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Published August 2013 | Supplemental Material + Published
Journal Article Open

Evidence of upper-mantle processes related to continental rifting versus oceanic crust in the Gulf of California

Abstract

Receiver functions from teleseismic events, recorded by stations around the Gulf of California, are used to map the upper-mantle seismic discontinuities. We observe a mean transition zone thickness comparable to the global average for most of the region. A low-velocity layer is detected above the 410 discontinuity that varies in thickness along the Gulf of California. The 660 discontinuity shows complex waveforms south of latitude 30◦N as a result of the phase change of garnet to perovskite. Within the transition zone, a complex behaviour of the receiver functions is observed mainly at the southern end of the Gulf. The north–south variations of this zone are likely associated with a slab window at the northern Gulf, resulting from the cessation of subduction of the Farallon plate 12 Ma, and the subduction of the Guadalupe and Magdalena microplates at the southern end, resulting in a hydrated upper mantle. Our results suggest that change in rifting styles occurring along the Gulf of California mirrors deeper processes in the upper mantle.

Additional Information

© 2013 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Astronomical Society. Accepted 2013 April 4. Received 2013 April 3; in original form 2012 June 27. First published online: April 30, 2013. Figures were done using Generic Mapping Tools (Wessel & Smith 1991). We thank three anonymous reviewers whose comments improved this paper.We thank Cicese for data and maintenance of the RESBAN and NARS-Baja stations and the SSN and the SCSN for their data and station maintenance. The operation of the RESBAN array (Red Sismológica de Banda Ancha del Golfo de California) has been possible thanks to the financial support of the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (Conacyt) by means of the projects 48852, 62116. Partial funding for this work was provided by project DGAPA-IN105910, and by the Tectonics Observatory at Caltech, which is funded by the Betty and Gordon Moore Foundation. This is contribution #203 from the Tectonics Observatory. X.P.-C. had a sabbatical fellowship from DGAPA-UNAM and thanks the Tectonics Observatory at Caltech for partial funding.

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Supplemental Material - PerezCamposAndClayton_SupplementaryInformation.doc

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August 22, 2023
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