JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 89, NO.

B9, PAGES 7719-7735, SEPTEMBER 10, 1984

Seismicity and Tectonics of the Subducted CocosPlate

GEORGEVANNESS BURBACH,CLIFF FROHLICH,
WAYNE D. PENNINGTON AND TOSIMATU MATUMOTO

Institutefor Geophysics,
Department
of Geological
Sciences,
University
of Texasat Austin

We have examined teleseismic earthquake locations reported by the International Seismo-

logical Centre (ISC) for the Middle America region and selected 220 as the most reliable. These
hypocenters and other data are used to delineate the deep structure of the subducted Cocos
Plate. The results indicate that the subductedplate consistsof three major segments:Segment I
extends from the Panama Fracture Zone to the Nicoya Peninsula. The structure of this segment
is poorly defined. Segment II is the largest and best-defined segment. This segment consistsof
two parts, IIA and IIB. Part IIA extends from the Nicoya Peninsula to western Guatemala and
is very well defined and continuous in structure. Its strike follows the curvature of the trench
and dips at about 60ø. Part IIB extends from western Guatemala to Orizaba, Mexico. The dip of
this part of the segment decreasesslightly toward the northwest, and its strike is more north-
ward than that of the trench. Segment III extends from Orizaba to the Rivera Fracture Zone,
and is not well defined due to a lack of earthquake activity beneath about 100 km. Its orienta-
tion differs markedly from segment II and strikes somewhat more westward than the trench.
Between parts IIA and IIB of segment II the subductedplate seemsto be continuous, bending
smoothly to accommodatethe change in geometry. Local network data from Costa Rica suggest
there may be a tear between segments I and II. Between segments II and III there is a gap in
the hypocenters which makes it difficult to define the boundary. The change in geometry
between these two segments indicates that there may be a tear, and two strike-slip focal
mechanisms in the region support this conclusion. We find no convincing evidence supporting
the existence of segments smaller than the three describedabove. If there is smaller-scale seg-
mentation in the shallow part of the subducting plate the plate must still maintain enough con-
tinuity to appear continuousat greater depths. There is no evidence for any major tear in the
subductedplate associateddirectly with either the Tehuantepec Ridge or the Orozco Fracture
zone. The shallow subduction at the northwestern end of segment II may be related to the
bouyancy of the Tehuantepec Ridge. The CocosRidge is probably directly responsiblefor the
change in geometry between segmentsI and II and may even be slowing or stopping subduction
in segment I. The structure of the subductedplate in segment II and the changesin the charac-
ter of volcanism along the arc can be related to the relative motion of the North American and
Caribbean Plates. The present geometry of part IIB of segment II is more consistent with the
probable configuration of the trench about 7 Ma ago than with the present configuration, indi-
cating that the North American plate is overriding the subductionzone.

INTRODUCTION two parts of the Middle America Trench as examples of

two major types of subduction zones, and relates the
Middle America is a region of high tectonic activity enigma of the Middle American Trench to the motions
resulting from the subduction of the CocosPlate along of the two overriding plates.
the Middle America Trench [Molnarand Sykes,1969]. A The subduction of bathymetric features affects the
major complication arises becausethe CocosPlate is be- character of subduction in many regions [Kelleherand
ing subductedbeneath the North American Plate along McCann, 1976; Vogt et al., 1976; Isacksand Barazangi,
the northwestern part of the trench and beneath the 1977; CrossandPilger,1982]. Along the Middle America
CaribbeanPlate in the southeast(Figure 1). Sykeset al. Trench there are three such features, the CocosRidge,
[1982] have shown that the relative motion between the the Tehuantepec Ridge, and the Orozco Fracture Zone
North Amerilcan and Caribbean Plates isprobably close(Figure 1) which are oriented nearly parallel to the
to 40 mm a- . Since this is an unstabletriple junction, direction of convergenceand which are all being sub-
this motion must alter the configuration of the trench ducted along their strike nearly perpendicular to the
with time [McKenzie andMorgan,1969]. trench. This makes Middle America an excellent re-
Several authors have noted differences in the sub- gion to look at the problems related to the subduction
duction beneath the two overriding plates [Molnar and of such features.
Sykes, 1969; Chappleand Forsyth, 1979; Nixon, 1982]. Some investigators have used surface tectonic
Deep Sea Drilling Project results suggestthere are fun- features and/or seismicity to infer that some un-
damentally different tectonic styles of subduction derthrust plates are subducted in semi-independent
beneath the two plates [Shipleyet al., 1980; vonHueneet blocks or segments[Stauder,1972; Barazangiand Isacks,
al., 1980; Aubouinet al., 1982]. Uyeda[1982] used these 1976, 1979a; Carr et al., 1973]. Stoiber and Carr [1973]
used offsets in the volcanic chain to divide the Middle
Copyright 1984 by the American GeophysicalUnion. America region into more than a dozen distinct surface
regions 100-300 km long. They postulated that each of
Paper number 4B0661. these regions lay above a discrete segment of the sub-
0148-0227/84/004B-0661505.00 ducted plate. Isacksand Barazangi[1977], however, found

7719
7720 BVRBA½• •.T AL; SVBOVCT•.OCOCOS

c
NORTH AMERICAN

PLATE
20 •

MEXICO CARIBBEAN

'..MA LA ' PLATE

ß
,

15
, HONDURAs ._.,-
PACIFliC , ..... o,'
,: NICAR-
AGUA

OCOS

PLATE /
ß

,"•"""• NAZCA
/" • PLATE

105ø W 100ø 95ø 90ø 85ø 80ø

Fig. 1: Tectonic framework of the Middle America Region. Triangles indicate active volcanoes.Dotted region
in Mexico indicates the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Magnetic anomalies (numbered lines), fossil ridges (dou-
ble dashed lines), and boundaries between crust created at different ridges (short dashed lines) are from Klit-
,•ardandMammerickx
[1982]. Shadedregionsindicatemajor bathymetricfeatures.Arrows with an N indicate
motion of Cocos Plate relative to the North American Plate. Arrows with a C indicate motion of Cocos Plate
relative to the CaribbeanPlate. Units are mm a'l. Relativemotionsfrom Minsterand]ardan[1978]. North
American-Caribbeanrelative motion is given both from Minsterand]ardan[1978] (unstarred),and from $yl•s et
al. [1982] (starred). Abbreviated features other than country names: R. F. Z. - Rivera Fracture Zone; O. F. Z. -
OrozcoFracture Zone; G. T. - Gulf of Tehuantepec;T. R. - Tehuantepec Ridge; M. - Motagua Fault; P. - Poloch-
ic Fault; C. T. - Cayman Trough; N. P. - Nicoya Peninsula; C. R. - CocosRidge; P. F. Z. - Panama Fracture
Zone; N. T. - Incipient transform boundary.

