Journal
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
Volume 384, Issue -, Pages 81-87Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.10.006
Keywords
subduction; talc; serpentine; receiver function; mantle wedge; P-to-S velocity ratio
Categories
Funding
- Korea Meteorological Administration Research and Development Program [CATER-2013-8010]
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through the Tectonics Observatory at California Institute of Technology [223]
- NSF [EAR 0609707]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Earth Sciences [0956166] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Korea Meteorological Administration [CATER-2013-8010] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
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Geophysical evidence shows the presence of low-seismic velocity material at the surface of slabs in subduction zones. In the central Mexican subduction zone this appears as a thin (similar to 4 km) low-velocity zone that absorbs nearly all of the strain. The P-to-S velocity ratio as a function of S wave velocity distinguishes among the various candidate hydrous (low-strength) minerals; the thin layer in the flat-slab region is most consistent with a layer showing enrichment in talc overlying normal MORB-like gabbro. Based on available thermodynamic data for equilibria for talc, its generation at the trench is nearly impossible, and hence we propose it originates from the mantle wedge during the slab flattening process coupled with trench rollback. The evolution of this low-strength zone has important implications for the dynamics of the slab-flattening process as well as the geochemistry of the mantle wedge and arc in central Mexico. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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