Mantle flow at the highly arcuate northeast corner of the Lesser Antilles subduction zone: Constraints from shearwave splitting analyses

Michael Hodges, Meghan S. Miller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Seismic anisotropy is used to investigate deformation in subduction zones, where many dynamic processes are at play. Recently, a global pattern of trench-parallel subslab mantle deformation in subduction zones has emerged through shear-wave splitting measurements. We investigated the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean to find that the northeast corner of the subduction zone presents an interesting setting in which to observe seismic anisotropy, where the trench-parallel subslab splitting signal may become complicated due to oblique subduction. Here, we present 201 shear-wave splitting measurements of SKS and SKKS phases from teleseismic events recorded at 20 broadband seismic stations in the northeastern Caribbean. We observe average apparent fast polarization directions (f) that are primarily trench-parallel, with average delay times (dt) ranging from 0.5 s to 2.0 s. Our results suggest trench-parallel mantle flow is continuous along the northeastern plate boundary where the Lesser Antilles subduction zone changes strike from nearly east-west trending to north-south trending. Our preferred explanation for the observed splitting pattern is that the dominant process is subslab mantle return flow.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)579-587
Number of pages9
JournalLithosphere
Volume7
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes

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