that the uppermost 300 km of most Wadati-Benioff 1966. Since that time 16 more years of data have accu-
zones are relatively uniform and simple and are made mulated and our understanding of the processesrelated
up of segments with lengths of 500-1000 km. They to subduction has improved significantly. /-/anus and
found no substantial evidence for segmentation on Vanek [1978] looked at the seismicity in this region us-
smaller scales in Middle America or in any other re- ing all available hypocentersprior to 1975. They made
gion. no attempt to control the quality of their locations and
Probably the most direct way to delineate the large thus had very poor resolution of the structure of the
scale structure of the subductedplate is to use well lo- Wadati-Benioff zone.
cated earthquake hypocentersto study the geometry of The purpose of this study is to use the best avail-
the Wadati-Benioff zone. Unfortunately, this requires able teleseismic earthquake locations to determine the
accurate and reliable earthquake locations which are large-scale structure of the subductedpart of the Cocos
difficult to obtain in the Middle America region. Earth- Plate. Our analysis will focus primarily on the deeper
quakes are often recorded by stations from a narrow (> 50 km) structure of the subductedplate. Previously,
range of azimuths, i.e., for many events coverage is much of the evidence used to support extensive segmen-
limited to stations in North America with perhaps a tation of the subducted plate has come from shallow
few stations in South America. Local station coverage seismicity and surface features. It is unclear, however,
is also usually lacking. Although there are a few local how directly surface features are connected to the tec-
stations and networks, the closest reporting station for tonics of the subducted plate. Also, the difficulty of ob-
many events may be 10-15ø away. taining reliable locations for shallow earthquakes
There have been several studies of Wadati-Benioff without a local network makes it very hard to interpret
zone seismicity along parts of the Middle America the shallow structure of the plate in most parts of this
Trench in recent years [Dew• and Atooerrnissen, 1974; region. Furthermore, it is possiblethat a plate could be
Cart, 1976; Liaw et at., 1979; and I-Iavskov,et at., 1982]. segmented at shallow depths and still behave as a con-
Dean and Drake [1978] studied focal mechanisms from tinuous body at greater depths. We wish to determine
this region. Nlotnarand Sykes[1969] studiedteleseismic whether the deeper structure of the Wadati-Benioff
locations of earthquakes that occurredin this region be- zone exhibits the same degree of segmentation as has
fore 1963, and focal mechanisms for events through been proposedfor the shallow part of the plate.
 BURBACHET AL; SUBDUCTEDCOCOSPLATE 7721

K
..- U

15

105ø •]' 1O0 95 ø 90ø 85 ø

Fig. 2: Epicentersof A and B gradedISC events:opencirclesrepresenteventswith focaldepthsbetween0
and 100 km, solidcircles,thosebetween100 and 200 km, and squares,thosegreater than 200 km. Projection
planesfor the crosssections
in Figure4 are indicatedby solidlines;the dottedlinesindicatethe regioninclud-
ed in each crosssection. See also appendix 2.

DATA AND OBSERVATIONS We assigned a B grade to any hypocenter that

failed to satisfy any one of the above requirements, but
Selection
of ReliableISC Hypocenters which satisfied the remaining two requirements. Any
hypocenter not meriting an A or a B grade was poten-
To determine the reliability of existing hypo- tially unreliable and thus was not included among the
centers, we examined data from teleseismically-located events used in this study. Of over 2600 events reported
earthquakes which occurredin the Middle America re- by the ISC in this region, only 220 satisfied the criteria
gion betweenJanuary, 1964 and June, 1980, and which for A or B grades (Figure 2). Of these, 57 were A quali-
were reported in the Bulletin of the Intrenational ty (very reliable) events, and 163 were B quality (fairly
SeismologicalCentre [ISC]. To select reliable hypo- reliable) events (see table in Appendix 2, available in
centers, we graded the event locations as A, B, or un- microfiche•.
reliable. An event received a grade of A if it satisfied One drawback with this grading scheme is that it
three requirements: discriminates against shallow events since shallow
1) It possessed
a pP-P depth determinedfrom four earthquakes seldom have discernablepP phases, and
or more consistentpP phases. are often not as well recorded as deeper events. As a
2) It was observed by at least two stations within result, only 63 of the 220 events had focal depths less
3ø of the epicenter, or at least 5 stations within 10ø of than 50 km. This is acceptable for our purposes since
the epicentercoveringat least 120ø of azimuth. we are primarily interested in the structure below 50
3) There could be no 60 ø azimuthal sector [other km. We found that including more poorly located shal-
than the gap to the southwest] for which there were low events did not significantly improve our resolution
fewer than two reporting stations at epicentral dis- of the shallow structure.
tances from 10ø to 60ø. The gap to the southwestcould
be no larger than 160ø. JHD Relocation
Only stations which had residuals of 1.5 s or less
for the event in question were considered in this To assessthe reliability of the graded ISC locations
evaluation. we selecteda group of 30 well recordedevents situated
between western Guatemala and eastern Nicaragua for
further analysis using the Joint Epicenter Determina-
1Appendices
2, 3, and4 areavailable
withentire
article
on tion (JED) method [e.g. Douglas,1967; Dewey,1972] (see
microfiche. Order from American Geophysical Union, 2000
Florida Avenue, N. W., Washington, DC 20009. Document table in Appendix 3, available in microfiche). We
B84-009; $2.50. selectedthis region becausethe density of well recorded
7722 BURBACHET AL; SUBDUCTEDCOCOSPLATE
MEXiCO
T.R.
Fig. 3: Crosssectionparallel to the trench from 19øN,105øWto 9øN,83øWincludingall the A and B graded
ISC hypocenters(circles).The letters A-K indicatethe crossingpointsof the crosssectionsin Figure 4. Con-
tours indicate the age since subductionof the subductedplate in 2 Ma intervals, based on subductionrates
from MinsterandJordan[1978] and the geometryof subductionintroducedin this paper. N. P. = Nicoya Penin-
sula. T. R. = Tehuantepec Ridge.
events was higher than in any other part of our study
area. For the relocation we used the fast Joint Hypo-
center Determination (JHD) program described by
Frohlich[1979], fixing the depthsfor all eventsat the ?P
depths assigned by the ISC. After six iterations all
mean residuals for stations and earthquakes were re-
duced to less than 0.03 s with standard deviations of
between 0.7 and 1.7 seconds,and the epicenters had no
significant changes in location in subsequentiterations.
The 15 stations used in the relocation were selected
to provide optimum azimuthal coverage. All events
chosen had P-arrivals for at least nine of the stations,
including an arrival at station GIE (GalapagosIslands).
We made no local station requirement, although most
events were recordedby station LPS (El Salvador). We
reread the arrival times for about 70% of the events
from microfilm copies of the seismograms.Where the
records were unavailable, arrival times were taken
from the ISC bulletins.
In the relocation the 30 epicenters shifted a mean
scalar distance of only 16 km, and the seven A quality
epicenters shifted only 9.5 km. Furthermore, there was
no discernable systematic pattern in the directions
which the epicenterswere shifted.
Analysisof Hypocentral
Data
Using the selectedISC data, we prepared one cross
section parallel to the trench axis (Figure 3) and 11
cross sections roughly perpendicular to the trench axis
(Figure 4). For each of these cross sections, except sec-
tion A, we made an interpretation of the upper surface
of the Wadati-Benioff zone. Since there is poor resolu-
tion at shallow depths, we simply constrainedthe upper
surface of the subductingplate to intersect the trench.
The orientations and widths of the perpendicular
cross sections were chosen to show the steepest and
most well defined Wadati-Benioff zone. Other choices
for cross section boundaries, including cross sections
corresponding to the segment boundaries proposedby
Stoiberand Carr [1973], did not improve the scatter in
the hypocentral data, nor did they indicate any more
complex structure than can be seen in the crosssections
presented here.
Sections B through H show a well defined Wadati-
HO ND.
GUAT. [EL SAL• • '
ß NIC. COs
TA RI
Benioff zone which extends to depths of 210-240 km.
SectionsB through E are essentially identical. Sections
F through H show a transition from a geometry like
that in E to a shallower-dipping geometry in H. When
the crosssectionsare lined up at the trench (Figure 5a),
this transition is seen as a landward migration of the
steeply-dipping part of the subducted plate. Lining
these cross sectionsup along the lines of active volcan-
ism brings the crosssectionsinto better alignment (Fig-
ure 5b). Careful examination of these cross sections in-
dicates that this transition is continuous, i.e., there are
no apparent abrupt changes in geometry. Southeast of
this major segment there is an abrupt change. From
section A south to the Panama Fracture zone there are
no teleseismically well-located earthquakes deeper than
70 km. Here there are too few events to define a
Wadati-Benioff zone.
There is a similar abrupt change northwest of sec-
tion H. From the middle of section H to the beginning
of section J there are no well-located events below 80
km, and only one below 60 km. In sectionsJ and K the
maximum depth of activity increases to about 100 km.
In this segment (sections I-K) the Wadati-Benioff zone
is only poorly defined, but its geometry clearly differs
from that in sectionsB through H.
Focal Mechanism Solutions
In this paper, we report 19 new focal mechanisms
for earthquakes from the Middle America region which
occurred between 1974 and 1978 (Appendix 1). We also
evaluate focal mechanismsreported previously by other
authors, especiallyMolnarand Sykes[1969], Dean[1976],
and Dean and Drake [1978].
Unfortunately, most focal mechanisms for events in
this region are poorly constrained due to the absenceof
stations to the south and west and to lesser extent in
the east. For this reason we applied a uniform grading
system (see below) to all the reported focal mechanisms.
The most reliable mechanisms (Table I and Figure 6)
have been selected for further interpretation in this
study. We included no composite focal mechanisms or
any focal mechanisms depending primarily on S wave
polarities. In addition to all the events graded A or B,
Table I includes all 19 of the previously unreported fo-
 BURBACHET AL; SUBDUCTED
Cocos PLATE 7723

