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Farallon Slab Detachment and Deformation of the Magdalena Shelf, Southern Baja California
Brothers, Daniel Harding, Alistair González-Fernández, Antonio Holbrook, W. Steven Kent, Graham Driscoll, Neal Fletcher, John Lizarralde, Dan Umhoefer, Paul Axen, Gary
Brothers, Daniel
Harding, Alistair
González-Fernández, Antonio
Holbrook, W. Steven
Kent, Graham
Driscoll, Neal
Fletcher, John
Lizarralde, Dan
Umhoefer, Paul
Axen, Gary
Abstract
Description
Subduction of the Farallon plate beneath northwestern Mexico stalled by ~12 Ma when the Pacific-Farallon spreading-ridge approached the subduction zone. Coupling between remnant slab and the overriding North American plate played an important role in the capture of the Baja California (BC) microplate by the Pacific Plate. Active-source seismic reflection and wide-angle seismic refraction profiles across southwestern BC (~24.5N) are used to image the extent of remnant slab and study its impact on the overriding plate. We infer that the hot, buoyant slab detached ~40 km landward of the fossil trench. Isostatic rebound following slab detachment uplifted the margin and exposed the Magdalena Shelf to wave-base erosion. Subsequent cooling, subsidence and transtensional opening along the shelf (starting ~8 Ma) starved the fossil trench of terrigenous sediment input. Slab detachment and the resultant rebound of the margin provide a mechanism for rapid uplift and exhumation of forearc subduction complexes.
Date
2012-05-08
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Publisher
University of Wyoming. Libraries
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Keywords
California,Forearc,Isostatic rebound,Me-xico,Microplates,North American,Pacific plates,Seismic reflections,Seismic refraction,Slab detachment,Subduction zones,Subsequent cooling,Terrigenous sediment