Interaction of Cocos and Rivera plates with the upper-mantle transition zone underneath central Mexico

Abstract

Receiver functions (RFs) from 224 permanent and temporary stations in central and southern Mexico were used to characterize the upper-mantle transition zone in that region. Discontinuities at 410 and 660 km depth are both deeper compared to iasp91, which reflects a slow velocity anomaly in the upper mantle. They show topography on the interfaces that is consistent with the interaction of the subducted slab or its broken off extension. A low-velocity layer on top of the 410 is identified mainly on the continental side of where the slab pierces it (i.e. in the lee of the slab roll-back). In general the RFs show a complex behaviour where the mantle has been disturbed by the lateral motion of the subducted slab, and are simple where it has not. Complexity on the 660 coincides with the place where the broken off portion of the Farallon Plate would have penetrated this interface or is possibly lying on top of it.

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