A B c
T • o
qp• oO
øo o

3O( 3oo
N-36ø- E N-47ø-E N-40 ø- E

D E F
T A
o o

ß ß o

300,•
N-28ø-E N-2 0ø-E N-32ø-E
300
G H
o ,'r • •

goo
o•
ß o o
ß ß

300• -- 3OO
N- 3 3ø-E N-34ø-E

I J K
o 1- & T A T Ao

oo
ßo• ß

300- :3O0
N-9ø-E N- 12ø-E N- 14ø-E
Fig. 4: Crosssectionsperpendicularto the trench. CirclesrepresentselectedISC hypocenters;
the lines indi-
catethe inferreduppersurface
of the subducted
plate.Thesections
exten
d from0 to 300km depthwith tick
marks every 100 km. The orientationof the crosssectionsare indicatedbeloweachcrosssection.The T marks
the trenchaxis, and the trianglemarksthe activevolcanismin the regionof eac•hsection.For locationsof
crqsssections,!see
Figure. 2.

cal mechanisms; however, those with C grades do not Of the 19 new focal mechanism solutions only two
appear in Figure 6. were of A quality and sevenwere of B quality. Togeth-
Our grading schemeincluded two separate evalua- er with the mechanisms from previous work, this
tions (see caption to Table 1). First, a letter grade indi- makes a total of 53 events which had focal mechanisms
cates whether one, both, or neither of the nodal planes with A or B grades. Of these 53 focal mechanisms,34
were well constrained. Second,a minus (-) was added to are thrust faulting events. Most of these have one well
the letter grade if there was one or more inconsistent constrained nodal plane striking subparallel to the
first motion, or if the mechanism was overly dependent trenchand dippingsteeplyto the southwest,
andanoth-
on one station. For example, a focal mechanism would er generallypoorly constrainednodal plane dipping
shallowly toward the northeast. These probably
receive an A- if both nodal planes were well con-
represent underthrusting of the Cocos Plate beneath
strained, but it had some inconsistent stations, or it
couldbe changedsignificantly
by th6 removalof one Middle America [MolnarandSykes,1969; •ean andDrake,
station. 1978]. Ten of the remaining events had normal faulting
7724 BURBACHET AL; SUBDUCTEDCOCOSPLATE

T
o o

100 K '•00

20 200

G H
F

I c B-G G. ,K
H JG KF BDE
o o

lOO lOO

200 200

EF

300
! , B
' " i 300
Fig. 5: (a) Compositeof the inferredBenioffzonegeometriesfrom Figure 4 lined up alongthe trench axis T.
No interpretationwas includedfor sectionA. (b) Compositeof the inferredplate geometriesfrom Figure 4
lined up aong the volcanictrends. The triangles representthe active volcanismin sectionsB-G and G-K with
the two zonesof volcanoesplottedin sectionG as the referencefor bothgroups.

mechanisms.Most of these were deeper events (>60km)
and indicate downdip tension in the subductingplate.
The other nine focal mechanismsshowedstrike-slipmo-
tion. These were generally better constrained than the
thrust or normal faulting mechanisms,and most can be
related to known strike-slip features.
INTERPRETATION
Qualityof Hypocentral
Data
The 220 selectedISC hypocenters(Figure 2; Appen-
dix 2, available in microfiche] represent the most reli-
able of 16 years of hypocentral data collectedby the
ISC in the Middle America region. When 30 of the
selectedISC events were relocated with JED, the epi-
centers moved relatively little and with no apparent
systematic trends, suggestingthat the systematic errors
in the selectedISC locationsare quite small. The small
changes in both absolute and relative locations are
surprising. They indicate that either the stations used
in the relocation were overly representative of the
whole WWSSN, or that the relative locations of the A
and B graded events are very reliable.
We also compared the geometry of the Wadati-
Benioff zone as determined from the selected ISC data
to the geometry determined from local network loca-
tions (Figures 7 and 8). In Nicaragua, a local network
 BURBACHET AL; SUBDUCTED
COCOSPLATE 7725

