Velocity and Anisotropic Structure of the Uppermost Mantle Beneath Central America and Northwestern South America From Pn Tomography

We constructed the first Pn velocity and anisotropy model of the uppermost mantle in Central America and northwestern South America using the Pn tomography method and new ISC‐EHB data. Significantly low Pn velocities and arc‐parallel anisotropic structures are observed beneath the volcanic arc in Central America. The separate, low Pn velocity beneath the back‐arc volcano in Nicaragua shows that the hot material upwelling in the uppermost mantle beneath this volcano is likely separated from the main volcanic arc. The stable Caribbean Plate is characterized by high Pn velocities. The southward subduction and dehydration of the Caribbean Plate seem to be potential causes of the low Pn velocities in eastern Panama. Based on our Pn velocity, anisotropy and previous geological observations, we suggest a dynamic model of the Colombia‐Ecuador region including mantle flow and magmatic gap: there is arc‐parallel anisotropy in the uppermost mantle beneath the Colombia‐Ecuador volcanic arc, arc‐perpendicular mantle flow in the deeper mantle beneath the subducted plate, and a magmatic gap near the Caldas Tear.

• Publication year

  2022

• Venue

  Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth

• Publication date

  2022-03-22

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1029/2021JB023643
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• New Uppermost Mantle Pn Velocity and Anisotropy Model of the Eastern Caribbean

  2021cited by this paper
• Anisotropic Pn Tomography of Alaska and Adjacent Regions

  2021cited by this paper
• Supplemental Material: Quaternary sodic and potassic intraplate volcanism in northeast China controlled by the underlying heterogeneous lithospheric structures

  2021cited by this paper
• ISC‐EHB 1964–2016, an Improved Data Set for Studies of Earth Structure and Global Seismicity

  2020influential reference
• Complex Uppermost Mantle Structure and Deformation Beneath the Northwest Pacific Region

  2019cited by this paper
• Tomographic Imaging of Slab Segmentation and Deformation in the Greater Antilles

  2018cited by this paper
• Tearing of Indian mantle lithosphere from high-resolution seismic images and its implications for lithosphere coupling in southern Tibet

  2018cited by this paper
• Pn tomography with Moho depth correction from eastern Europe to western China

  2017cited by this paper
• Shear wave anisotropy in northwestern South America and its link to the Caribbean and Nazca subduction geodynamics

  2016influential reference
• Seismic anisotropy tomography: New insight into subduction dynamics

  2016cited by this paper
• Deep-crustal magma reservoirs beneath the Nicaraguan volcanic arc, revealed by 2-D and semi 3-D inversion of magnetotelluric data

  2015cited by this paper
• Equivalent Heterogeneity Analysis as a Tool for Understanding the Resolving Power of Anisotropic Travel‐Time Tomography

  2015cited by this paper
• Mantle flow at the highly arcuate northeast corner of the Lesser Antilles subduction zone: Constraints from shear-wave splitting analyses

  2015influential reference
• Pn anisotropic tomography and dynamics under eastern Tibetan plateau

  2014cited by this paper
• Seismic anisotropy and slab dynamics from SKS splitting recorded in Colombia

  2014influential reference
• Sub‐slab anisotropy beneath the Sumatra and circum‐Pacific subduction zones from source‐side shear wave splitting observations

  2014cited by this paper
• Tearing and Breaking Off of Subducted Slabs as the Result of Collision of the Panama Arc‐Indenter with Northwestern South America

  2013cited by this paper
• Tectonic evolution and mantle structure of the Caribbean

  2013cited by this paper
• Crustal and mantle shear velocity structure of Costa Rica and Nicaragua from ambient noise and teleseismic Rayleigh wave tomography

  2013cited by this paper
• Volcanism and Geochemistry in Central America: Progress and Problems

  2013cited by this paper
• On the relationship between azimuthal anisotropy from shear wave splitting and surface wave tomography

  2012cited by this paper
• Mantle flow beneath northwestern Venezuela: Seismic evidence for a deep origin of the Mérida Andes

  2011cited by this paper
• Structure and serpentinization of the subducting Cocos plate offshore Nicaragua and Costa Rica

