Thermal structure, coupling and metamorphism in the Mexican subduction zone beneath Guerrero

Simple analytic model for subduction zone thermal structure

A new analytic model is presented for the thermal structure of subduction zones. It applies to the deeper regions of a subduction zone, where the overriding mantle is no longer rigid but flows parallel to the slab surface. The model captures the development of one thermal boundary layer out into the mantle wedge, and another into the subducting slab. By combining this model with the analytic mo...

Reply to comment by W. P. Schellart on ‘‘The thermal structure of subduction zone back arcs’’

[1] Currie and Hyndman [2006] documented the evidence that the majority of continental back arcs are uniformly hot with thin lithospheres over regional extents of hundreds of kilometers, even if where is no thermally significant extension. Using a number of independent observations, we showed that eight such current subduction zones have similar thermal regimes, with Moho temperatures greater t...

Subduction-zone structure and magmatic processes beneath Costa Rica constrained by local earthquake tomography and petrological modelling

S U M M A R Y A high-quality data set of 3790 earthquakes were simultaneously inverted for hypocentre locations and 3-D P-wave velocities in Costa Rica. Tests with synthetic data and resolution estimates derived from the resolution matrix indicate that the velocity model is well constrained in central Costa Rica to a depth of 70 km; northwestern and southeastern Costa Rica are less well resolve...

Mantle Transition Zone Topography and Structure Beneath the Yellowstone Hotspot

Time-scales of magma formation, ascent and storage beneath subduction-zone volcanoes

There is now su ̄ cient information to attempt an integrated model for melt generation, transfer and storage beneath subduction-zone volcanoes. Fluid release from the subducting oceanic crust into the mantle wedge may occur over a period ranging from a few hundred kyr, to as little as less than 1 kyr, before eruption. This supports models in which ®uid addition is closely linked to partial melti...