Are Volatiles from Subducted Ridges on the Pampean Flat Slab Fracking
the Crust? Evidence from an Enhanced Seismicity Catalogue
Abstract
Seamounts and ridges are often invoked to explain subduction-related
phenomena, but the extent of their involvement remains controversial. An
analysis of seismicity in the region of the Pampean flat slab through an
application of an automated catalogue generation algorithm resulted in
143,716 local earthquake hypocenters, 35,924 of which are associated
with at least 12 arrival time estimates, at least 3 of which are from S
waves, along with a total of 12,172 focal mechanisms. Several new
features related to the subduction of the Juan Fernandez Ridge were
discovered, including: (1) a series of parallel lineaments of seismicity
in the subducted Nazca plate separated by about 50 km and striking about
20, and (2) a strong spatial correlation between these deeper
(> 80 km depth) regions of intense seismicity and
concentrations of activity in the crust almost directly above it. Focal
mechanisms of the deeper events are almost exclusively normal, while
those in the crust are predominantly reverse. The deeper lineaments
mirror the origination and spacing of several seamount chains seen on
the Nazca plate, suggesting that these patterns are caused by these same
types of features at depth. This would imply that relatively minor
features persist as slab anomalies long after they are subducted. The
correlation of these deeper features with seismicity in the mid to lower
crust suggests a genetic relation between the two. We postulate that
volatiles from the subducted ridges percolate into the South American
crust and induce seismicity essentially by fracking it.