TABLE
1:Events
forWhich
Focal
Mechanisms
areDiscussed
inThisStudy
•
Number Date Latitude Longitude Depths G Source
I July 6, 1964 * 18.31 -100.50 93.5 A- M
2 July 30, 1964 * 11.28 -86.16 38.5 B M
3 March 1, 1964 * 15.41 -92.55 104.6 B- M
4 April 3, 1965 * 15.97 -97.90 5.0 B M
5 May 3, 1965 * 13.72 -89.12 20.4 B M
6 Aug. 23, 1965 * 16.33 -95.80 5.0 A- M
7 Aug. 24, 1965 15.90 -96.20 12.0 B- M
8 Oct. 20, 1965 12.50 -87.40 70.0 B- M
9 April 2, 1966 16.52 -97.44 42.0 B- M
10 April 11, 1966 * 18.38 - 102.31 51.5 B- M
11 Aug. 18, 1966 * 14.50 -91.79 68.2 B M
12 Sept. 25, 1966 * 18.37 -100.78 83.6 A- M
13 Dec. 9, 1966 17.33 -100.05 35.0 B- M
14 Dec. 10, 1966 * 14.36 -92.03 64.1 B- M
15 Aug. 27, 1967 * 12.18 -86.31 179.3 B- D
16 Oct. 3, 1967 * 10.94 -85.92 32.7 B D
17 Oct. 15, 1967 * 11.91 -85.98 162.8 B- D
18 Feb. 3, 1968 * 16.67 -99.39 28.2 B- D
19 July 2, 1968 * 17.61 -100.24 67.7 B D
20 Aug. 2, 1968 * 16.56 -97.79 39.0 B D
21 Sept. 25, 1968 15.50 -92.60 114.0 B- D
22 Nov. 28, 1968 15.30 -94.70 27.0 B D
23 Dec. 29, 1968 * 14.48 -92.38 72.2 B- D
24 March 14, 1969 * 12.75 -86.85 175.4 B- D
25 May 13, 1969 * 11.53 -86.36 74.2 A- D
26 Feb. 4, 1970 * 15.57 -99.48 21.0 B- D
27 April 29, 1970 14.60 -92.80 50.0 B CS
28 April 30, 1970 * 14.61 -93.29 40.6 B- D
29 Aug. 12, 1970 12.00 -86.60 66.0 B- CF
30 Aug. 27, 1970 15.54 -95.74 22.2 B D
31 Oct.12,1971* 15.86 -91.i6 36.8 B- D
32 Jan. 22, 1972 * 14.02 -91.05 105.3 B- D
33 Feb. 7, 1972 8.50 -84.00 14.0 B- D
34 Aug. 31, 1972 13.10 -88.60 76.0 B- D
35 Sept. 16, 1972 * 15.23 -96.26 26.0 B- CF
36 Oct. 5, 1972 * 13.81 -91.19 67.2 B- D
37 Nov. 13, 1972 15.60 -95.10 40.0 B D
38 Jan. 22, 1973 * 18.54 -105.11 38.1 B- D
39 Jan. 30, 1973 * 18.55 -102.93 38.1 B CS
40 Feb. 10, 1973 18.80 -103.80 42.0 B- D
41 Aug. 28, 1973 * 18.30 -96.60 80.0 B J
42 Oct. 18, 1973 * 19.42 -104.98 69.8 B- D
43 March 6, 1974 * 12.33 -86.42 121.7 B D
44 Dec. 2, 1974 * 14.57 -91.57 96.4 B- N
45 Dec. 24, 1974 * 14.24 -90.17 143.9 C- N
46 March 14, 1975 * 16.56 -93.41 158.5 B N
47 April 23, 1975 16.47 -98.86 15.3 C N
48 Nov. 15, 1975 * 18.23 -102.22 32.4 C N
49 Feb. 1, 1976 * 17.15 -100.23 52.6 C N
50 Feb. 4, 1976 * 15.28 -89.19 5.0 A N
51 Feb. 6, 1976 * 14.70 -90.63 28.6 B- N
52 June 7, 1976 * 12.45 -100.65 39.3 B N
53 Aug. 20, 1977 * 16.68 -86.79 6.4 C- N
54 Aug. 20, 1977 16.69 -86.68 34.9 B N
55 Feb. 22, 1978 * 14.23 -91.46 68.0 B N
56 March 19, 1978 17.06 -99.73 41.0 C- N
57 May 31, 1978 * 12.58 -87.29 74.0 B- N
58 July 5, 1978 * 18.47 -100.03 59.0 C N
59 Aug. 18, 1978 * 14.31 -91.49 80.0 C N
60 Aug. 23, 1978 10.21 -85.25 64.0 B- N
61 Sept. 10, 1978 * 14.25 -91.58 64.0 C- N
62 Nov. 29, 1978 16.07 -96.55 21.0 B- CS
63 Dec. 6, 1978 13.26 -89.75 65.0 C N

tNumber
refers
tonumbers
inFigure
6.Source
key::
M-Molnar
andSykes,
[1969];
D-Dean
andDrake,
[1978];
Dean,
[1976];CS- ChaelandStewart,[1982];CF- Chapple
andForsyth,[1979];J- Jimenez
andPonce,[1979];N- new. G is grade,
determinedas follows:A- bothnodalplaneswell constrained
(+20øin strike,+ 10øin dip);B- onlyonenodalplane
well constrained, the other poorly constrained (+40 ø in strike, +20 ø in dip); C- Both nodal planes poorly con-
strained, or one totally unconstrained.A minus (-) was addedto the letter grade for any mechanismwhich had one
or more inconsistent first motions, or which was overly dependent on one station. An asterisk (*) indicates events
which were included in the 220 A or B graded events. See also appendix 4, available in microfiche.
7726 BURBACHET AL; SUBDUCTED
COCOSPLATE

/ I / I

20 ø

15 ø

100

105 100 • 95 • 90 • 85 •

Fig. 6: A and B gradedfocalmechanismsdiscussed in this paper. All focalmechanismsare equal-area,

lower hemisphereprojections.Shadedquadrantsrepresentcompressive first motions.Opencirclesare events
lessthan 100 km deep,circles
, with crosses
are eventsgreater than 100 km deep. Numbers referenceTable 1.
See also appendix4, available in microfiche.

0 ,

•oo
lOO

Nicaragua Dewey &

local network AlgermleSen,

200
•L 1974 - JHD 200
a b

A 15'

o•\o
o o

100'

o \
Graded ISC,
I
thla Itudy

200'

c
90 W 85'
Fig. 7: Crosssectionsfrom Nicaraguaregion:(a) Data from the localnetworkin Nicaragua[R. White and D.
Harlow, 1982, personalcommunication]; (b) Data from JHD relocationsby Deweyand Algermissen, 1974; (c)
SelectedISC data from the presentstudy. The dashedlines are given as a referencefor easy comparisonand
are basedon the geometryin (a). Othersymbols are as in previousfigures.The mapshowsthe locations of the
localnetworksand the approximateareasof the crosssectionsfor both this figure and Figure 8. The solidcir-
clesrepresentstationsin the Nicaraguanetwork[Quesada, 1975],andthe opencirclesrepresentstationsin the
Costa Rica network [Maturnoto, 1976].
 BURBACH
ETAL;SUBDUCTED
COCOSPLATE 7727

