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Styles and Productivity of Mud Diapirism along the Middle American Margin

Part I. Margin Evolution, Segmentation, Dewatering and Mud Diapirism

  • Conference paper
Mud Volcanoes, Geodynamics and Seismicity

Part of the book series: NATO Science Series ((NAIV,volume 51))

Abstract

Mud diapirism is a common phenomenon of accretionary convergent margins but less common in erosive margins. Fluid venting associated with mud diapirism is of importance for the dewatering of the forearc and the resulting devolatilisation of the entire subduction zone. The margin offshore Costa Rica is today interpreted as erosive and subdivided into two major structural domains on grounds of the roughness of the downgoing plate: a smooth domain in the north where normal oceanic crust originating at the East Pacific Rise, and a rough southern domain where the margin is uplifted and fractured by the collision of the Cocos Ridge and numerous adjacent volcanic seamounts. These structural differences are reflected in differences in the output at the volcanic arc, dewatering mechanisms, and the abundance and geometry of mud mounds in the forearc. Diapiric mud mound occurrences in the smooth domain are most abundant in the middle and upper slope and apparently do not correlate with the maximum of compactional water release of the incoming sedimentary sequence. We invoke rapid changes in sedimentation rate and addition of accommodation space due to extensional faulting of the wedge to explain the observed mound distribution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sonderforschungsbereich 574, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Wischhofstr. 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Tobias Moerz, Warner Brueckmann, Noemi Fekete, Daniel A. Hepp, Erwin Suess & Wilhelm Weinrebe

  2. GEOMAR Research Centre, Wischhofstr 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Warner Brueckmann, Erwin Suess & Wilhelm Weinrebe

  3. Research Centre Ocean Margins, University of Bremen, Klagenfurter Str., 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Achim Kopf

  4. SO14 3ZH, Southampton Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton, UK

    Veit Huehnerbach & Douglas G. Masson

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  1. Tobias Moerz
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  1. ARPA, Environmental Protection Agency of Emilia-Romagna Region, Reggio Emilia, Italy

    Giovanni Martinelli

  2. Geology Institute, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan

    Behrouz Panahi

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Moerz, T. et al. (2005). Styles and Productivity of Mud Diapirism along the Middle American Margin. In: Martinelli, G., Panahi, B. (eds) Mud Volcanoes, Geodynamics and Seismicity. NATO Science Series, vol 51. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3204-8_4

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