Westward migration of extension in the northern Gulf of California, Mexico

Aragón-Arreola, Manuel; Martín‐Barajas, Arturo

doi:10.1130/g23360a.1

Cited by 92 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…At present, the GofC hosts a zone of oblique extension that records the transition from oceanic spreading centers and transform faulting in the south (Londslade, 1989;Lizarralde et al, 2007) to the diffuse continental deformation in the north (Oskin and Stock, 2003;. We obtain a heterogeneous shear-wave velocity distribution along the GofC in accordance with its different tectonic stages and with results from several local studies (Aragón-Arreola and Martín-Barajas, 2007;Persaud et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2009;Zhang and Paulssen, 2012). Seismological data show a significant difference in crustal thickness between the Sierra Madre Occidental core and its margins.…”

Section: Present and Ancient Crustal Extensionsupporting

confidence: 74%

A 3-D shear velocity model of the southern North American and Caribbean plates from ambient noise and earthquake tomography

Gaite

Villaseñor²,

Iglesias

et al. 2015

Solid Earth

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Abstract. We use group velocities from earthquake tomography together with group and phase velocities from ambient noise tomography (ANT) of Rayleigh waves to invert for the 3-D shear-wave velocity structure (5-70 km) of the Caribbean (CAR) and southern North American (NAM) plates. The lithospheric model proposed offers a complete image of the crust and uppermost-mantle with imprints of the tectonic evolution. One of the most striking features inferred is the main role of the Ouachita-Marathon-Sonora orogeny front on the crustal seismic structure of the NAM plate. A new imaged feature is the low crustal velocities along the USA-Mexico border. The model also shows a break of the east-west mantle velocity dichotomy of the NAM and CAR plates beneath the Isthmus of the Tehuantepec and the Yucatan Block. High upper-mantle velocities along the Mesoamerican Subduction Zone coincide with inactive volcanic areas while the lowest velocities correspond to active volcanic arcs and thin lithospheric mantle regions.

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Section: Present and Ancient Crustal Extensionsupporting

confidence: 74%

A 3-D shear velocity model of the southern North American and Caribbean plates from ambient noise and earthquake tomography

Gaite

Villaseñor²,

Iglesias

et al. 2015

Solid Earth

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“…In the northern Gulf there are several tectonically active and inactive rift basins (Persaud et al 2003;González-Escobar et al 2006;Aragón-Arreola and Martín-Barajas 2007;González-Escobar et al 2009;MarHernández et al 2012;Sojo-Amezquita 2012;Martín-Barajas et al 2013). The group of active basins in the northern Gulf includes Wagner, Consag, Upper Delfín, and Lower Delfín.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Consag Basin: northern Gulf of California, evidence of generation of new crust, based on seismic reflection data

González-Escobar

Suárez-Vidal

Sojo-Amezquita

et al. 2014

International Geology Review

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The Gulf of California is an excellent example of how new ocean basins form. Tectonically, the northern Gulf of California is an incipient ocean basin and studies on it have defined acoustic basement and reveal the presence of new oceanic crust and intrusive bodies. Some recent studies report fundamental differences between the basins of the northern and southern Gulf of California: that the latter have well-developed oceanic crust beneath a thin cover of sediments, whereas the northern basins show proto-ocean basins, which may reflect thermal insulation of the thick sedimentary cover, the presence of lowangle faults, and more diffuse and distributed deformation. During the 1970s, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) undertook a 2D seismic reflection survey in the northern Gulf of California, over many active rift basins, including the Consag Basin. Through the processing and interpretation of these data, we describe the structural characteristics of the Consag Basin beyond 2 km depths. Using seismic reflection data, we identified an intrusion in the central part of this basin that may represent new oceanic crust buried by more than 4 km of sediments.

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“…Under this paradigm, one can divide the plate boundary zone into segments usually named after the major extensional basin within the segment (ARAGÓ N-ARREOLA and MARTÍN-BARAJAS, 2007). This simplification breaks down in the northernmost Gulf of California, where multiple active basins are found within the same basin segment (ARAGÓ N-ARREOLA and MARTÍN-BARAJAS, 2007). In the Wagner basin segment, southwest of the Cerro Prieto fault, two extensional basins were known to be active: the Wagner basin and the Laguna Salada basin.…”

Section: Relation To Mexican Pacific Marginmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 2010 M w 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah Earthquake Sequence, Baja California, Mexico and Southernmost California, USA: Active Seismotectonics along the Mexican Pacific Margin

Hauksson

Stock

Hutton

et al. 2010

Pure Appl. Geophys.

119

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The El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake sequence started with a few foreshocks in March 2010, and a second sequence of 15 foreshocks of M [ 2 (up to M4.4) that occurred during the 24 h preceding the mainshock. The foreshocks occurred along a northsouth trend near the mainshock epicenter. The M w 7.2 mainshock on April 4 exhibited complex faulting, possibly starting with a *M6 normal faulting event, followed *15 s later by the main event, which included simultaneous normal and right-lateral strikeslip faulting. The aftershock zone extends for 120 km from the south end of the Elsinore fault zone north of the US-Mexico border almost to the northern tip of the Gulf of California. The waveformrelocated aftershocks form two abutting clusters, each about 50 km long, as well as a 10 km north-south aftershock zone just north of the epicenter of the mainshock. Even though the Baja California data are included, the magnitude of completeness and the hypocentral errors increase gradually with distance south of the international border. The spatial distribution of large aftershocks is asymmetric with five M5? aftershocks located to the south of the mainshock, and only one M5.7 aftershock, but numerous smaller aftershocks to the north. Further, the northwest aftershock cluster exhibits complex faulting on both northwest and northeast planes. Thus, the aftershocks also express a complex pattern of stress release along strike. The overall rate of decay of the aftershocks is similar to the rate of decay of a generic California aftershock sequence. In addition, some triggered seismicity was recorded along the Elsinore and San Jacinto faults to the north, but significant northward migration of aftershocks has not occurred. The synthesis of the El Mayor-Cucapah sequence reveals transtensional regional tectonics, including the westward growth of the Mexicali Valley and the transfer of Pacific-North America plate motion from the Gulf of California in the south into the southernmost San Andreas fault system to the north. We propose that the location of the 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah, as well as the 1992 Landers and 1999 Hector Mine earthquakes, may have been controlled by the bends in the plate boundary.

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Westward migration of extension in the northern Gulf of California, Mexico

Cited by 92 publications

References 15 publications

A 3-D shear velocity model of the southern North American and Caribbean plates from ambient noise and earthquake tomography

A 3-D shear velocity model of the southern North American and Caribbean plates from ambient noise and earthquake tomography

Consag Basin: northern Gulf of California, evidence of generation of new crust, based on seismic reflection data

The 2010 M w 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah Earthquake Sequence, Baja California, Mexico and Southernmost California, USA: Active Seismotectonics along the Mexican Pacific Margin

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