T T A
! - II I
ß ß i

o c•,\

'OO''
Cost.
R,c
. •-• /'' Costa
R,ca•o'"OO
--localnetwork
•iT--
local
network
2OO-- N.W. section
] -- •.. S.E. section --2OO
a b

o x IT o

loo-
- oo-X•[ Ora•,• •SC, } J J Ora•,• •SC,
-lO0
this stu

½ --,oo
Fig. 8: Cross sectionsfrom no•hern Costa Rica. A and b show data from the local network in Costa Rica
compiled by T. Matumotoandpresented in Liaw[1982].C andd showselectedISC datafromthe presentstudy,
and are identicalto crosssections
a andb in Fibre 4. A andc are noahwestof the tear proposed by Liaw
[1982],andb andd are southeast of thisproposed tear.Thedashedlinesare givenasa referencefor easycom-
parison and are basedon the geometu in (a).

has been operated since 1975 by the U.S. Geological because Bevis used only 10 degrees of freedom in his
Survey (USGS) and the Instituto de Investigaciones analysis.
Seismicasde Nicaragua [Quesada,1975]. Also in 1975 a
local network was installed in Costa Rica by the Structureof theSubducted
Plate
University of Texas and the Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad [Matumotoet al., 1976]. In genera] the local The grossstructure of the subductedplate in Mid-
network data showed good agreement with the telese- dle America is that of a single plate divided into three
ismicdata [boththis studyand that of Dewe•andAlger- segments(I, II, and III in Figure 9). Of these, segment
missen,1974], except that the local networks found a II has the most well defined geometry. We have divid-
slightly steeper dip that increasedwith depth. Similar ed this segment into two parts, IIA and IIB, which have
discrepancies between dips inferred from teleseismic somewhat diferent geometries; however; we consider
and local network locations have been noted in other them as one segmentsince the plate appearsto be con-
regions and have been attributed to systematic errors tinuous between them.
in the local network locations caused by refraction at Where the subducted plate is well defined, as in
the interface between the high-velocity subductedslab most of segmentII, the plate appearsto dip shallowly
and the surroundingmantle [Barazangi andIsacks,1979b; in the thrust zone and then steepen (to about 60ø in
Engdahl,1977; Engdahlet.al., 1977;Frohlichet al., 1982]. IIA) at depthsof about 60 km. The flexure point is not
Bevis and Isacks [1984] have modeled the structure of well constrained by the data, primarily due to a lack of
several Wadati-Benioff zones using trend surfacesfrom well located (with respect to depth) shallow thrust
spherical harmonic expansionsfit to the hypocentral events.However, the observed60 km depth is not signi-
data. At our request, Bevis applied his trend surface ficantly deeperthan that observedfor flexure points in
analysis technique to the selected ISC hypocentersof otherregionsby Isacks andBarazangi [1977],andPenning-
this study. The resulting trend surface for the Middle ton [ 1983 ].
American Wadati-Benioff zone [see Burbach,1983] was R. White and D. Harlow (personal communication,
very similar to that derived by less quantitative 1983) have carefully located a large number of earth-
methods in this study. The only significant difference quakes beneath Nicaragua using phase data from the
was that the trends produced by Bevis' method were Nicaragua local network (this data is also available
somewhatsmootherthan thosein Figure 9 (this study), from the Catalogo de Temblores de Nicaragua, pub-
particularly in the region betweenIIA and IIB, perhaps lished annually by the Instituto de Investigaciones
7728 BURBACH
ET AL;SUBDUCTED
COCOSPLATE

H
80
I i io

ß _

15
-:-III /
!
/!

D
ß

o o o
105 W 100 95 ø 90ø 85
Fig. 9: Active volcanismand structureof the subductedplate. The 40, 100, and 200 km contours[The 40
and 80 km contoursin segmentIII] of the upper surfaceof the subductedplate as inferred from the ISC data
are shown as solid lines or, where uncertain, as dashedlines. Triangles indicate active volcanoes.The dotted
line indicates the extent of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The cross section lines are also indicated. The ro-
man numerals indicate segmentsof the subductedplate discussedin the text, and the crossbars indicate their
approximate boundaries.

