Evolution of Caribbean subduction from P-wave tomography and plate reconstruction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Allen ◽  
Benedikt Braszus ◽  
Saskia Goes ◽  
Andreas Rietbrock ◽  
Jenny Collier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Lesser Antilles ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Ocean Bottom Seismometer ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
The North ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Plate Reconstruction

<p>The Caribbean plate has a complex tectonic history, which makes it  particularly challenging to establish the evolution of the subduction zones at its margins. Here we present a new teleseismic P-wave tomographic model under the Antillean arc that benefits from ocean-bottom seismometer data collected in our recent VoiLA (Volatile Recycling in the Lesser Antilles) project. We combine this imagery with a new plate reconstruction that we use to predict possible slab positions in the mantle today. We find that upper mantle anomalies below the eastern Caribbean correspond to a stack of material that was subducted at different trenches at different times, but ended up in a similar part of the mantle due to the large northwestward motion of the Americas. This stack comprises: in the mantle transition zone, slab fragments that were subducted between 70 and 55 Ma below the Cuban and Aves segments of the Greater Arc of the Caribbean; at 450-250 km depth, material subducted between 55 and 35 Ma below the older Lesser Antilles (including the Limestone Caribees and Virgin Islands);  and above 250 km, slab from subduction between 30 and 0 Ma below the present Lesser Antilles to Hispaniola Arc. Subdued high velocity anomalies in the slab above 200 km depth coincide with where the boundary between the equatorial Atlantic and proto-Caribbean subducted, rather than as previously proposed, with the North-South American plate boundary. The different phases of subduction can be linked to changes in the age, and hence buoyancy structure, of the subducting plate.</p>

scholarly journals Along‐Arc Heterogeneity in Local Seismicity across the Lesser Antilles Subduction Zone from a Dense Ocean‐Bottom Seismometer Network

2019 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 237-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidong Bie ◽  
Andreas Rietbrock ◽  
Stephen Hicks ◽  
Robert Allen ◽  
Jon Blundy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Lesser Antilles ◽  
Seismogenic Zone ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Ocean Bottom Seismometer ◽  
Plate Interface ◽  
Local Seismicity ◽  
Slow Spreading ◽  
Lesser Antilles Arc

Abstract The Lesser Antilles arc is only one of two subduction zones where slow‐spreading Atlantic lithosphere is consumed. Slow‐spreading may result in the Atlantic lithosphere being more pervasively and heterogeneously hydrated than fast‐spreading Pacific lithosphere, thus affecting the flux of fluids into the deep mantle. Understanding the distribution of seismicity can help unravel the effect of fluids on geodynamic and seismogenic processes. However, a detailed view of local seismicity across the whole Lesser Antilles subduction zone is lacking. Using a temporary ocean‐bottom seismic network we invert for hypocenters and 1D velocity model. A systematic search yields a 27 km thick crust, reflecting average arc and back‐arc structures. We find abundant intraslab seismicity beneath Martinique and Dominica, which may relate to the subducted Marathon and/or Mercurius Fracture Zones. Pervasive seismicity in the cold mantle wedge corner and thrust seismicity deep on the subducting plate interface suggest an unusually wide megathrust seismogenic zone reaching ∼65  km depth. Our results provide an excellent framework for future understanding of regional seismic hazard in eastern Caribbean and the volatile cycling beneath the Lesser Antilles arc.

scholarly journals Weak Faults at Megathrust Plate Boundary Respond to Tidal Stress

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Tonegawa ◽  
Toshinori Kimura ◽  
Kazuya Shiraishi ◽  
Suguru Yabe ◽  
Yoshio Fukao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Properties ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Seismic Anisotropy ◽  
High Tide ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Physical Property ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Tidal Stress ◽  
Slow Earthquakes