  2011cited by this paper
• Tomographic Pn and Sn velocity beneath the continental collision zone from Alps to Himalaya

  2011cited by this paper
• A New Look at Evidence for a Wadati–Benioff Zone and Active Convergence at the North Panama Deformed Belt

  2010cited by this paper
• Constraints on upper mantle anisotropy surrounding the Cocos slab from SK(K)S splitting

  2010cited by this paper
• Subduction in the southern Caribbean: Images from finite‐frequency P wave tomography

  2010cited by this paper
• Mantle dynamics and seismic anisotropy

  2010cited by this paper
• Trench-parallel anisotropy produced by serpentine deformation in the hydrated mantle wedge

  2009cited by this paper
• Constraints on mantle flow at the Caribbean–South American plate boundary inferred from shear wave splitting

  2009cited by this paper
• A new global model for P wave speed variations in Earth's mantle

  2008cited by this paper
• Arc-parallel flow in the mantle wedge beneath Costa Rica and Nicaragua

  2008influential reference
• Pn tomography of the western United States using USArray

  2008cited by this paper
• Sub-slab mantle flow parallel to the Caribbean plate boundaries: Inferences from SKS splitting

  2008cited by this paper
• Seismic tomography and earthquake locations in the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican upper mantle

  2008cited by this paper
• Upper mantle structure beneath the Caribbean‐South American plate boundary from surface wave tomography

  2007influential reference
• Global travel time tomography with 3-D reference models

  2007cited by this paper
• Upper mantle seismic velocities and anisotropy in China determined through Pn and Sn tomography

  2007cited by this paper
• B-type olivine fabric in the mantle wedge: Insights from high-resolution non-Newtonian subduction zone models

  2005cited by this paper
• Creation of the Cocos and Nazca plates by fission of the Farallon plate

  2005cited by this paper
• Tomographic Inversion of Pn Travel Times in China: Implications for lithosphere thinning and deformation of North China

  2004cited by this paper
• Geodynamics of the northern Andes: Subductions and intracontinental deformation (Colombia)

  2000cited by this paper
• Uppermost mantle velocities and anisotropy beneath Europe

  1999influential reference
• Water, partial melting and the origin of the seismic low velocity and high attenuation zone in the upper mantle

  1998cited by this paper
• Closing the gap between regional and global travel time tomography

  1998cited by this paper
• Evidence for deep mantle circulation from global tomography

  1997cited by this paper
• Anisotropic Pn tomography in the western United States

  1996influential reference
• Pn Velocities Beneath Continental Collision Zones: the Turkish-Iranian Plateau

  1994cited by this paper
• Seismic azimuthal anisotropy beneath the Pakistan Himalayas

  1994cited by this paper
• Trench-Parallel Flow Beneath the Nazca Plate from Seismic Anisotropy

  1994cited by this paper
• LSQR: An Algorithm for Sparse Linear Equations and Sparse Least Squares

  1982cited by this paper
• Subduction of the Eastern Panama Basin and seismotectonics of northwestern South America

  1981cited by this paper
• Tectonic evolution of the Cocos-Nazca spreading center

  1977influential reference
• Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth Uppermost mantle seismic velocity structure beneath USArray

  year unknowncited by this paper

• Slabs and Plumes Beneath South America Revealed by Whole-Mantle Tomography

  2026cites this paper
• A New High‐Resolution Broadband Lg Attenuation Model Beneath Colombia: Implications for Triple Junction Tectonics

  2025influential citation
• Lithosphere Removal in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

  2024cites this paper
• Pn Velocity and Anisotropy Tomography With Nonuniform Grid Beneath the Ryukyu–Taiwan–Philippines Region

  2024cites this paper
• New Constraints on the Complex Subduction and Tearing Model of the Cocos Plate Using Anisotropic Pn Tomography

  2023cites this paper
• Lithospheric underthrusting beneath the northern Eastern Cordillera plateau, Colombian Andes: Insights from analyzing tomographic inversion using local earthquake travel time and gravity data

  2023cites this paper
• Relating steep REE patterns in modern volcanism and the development of an amphibole-rich middle to lower crust at the Colombian magmatic arc: A geochemical and receiver functions approach

  2023cites this paper