Seismicas,Managua). Their best constrained locations segmentationin this region. Unfortunately, the resolu-
(Figure 7a, R. White and D. Harlow, personalcommun- tion of these data was not fine enough to confirm the
ication, 1983) show a well defined Wadati-Benioff zone presence of the proposedsegments in the Wadati-
beneath Nicaragua. Also in this region, Deweyand Al- Benioff zone.
germissen [1974] usedthe JHD methodto relocate73 Part IIB of segment II appears to have a signifi-
events using the Managua earthquake of 23 December, cantly different geometrythan part IIA, however,there
1972 as a master event (Figure 7b). In general, the is no indication of a tear separating them. Instead, the
results of these two studies agree with the present plate appears to be contortedsmoothlyas the dip be-
study (Figure 7c). All the studies find a similar comes shallower toward the northwest. The structural
geometryfor the subductedplate, with activity extend- contours that are so consistently parallel to the trench
ing to between200 and 220 km. The teleseismicloca- in segmentIIA bend to trend more northward in seg-
tions [this study and that of Dewey and Algermissen, ment IIB (Figure 9). From sectionE through sectionH
1974] find a straight Wadati-Benioff zone with a rela- the distance between the trench and the steeply dipping
tively constantdip of about60ø, while the localnetwork part of the Wadati-Benioff zone increasesnorthwest-
locations define a Wadati-Benioff zone whosedip steadi- ward along the segment(seeFigure 5a). This trend also
ly increaseswith depth reaching a maximum of about is reflected in the volcano-trenchgap, which is probably
80 ø at 200 km. causedby the relative motion between the North Amer-
Carr [1976] used teleseismic locations to delineated ican and Caribbean Plates. Although the ISC reports
several segments100-300 km in length beneath Guate- fewer events toward the northwest end of this segment,
mala and E1 Salvador, which agreed with the segmen- the plate remains fairly well defined to depthsof 200
tation proposedby $toiberand Carr [1973] from an km well past the point where the TehuantepecRidge
analysis of the locations of volcanoes. Carr [1976] intersects the trench. This is consistent with the
points out, however, the differencesin the Wadati- results of Hayskor et al. [1982] based on data from a
Benioff zone geometry distinguishing his segmentswere temporary local network in this region.
very small and did not really verify the proposedseg- Segment I, just southeastof segmentII (Figure 9),
mentation. Similarly, Carr et al. [1979] reinterpreted is poorly definedby the ISC data. It is distinguishable
data presentedby DeweyandAlgermissen [1974] and Carr from segment II by a sudden absence of activity
[1976] to show that these data were consistent with beneath 70 km southeast of the Nicoya Peninsula. For-
 BURBACHET AL; SUBDUCTEDCOCOSPLATE
tunately, data from the Costa Rica local network (Fig-
ure 8) define segment I somewhat more clearly. This
network is well situated for delineating the structure of
the subductedplate beneath the Nicoya Peninsula [Ma-
tumoto et al., 1976]. The ISC data indicate that
northwest of the Nicoya Peninsula the subductedplate
is well defined to depths of 200 km or more, and
southeast of the Nicoya Peninsula there is little or no
activity below 70 km. The local network data can be
separated into two groups (Figure 8). The northwest
group includes events as deep as 160 km, while the
southeast group shows almost no activity below about
100 km (Figure 8). Matumato et al. [1976], and Liaw
[1982] used these data to suggestthat there was a tear
in the subducted plate separating the two groups of
events. The group northwest of the proposedtear has a
geometry consistent with that seen in the ISC data in
segment II (Figures 8a and 8c). For the southeast
group the local network locations provide a clearer pic-
ture of the structure than the graded ISC locations
(Figures 8b and 8d). The local network data show a
slightly shallower dipping zone that extends somewhat
farther inland in the southeast group than in the
northwest group. There is significantly greater scatter
for the the southeast group than for the northwest
group. In view of the differences between the two
groups of events and the apparent abruptness of the
change, the presence of a tear is a reasonable conclu-
sion. Many of the events are outside of the local net-
work, particularly in the southeast section. This could
cause significant errors in these locations which may
account for the increased scatter in the data, as well as
for the apparent landward shift of the shallow activity.
It cannot, however, explain the sudden absence of ac-
tivity below a depth of 100 km. Also, the proposed
change in the Wadati-Benioff zone occursdirectly below
the network, so the hypocentral locationsshould be well
enough controlled to justify interpretation of this
feature as a tear. Southeast of the local network
end of the Cocos Plate at the Panama Fracture Zone,
the structure of segment I is undefinable becauseof the
lack of adequate hypocentral data.
There exist relatively few events northwest of seg-
ment II, making it difficult to determine the boundary
between segmentsII and III. It probably lies northwest
of the middle of cross section H and southeast
section I. Nixon [1982] noted a distinct gap in inter-
mediate depth activity in this region, which is also evi-
dent in the selectedISC data. The geometry of the sub-
ducted plate in segment III is poorly defined by the ISC
data, but it clearly differs from the geometry in seg-
ment II. The strike of the subducted plate does not
parallel the trench in either segments IIB or III. In
segment II the structural contours trend more north-
ward than the trench, while in segment III the contours
trend more westward (Figure 9).
In segment III there exist no events with focal
depths greater than 100 km to demonstrate that sub-
duction extends below that depth. The structure of the
upper 100 km indicates that there is shallow subduc-
t•on, but the seismic activity does not extend far
enough inland to determine whether the plate bends to
7729
descendmore steeply. Nixon [1982] noted an end to the
gap in activity beneath 70 km near the point where the
Orozco Fracture zone intersects the trench. In the
selected ISC data there is an increase in both the
number and the maximum focal depth of the events in
this region, but there is still no activity below 100 km.
To the west of segment III the Cocos Plate reaches its
western border at the Rivera Fracture zone [Atwater,
1970; Molnar, 1973]. The Rivera Plate appears to be
subducting aseismically beneath Mexico in an easterly
direction [Nixon, 1982]. Unfortunately, the data are not
adequate to define the geometry of this subduction, nor
to determine to what extent the two subductingplates
interact.
Focal Mechanisms
The prominence of thrust-type focal mechanisms in
this region (Figure 6) is not surprising since this is a
region of active plate subduction. Dean and Drake [1978]
noted a difference in the orientation of underthrusting
focal mechanisms on either side of a proposedtear in
the subducted plate near the Tehuantepec Ridge. The
mean plunge of the slip vectors was 15ø for events to
the northwest of this tear, and 21 ø for events to the
southeast. There is also a change in the azimuth of slip
vectorsnoted by Molnar and Sykes[1969] in this region.
Dean and Drake [1978] suggested that this indicated a
tear in the subductingplate.
Although a change this small is below the resolu-
tion of many of the focal mechanism solutions, it is fair-
ly consistent with the better solutions. The orientation
of fault planes in the thrust zone is probably indepen-
dent of the geometry of the deeper part of the Wadati-
Benioff zone. This change may be causedby the subduc-
tion of the Teuantepec Ridge at the trench and not by
segmentation of the subducted lithosphere. Because
convergence of the Cocos plate with either the North
to the American or Caribbean plates is slightly oblique [Min-
ster and lordan, 1978], a small shift in the accomodation
of the strike-slip component [by separate strike-slip
faults, for example, see Fitch, 1972] may readily account
for this variation.
A few thrust-faulting events were too deep to be as-
sociated with the direct interaction between the two
of cross plates. These events (3, 15, 17, 24, 43, 46) may reflect
internal deformation of the subductingplate, indicating
a state of down dip compression. One shallow thrust-
faulting mechanism (event 9) has a configuration of no-
dal planes which is inconsistentwith the other mechan-
isms. The significance of this mechanism is unclear.
A few of the focal mechanisms in Figure 6 are for
shallow tensional events located near, or seaward of the
trench (events 33, 35, 30). Chappleand Forsyth[1979]
and others have suggestedthat events of this kind may
be caused by bending of the plate. Event 33 is
anomalous because neither of its nodal planes strike
parallel to the trench. Becauseit also has a fairly large
component of strike-slip motion, it will be discussed
later.
Several events (1, 12, 19, 32, 41, 44) with focal
depths between 68 and 105 km had down dip tension
7730 BURBACHET AL; SUBDUCTEDCOCOSPLATE
(normal faulting) mechanisms,possiblycausedby inter-
nal deformation of the subducted plate. Event 41 oc-
curred at a reported depth of 80 km near the boundary
between cross sections H and I and is the northwestern-
most event in segment II. Its location and focal mechan-
ism fit perfectly into section H. This event is located
much further inland than any of the events in segment
III, and it is well into the zone between segments II and
III where there are no other intermediate depth events.
If there is a tear between segments II and III, this
event must be near it, however, its focal mechanism
provides no indication of a tear. This does not invali-
date the existence of a tear but indicates that the seg-
ment II geometry probably extends as far west as this
event.
Dean and Drake [1978] used strike-slip events to con-
firm the presence of tears between segments proposed
by Stoiberand Carr [1973]. Although their highly seg-
mented model is appealing, the accuracy of the loca-
tions of both the proposed tears and the strike-slip
earthquakes is inadequate to provide strong support for
it. Furthermore, the existenceof strike-slip earthquakes
along the trench does not necessarily prove that seg-
mentation occurs. A plate may have many strike-slip
faults which occasionally relieve internal stresses and
still be subducted as an otherwise rigid, continuous
body.
Only nine of the focal mechanism solutions (Figure
6) were strike-slip mechanisms, and several of these are
related to known strike-slip boundaries. For example,
event 54 is related to motion on the Cayman Trough.
Similarly, event 38 is near the Rivera Fracture zone,
and probably reflects motion on that boundary. Events
50 and 51 occurred very near the Motagua Fault, and
events 31 and 5, although not located on the Motagua
or Polochic Faults, clearly occurred in the overriding
plate.
One of the normal fault events, 33, had a large
component of strike-slip motion. This event occurred
near the intersection of the trench and a fracture zone
that may be an incipient plate boundary. van Andelet al.
[1971] and Pennington
[1981] suggestedthat the eastern
boundary of the CocosPlate is in the processof jumping
from the Panama Fracture Zone to this, the next frac-
ture zone to the west.
Event 55 was located at 68 km depth in
southwestern Guatemala. Considering the likely errors
in depth determination, it could have occurred in either
plate. The similarity between this mechanism and that
of event 51, located at 28 km depth, suggests that it
may have occurred in the overriding plate. If this
event occurred in the underthrust plate it may reflect
the deformation of the plate as it bends to accommodate
the change in orientation between parts IIA and IIB of
segment II.
Events 18 and 26 occurred off the Coast of Mexico
just northwest of Acapulco and are not associated with
any known structure that explains their strike-slip fo-
cal mechanisms. They occurred near the gap in inter-
mediate depth activity just northwest of segment II. It
is possible that these events are an expression of the
transition between segments II and III. If so, it demon-
strates that the stresses associated with that transition
exist up-dip to very shallow depths near the trench.
These events may indicate a tear in the subductedplate
between segments II and III caused by the change in
the geometry of subduction.
Volcanism
The "segmented" nature of volcanism in the Middle
America region has formed one of the major arguments
for extensive segmentation of the subducted plate in
this region [$toiberand Cart, 1973]. This segmentedpat-
tern of volcanism can also be explained as a reflection
of the structural complexity of the overriding plates
[Nixon, 1982] and thus by itself is not adequate to prove
extensive segmentation of the subducting plate. The
largest change in the pattern of volcanism in this re-
gion occurs near the Mexico-Guatemala border where
the narrow and continuous chain of volcanism in Cen-
tral America ends abruptly. The volcanism in Mexico is
much less continuous than the Central American
Chain, even in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. This
change occurs near the change in plate geometry
between parts A and B of segment II and may be relat-
ed to that change. These changes occur near the prob-
able location of the COCO-NOAM-CARB triple junc-
tion, and it seems likely that they both may be related
to the different velocities of the overriding plates rela-
tive to the Cocos Plate.
If we superimpose the cross sectionsof ISC hypo-
centers to line up along the volcanic trend instead of
along the trench axis (Figures 5a and 5b) we find that
the alignment of hypocenters improves noticably. This
suggeststhat the volcano position provides a better in-
dicator than does trench position of the location of the
subducted plate. Furthermore, alignment of the cross
sectionson the volcanic line separatesthe crosssections
into two groups, those southeast of the triple junction,
which presumably lies in section G, and those to the
northwest. This also suggests that the volcano-trench
separation may be related to differences acrossthe tri-
ple junction.
DISCUSSION
Segmentation
As noted earlier, there is considerable disagree-
ment as to the degree of segmentation that occurs in
the subductedplate in this region. The teleseismic data
indicate only three major segments, however, the reso-
lution of the teleseismic data is not great enough to
show conclusively that there is no smaller-scale seg-
mentation, especially in the upper 50 km of the sub-
ducted plate. Still, we have found no compelling evi-
dencefor smaller-scale segmentation in either local net-
work data, focal mechanisms, or volcanics.
The idea of segmentation as used by most authors
implies that the segments are separated by tears across
which the plate loses continuity so that the segments
subduct independent of each other. In this case, one
might expect differences in subduction geometry to in-
crease with depth because any small change in dip in
the upper 50 km would produce a substantial offset at
 BURBACH
ETAL;SUBDUCTED
COCOS
PLATE 7731