Abstract Lateral spatial variations of weak portions at the plate boundary in subduction zones have been estimated primarily by the distribution of slow earthquakes mainly occurring around seismogenic zones. However, the detailed depth profile of weak faults remains elusive. Here, we deployed 6 ocean bottom seismometers in the Nankai subduction zone, Japan, to observe reflections originated from drilling vessel Chikyu ship noise (hydroacoustic P wave) that was persistently radiated from a fixed position at the sea surface, and retrieved P-to-s(Ps) reflections from multiple dipping faults near the plate boundary. The Ps amplitudes were stacked and compared according to the degrees of tidal stresses, and they were large at high tide (compression). A migration technique shows that the locations where velocity contrasts fluctuate were estimated at both the megasplay fault and another fault between the megasplay fault and the top of the oceanic crust. This indicates that the physical properties of those faults are changed by tidal stress. The physical-property changes are attributed to fluid connections and isolations within the faults due to tidal stress fluctuations, inducing the variation of seismic anisotropy. Such a variation was confirmed by a three-dimensional numerical simulation for wave propagation with anisotropic medium. Our observation suggests that multiple weak faults are present around the plate boundary, and the obtained changes of fault physical properties may have implications for our understanding of tidal triggering of earthquakes.

Multi-parameter model building for the Qiuyue structure using four-component ocean-bottom seismometer data

Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-52
Author(s):  
Yuzhu Liu ◽  
Xinquan Huang ◽  
Jizhong Yang ◽  
Xueyi Liu ◽  
Bin Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wave Velocity ◽  
Waveform Inversion ◽  
Velocity Model ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Velocity Analysis ◽  
Full Waveform Inversion ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Ocean Bottom Seismometer ◽  
Full Waveform ◽  
P Wave Velocity

Thin sand-mud-coal interbedded layers and multiples caused by shallow water pose great challenges to conventional 3D multi-channel seismic techniques used to detect the deeply buried reservoirs in the Qiuyue field. In 2017, a dense ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS) acquisition program acquired a four-component dataset in East China Sea. To delineate the deep reservoir structures in the Qiuyue field, we applied a full-waveform inversion (FWI) workflow to this dense four-component OBS dataset. After preprocessing, including receiver geometry correction, moveout correction, component rotation, and energy transformation from 3D to 2D, a preconditioned first-arrival traveltime tomography based on an improved scattering integral algorithm is applied to construct an initial P-wave velocity model. To eliminate the influence of the wavelet estimation process, a convolutional-wavefield-based objective function for the preprocessed hydrophone component is used during acoustic FWI. By inverting the waveforms associated with early arrivals, a relatively high-resolution underground P-wave velocity model is obtained, with updates at 2.0 km and 4.7 km depth. Initial S-wave velocity and density models are then constructed based on their prior relationships to the P-wave velocity, accompanied by a reciprocal source-independent elastic full-waveform inversion to refine both velocity models. Compared to a traditional workflow, guided by stacking velocity analysis or migration velocity analysis, and using only the pressure component or other single-component, the workflow presented in this study represents a good approach for inverting the four-component OBS dataset to characterize sub-seafloor velocity structures.

Tracking the Caribbean sound: three current hits

1997 ◽  
Vol 71 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-77
Author(s):  
Kenneth M. Bilby
Keyword(s):  
World Music ◽  
New Music ◽  
Lesser Antilles ◽  
French Caribbean ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Compact Disk ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
University Of Chicago Press

[First paragraph]Zouk: World Music in the West lndies. JOCELYNE GuiLBAULT (with GAGE AVERILL, ÉDOUARD BENOIT & GREGORY RABESS). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. xxv + 279 pp. and compact disk. (Cloth US$ 55.00, Paper US$ 27.75) Calypso Calaloo: Early Carnival Music in Trinidad. DONALD R. HlLL. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1993. xvi + 344 pp. and compact disk. (Cloth US$ 49.95, Paper US$ 24.95) Calypso & Society in Pre-Independence Trinidad. GORDON ROHLEHR. Port of Spain: Gordon Rohlehr, 1990. x + 613 pp. (Paper US$ 40.00)In 1983, from my Hstening post in Cayenne, the southernmost extension of the French Caribbean, I reported that "popular musicians in the Lesser Antilles are in the process of breathing life into new musical varieties blending soka, cadence, and reggae" (Bilby 1985:211). Little did I know that what I was describing was the sudden emergence, at that very moment, of an entirely new music in French Guiana's fellow Départements d'Outre-Mer to the north, Martinique and Guadeloupe. Down in Cayenne, which has always had close ties to the French Antilles, there was a feeling in the air that some fresh and invigorating cultural trend was about to burst forth. Even in the Maroon villages of the French Guianese interior, where I relocated in early 1984, the excitement was palpable.

