observed in the Valley of Mexico is due to the anomalously low shear-wave velocity of the shallow volcanic rocks in the southern MVB