7 Ma ago

loo .....

Present

B
Fig.10:Platereconstruction
showing
therelationship
between
thepresent
geometry
ofthesubducted
Cocos
Plateandthelikelyconfiguration
ofthetrenchabout 7 Maago.Thecontoursin bothfigures
represent
depth
tothepresent
daysurfaceofthesubducted
plate.
In (a),thecontours
arefixedrelative
totheCaribbean
plate.
The shadedregionsindicatethe Miocenevolcanic
arc [fromBurkart,
1983].Reconstruction
basedon relative
motionoftheCaribbeanandNorthAmerican Platesdetermined
bySykes etal.[1982].

greater depths. Such offsets are not observed in the tion, perhapsinitiating a changein the plate boundary
teleseismicdata. If thesesmall-scalesegmentsexist at from the Panama Fracture Zone to the next transform
shallowdepths,the plate must maintain enoughcon- fault to the west.The stresses
involvedin this change
tinuity acrossthe tears that at greater depthsthe sub- of plate boundarieswouldbe expectedto propagateor
ductedplate behavesas a continuous bodywhenviewed even initiate tears in the subductingplate. The loca-
at the resolution of the teleseismic data. tion of this new boundaryis near the end of the volcan-
ic chain,whichis significantlysoutheast
of the segment
Subduction
of Bathymetric
Features boundaryindicatedby the seismicdata. Pennington
[1981] pointed out that there are events on a transform
The CocosRidgeis associated with a clear change fault evenfartherwestthat seemto indicatethe ongo-
in plate geometry and seismic activity occurring ing processof shifting plate boundaries.This transform
ß1:'...,,,!4- ., .... 1 _'1 ........ • _J_ ___ A_ -__-'$1• zl• I ß
tauxvwuu-ub• lilulu cuil•l•l,•giib
WlbilbiilCoounuaryevi-
[1971] and Pennin•ton[1981] have proposedthat the dent in the seismicdata. Perhapsall of segmentI
subduerionof the CocosRidge effectivelyslowssubdu• represents a transition from the continuous subduction
7732 BURBACH
ETAL;SUBDUCTED
Cocos PLATE

2/DEC/74 24/DEC/74 4/FEB/76 6/FEB/76

44 45 50 51
7/JUN/76 20/AUG/77
14/MAR/75 23/APR/75

• O

1•\ %",/
\ ß ,?

46 52 53

20/AUG/77 22/FEB/78
15/NOV/75 1/FEB/76

54 55

Fig. Ai: New focal mechanisms.

in segmentII to the stoppage at the Cocos end of this gap in seismicity may well be associated
of subduction
Ridge. with the Orozco Fracture Zone, but there is no direct
evidence to illuminate the nature of this association.
'•There is no clear indicationof a tear or major
chang•i•jn
character
of subduction
associated
directly Differences in the characteristics of the three ridges
with 'the Tehuantepec Ridge. The zone of deeper may explain why the CocosRidge is the only one to
seismicitydefining segmei•tII extendscontinuously stronglyaffect the subductionprocess.The CocosRidge
across the •xtension
of theTehuantepec Ridge.Since is a massivehot-spottrace [He• et al. 1977] and thus is
thestrikedf;'the
ridgeisnearlyparallel
tothedirectionthicker and perhapsmore bouyantthan ordinary ocean-
of convergence,
this indicatesthat the SegmentII-III ic crust. Such a feature is likely to slow or stop subduc-
boundaryis not directly related to the ridge. It is possi- tion [Kelleherand McCann,1976; Vogtet a/.,1976], espe-
ble that the addedbouyancyof the ridge may causethe cially as it is locatedso near the edgeof the subducting
subduction to have a slightly shallower dip in the plate. The TehuantepecRidge and Orozco Fracture
northwesternend of segmentII, causingthis end of the Zone are extinct transform boundaries. Although they
segmentto extO•{dfurtherinland from the trench. may have someanomalousthicknessand/or bouyancy,
There is also no clear indication of any change in plate it is unlikely to be as significant as the CocosRidge.
geometrythat can be directly related to the Orozco These old transform boundaries may be weaker than
Fracture zone. Nixon [1982] pointed out that the gap in the surroundinglithosphereand may provide the ideal
intermediate-depthseismicityassociatedwith the seg- locations for tears to develop in the subducting plate.
ment II-III boundary ends roughly at the OrozcoFrac- At present,neither of theseridgescan be clearly corre-
ture Zone. This led him to postulate that the gap was lated with any tears visible in the earthquake data.
due to the youngerage of the subductinglithosphere
between the Orozco Fracture Zone and the Tehuantepec Tectonic
Speculations
Ridge.This age differenceis probablynot large, howev-
er, and it seemsmore likely that the gap is causedby Burkart [1983] showed that the motion on the Po-
the change in orientation betweenthe segments.The lochic fault about 7 Ma ago probably was responsible
 BURBACH
ETAL;SUBDUCTED
COCOS
PLATE 7733