In-Situ Calibration of Differential Pressure Gauges on OBSIP Ocean Bottom Seismometers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabi Laske ◽  
Adrian Doran
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Sensor ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Pressure Gauge ◽  
Differential Pressure ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Earth Tides ◽  
Release Mechanism ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Ocean Bottom Seismometer

<p>A standard ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) package of the U.S. OBS Instrument Pool (OBSIP) carries a seismometer and a pressure sensor. For broadband applications, the seismometer typically is a wide-band or broad-band three-components seismometer, and the pressure sensor is a differential pressure gauge (DPG). The purpose of the pressure sensor is manifold and includes the capture of pressure signals not picked up by a ground motion sensor (e.g. the passage of tsunami), but also for purposes of correcting the seismograms for unwanted signals generated in the water column (e.g. p-wave reverberations).<br>Unfortunately, the instrument response of the widely used Cox-Webb DPG remains somewhat poorly known, and can vary by individual sensor, and even by deployment of the same sensor.</p><p>Efforts have been under way to construct and test DPG responses in the laboratory. But the sensitivity and long‐period response are difficult to calibrate as they  vary with temperature and pressure, and perhaps by hardware of the same mechanical specifications.  Here, we present a way to test the response for each individual sensor and deployment in situ in the ocean. This test requires a relatively minimal and inexpensive modification to the OBS instrument frame and a release mechanism that allows a drop of the DPG by 3 inches after the OBS package settled and the DPG equilibrated on the seafloor. The seismic signal generated by this drop is then analyzed in the laboratory upon retrieval of the data. </p><p>The results compare favorably with calibrations estimated independently through post‐deployment data analyses of other signals such as Earth tides and the signals from large teleseismic earthquakes. Our study demonstrates that observed response functions can deviate from the nominal response by a factor of two or greater with regards to both the sensitivity and the time constant. Given the fact that sensor calibrations of DPGs in the lab require very specific and stable environments and are time consuming, the use of in-situ DPG calibration frames pose a reliable and inexpensive alternative. </p>

Crustal structure across the Southwest Newfoundland Transform Margin

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 744-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Todd ◽  
I. Reid ◽  
C. E. Keen
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Transition Zone ◽  
Crustal Structure ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Ocean Bottom Seismometer ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
Grand Banks ◽  
Air Gun ◽  
Transform Margin

A seismic-refraction survey providing deep crustal structure information of the continent–ocean boundary across the South-west Newfoundland Transform Margin was carried out using large air-gun sources and ocean-bottom seismometer receivers. Continental crust ~30 km thick beneath the southern Grand Banks (P-wave velocity = 6.2–6.5 km/s) thins oceanward to a 25 km wide transition zone. In the transition zone, Paleozoic basement of the Grand Banks (5.5–5.7 km/s) is replaced by a basement of oceanic volcanics and synrift sediments (4.5–5.5 km/s). Seaward of the transition zone the crust is oceanic in character, with a velocity gradient from 4.7 to 6.5 km/s and a thickness of 7–8 km. Oceanic layer 3 is absent. No significant thickness of intermediate-velocity (>7 km/s) material is present at the continent–ocean transition, indicating that no under-plating of continental crust has taken place. The continent–ocean transition across the transform margin is much narrower than across rifted margins, supporting the theory that formation of the transform margin is by shearing of continental plates.

scholarly journals Tectonic tremor and deep slow slip on the Alpine Fault

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Wech ◽  
C Boese ◽  
Timothy Stern ◽  
John Townend
Keyword(s):  
Lower Crust ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
Depth Range ◽  
Slow Slip ◽  
High Attenuation ◽  
Alpine Fault ◽  
Tectonic Tremor

Tectonic tremor is characterized by persistent, low-frequency seismic energy seen at major plate boundaries. Although predominantly associated with subduction zones, tremor also occurs along the deep extension of the strike-slip San Andreas Fault. Here we present the first observations of tectonic tremor along New Zealand's Alpine Fault, a major transform boundary that is late in its earthquake cycle. We report tectonic tremor that occurred on the central section of the Alpine Fault on 12days between March 2009 and October 2011. Tremor hypocenters concentrate in the lower crust at the downdip projection of the Alpine Fault; coincide with a zone of high P-wave attenuation (low Q p) and bright seismic reflections; occur in the 25-45km depth range, below the seismogenic zone; and may define the deep plate boundary structure extending through the lower crust and into the upper mantle. We infer this tremor to represent slow slip on the deep extent of the Alpine Fault in a fluid-rich region marked by high attenuation and reflectivity. These observations provide the first indication of present-day displacement on the lower crustal portion of the Australia-Pacific transform plate boundary. © Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union.