31/MAY/78
19/MAR/78

o
l•/AUG/78
5/JUL/?8

23/AUG/78

10/S • 6/DEC/78

61 63

Fig. A1. (continued)

for the small offset in the trench just north of the which has begun to readjust to the newer trench confi-
Tehuantepec Ridge. He also showed that most of the guration.
motion between the North American and the Caribbean This mode] is consistentwith the theory that sub-
Plates for the last 7 Ma probably has been on the ducted plates become anchored in the mantle and thus
Motagua fault. Sykeset al. [1982] showedthat the aver- the geometryof subduction
is large]y-contro]]ed
by the
agerateofrelative motion betweenthes]•plates
forthe
last 7 Ma is probably about 37 mm a- . To examine
absolutemotion of the overridingplates relative to the
mantle [Moberly,1972; Hyndman,1972; Uyedaand
the effectof the relativemotionof the two overriding Kanamori, 1979]. The absolute motion of the North
plateson the geometryon the subducted plate, we have American Plate is mostly westward and toward the
adopted a simplified version of this model and moved trench, while the absolute motion of the Caribbean
the North AmericanPlate back to its positionabout 7 Plate is much slowerand slightly away from the trench
Ma ago relative to the CaribbeanPlate (Figure 10). [Jordan,1975;CrossandPilger,1982]. If subducted plates
Several features of this reconstruction are notable. are anchored in the mantle, the North American Plat•
First, it removesthe small offsetin the trench. Second, should override the subduction zone and the Caribbean
it aligns the Miocene volcanics, which are coincident Plate shouldremain nearly stationarywith respectto
with the recent volcanism in Guatemala and continue the subduction zone.
on the oppositesideof the Gulf of Tehuantepec,signifi- This model explains several features of subduction
cantly south of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Final- in this region. In additionto explainingthe variation in
ly, the presentday contoursof the subducted
plate in the volcano-trench
gap observedalong segmentII, the
segment II are nearly parallel to the reconstructed relative motion between the North American Plate and
trench, suggestingthat the motion of the North Ameri- the deeperpart of the subductingplate also explains
can Plate has pushed the modern trench axis westward the broad and discontinuouspattern of volcanismin the
without significantlyaffectingthe geometryof subduc- Trans-MexicanVolcanicBelt. Where the overriding
tion below. In other words, the North American Plate plate remains motionless relative to the volcano-
appearsto be overridingthe subductionzone. Segment producingdepth of the subductingplate, a narrow con-
III in this model is that portion of the subductionzone tinuous chain of volcanoesresults, as in Central Ameri-
7734 BURBACHET AL; SUBDUCTEDCOCOSPLATE

ca. Where the overriding plate moves relative to the Chapple,W. M., and D. W. Forsyth,Earthquakesand bending
volcano-producing depth of the subducting plate, a of platesat trenches,J. Geophys.
Res.,84, 6729-6749,1979.
broader and less continuous belt of volcanism similar to Cross, T. A., and R. H. Pilger, Controls of subductiongeometry
location of magmatic arcs, and tectonics of arc and back-arc
the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt shouldbe expected. regions,Geol. Soc.Am. Bull.,93, 545-562,1982.
Davies, J, N., and L. House. Aleutian subduction zone seismici-
APPENDIX I ty, volcano-trench separation, and their relation to great
thrust-type earthquakes. J. Geophys.Res., 84, 4583-4591,
New focal mechanisms presented in this study. All are 1979.
For date, location Dean, B. W., Focal mechanismsolutionsand tectonicsof the
lower hemisphereequal-areaprojections.
and other information, see Table 1 in text or appendix 4, Middle America arc. master's thesis, Dartmouth College,
available in microfiche. All first motions were read from mi- Hanover, N.H., 1976.
crofilm copies of the original seismograms. The open circles Dean, B. W., and C. L. Drake, Focal mechanism solutions and
represent dilataional first motions, the solid circles compres- tectonics of the Middle America Arc, J. Geol., 86, 111-128,
sional first motions, the rayed open circles are emergent- 1978.
dilatational, the rayed solid circles are emergent- Dewey, J. W. Seismicity and tectonics of western Venezuela,
compressional, the crossed circles are emergent- Bull. Seismol.Soc.Am., 62, 1711-1751, 1972.
and the sti•aightbarsare $ wavepolariztion DeweY,J. W., and S. T. Algermissen,Seismicityof the Middle
indeterminate,
direction. Americaarc-trenchsystemnear Managua,Nicaragua•Bull.
Seismol.Soc. Am., 64, 1033-1048, 1974.
Acknowledgments.
Our thanks and appreciationgo to Randy Douglas, A., Joint epicenter determination, Nature, 215, 187-
White and Dave Harlow for the use of Figure 7a and to Mike 197, 1967.
Bevisfor processing
our data with his trendsurfaceanalysis Engdahl,E. R., Seismicityand plate subductionin the central
routines. We also thank Selena Billington and many others at Aleutians, IslandArcs, DeepSeaTrenches,
and Back-ArcBasins,
CIRES/NOAA in Boulder, Colorado for their assistancein us- MauriceEwingSer.,vol. 1, editedby M. Talwani and W. C.
ing the microfilm seismogram library there. We thank Eli Pitman III, pp. 259-272, AGU, Washington, D.C., 1977.
Silver and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive Engdahl, E. R. , N.H. Sleep, and M. T. Lin, Plate effects in
suggestions.This work was funded by the National Science north Pacific subductionzones, Tectonophysics, 37, 95-116,
Foundationunder grant EAR-7915249. G. V. Burbachwas also 1977.
supportedby a fellowship from the Industrial Associatesof the Fitch. T., Plate convergence,transcurrent faults and internal
University of Texas Institute for Geophysicsduring part of the deformation adjacent to southeast Asia and the western Pa-
time he was working on this study. The Owen-CoatesFund of cific, J. ]. Geophys.
Res.,77,4432-4460, 1977
the University of Texas Geology Foundation provided partial Frohlich, C., An efficient method for joint hypocenter determi-
funding for publication costs. This is the University of Texas nation for large groups of earthquakes.Cornput.Geosci.,
Institute for Geophysicscontribution 590. $(3/4), 387-389, 1979.
Frohlich, C., S. Billington, E. R. Engdahl, and A. Malahoff,
Detection and location of earthquakes in the central Aleu-
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(Received May 16, 1983;
revised April 24, 1984;
acceptedApril 26, 1984)