4D stress signals in the upper plate record subduction nucleation and lateral propagation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Shuck ◽  
Sean Gulick ◽  
Harm Van Avendonk ◽  
Michael Gurnis ◽  
Rupert Sutherland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Subduction Initiation ◽  
The North ◽  
Stress Signal ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Stress Signals ◽  
Geologic Record ◽  
Geodynamic Models

<div> <p><strong>Subduction zones are fundamental to Earth’s plate tectonic history yet details of how they initiate remain enigmatic. Geodynamic models suggest that early stages of subduction depend on whether underthrusting is driven by horizontal or vertical forces. If horizontal forces dominate, the upper plate experiences compression and uplift followed by extension and subsidence, whereas vertically-forced subduction involves only extension. Geologic evidence from the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc supports a ~1 Myr rapid transition, whereas observations from Oman indicate a >8 Myr time lag between initial underthrusting and the onset of upper plate extension. We present seismic images of the incipient Puysegur subduction zone south of New Zealand. Our data show evidence for a stress signal (compression followed by extension) that spread from north to south as the trench initiated and propagated along the plate boundary. Both the magnitude and duration of the compressional phase diminish from ~8 Myrs long in the north to ~5 Myrs in the south. This timing indicates that the transition to self-sustaining subduction is more rapid when an adjacent downgoing slab contributes a driving force that aids subduction initiation. We therefore argue for a new framework in which horizontal forces dominate at sites of subduction nucleation and vertical forces gradually strengthen during later propagation as the developing plate boundary weakens and the slab-pull force intensifies. Our findings corroborate evidence for ancient horizontally-forced subduction initiation events and suggest that the geologic record may be biased, since vertically-forced scenarios of subduction propagation are more likely to be preserved than destructive subduction nucleation events. </strong></p> </div>

Multiparameter TTI tomography of P-wave reflection and VSP data

Geophysics ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. WC51-WC63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxiang Wang ◽  
Ilya Tsvankin
Keyword(s):  
Symmetry Axis ◽  
Model Updating ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Symmetry Direction ◽  
Direction Parallel ◽  
The North ◽  
Vsp Data ◽  
Anisotropy Parameters

Transversely isotropic models with a tilted symmetry axis (TTI media) are widely used in depth imaging of complex geologic structures. Here, we present a modification of a previously developed 2D P-wave tomographic algorithm for estimating heterogeneous TTI velocity fields and apply it to synthetic and field data. The symmetry-direction velocity [Formula: see text], anisotropy parameters [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], and symmetry-axis tilt [Formula: see text] are defined on a rectangular grid. To ensure stable reconstruction of the TTI parameters, reflection data are combined with walkaway vertical seismic profiling (VSP) traveltimes in joint tomographic inversion. To improve the convergence of the algorithm, we develop a three-stage model-updating procedure that gradually relaxes the constraints on the spatial variations of the anisotropy parameters, while the symmetry axis is kept orthogonal to the reflectors. Only at the final stage of the inversion are the parameters [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] updated on the same grid. We also incorporate geologic constraints into tomography by designing regularization terms that penalize parameter variations in the direction parallel to the interfaces. First, we examine the performance of the regularized joint tomography of reflection and VSP data for two sections of the BP TTI model that contain an anticline and a salt dome. All three TTI parameters in the shallow part of both sections (down to 5 km) are well resolved by the proposed model-updating process. Then, the algorithm is applied to a 2D section from 3D ocean-bottom seismic data acquired at Volve field in the North Sea. The inverted TTI model produces well-focused reflectors throughout the section and accurately positions the key horizons, which is confirmed by the available well markers.

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