Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Geometric Aspects of the Full Moment Tensors in the Gulf of California and the Mexican East Pacific Rise

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Geodynamics of the Latin American Pacific Margin

Part of the book series: Pageoph Topical Volumes ((PTV))

  • 898 Accesses

Abstract

The East Pacific Rise (EPR) and the Gulf of California (GC) have different tectonic histories. While the EPR has been present for 75 Ma, the GC started only 12.5 Myr. The region that links both systems is the Tamayo Fracture Zone, where a diffuse triple junction is located. A key question to be solved is whether the source mechanisms in this region reflect important variations from the GC to the EPR. Therefore, we analyzed the seismic moment tensors of the GC and the EPR using a full moment tensor inversion. This source model is useful in extensional regimes where isotropic components or complex faults are present. The full moment tensor is the best representation of the fault and slip direction in a rifting process because it resolves for six free parameters, including complex sources of pure shear dislocations. The analysis is similar to the deviatoric case, but the interpretation is different, because physical characteristics in the model allow for choosing a realistic style of rupture. Our results show that there are similarities between focal mechanisms determined by full moment tensors computed for the southern part of the GC and the EPR. We suggest that the EPR is tectonically linked to the GC not only at the diffuse triple junction region but also along the entire province. The rupture patterns of the GC and the EPR are slightly different: whereas the GC is partitioned by means of NW–SE faults, the EPR ruptures through a faulting system NE–SW. The geometrical relations of the extensional province of the GC and the EPR were present since the crustal thinning of the rifting process. Strain partitioning of faults explains easily the nature of the oblique divergence of the GC and the EPR. In addition, in our analysis, we observe clockwise rotation in the structures of the southern part of the GC, suggesting that there is a change in the spatial partitioning of this region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abercrombie, R.E., Antolik, M., and Ekstrom, G. (2003), The June 2000 Mw 7.9 Earthquakes South of Sumatra: Deformation in the India–Australia Plate, J. Geophys. Res. 108(B1), 1–16. doi:10.1029/2001JB000674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adamova, P., and Sileny, J. (2010), Non-Double-Couple Earthquake Mechanism as an Artifact of the Point-Source Approach Applied to a Finite-Extent Focus, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 100, 447–457. doi:10.1785/0120090097.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aki, K. (1984), Evidence for Magma Intrusion during the Mammoth Lakes Earthquakes of May 1980 and Implications of the Absence of Volcanic (Harmonic) Tremor, J. Geophys. Res. 89(B9), 7689–7696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aki, K., and Richards, P., Quantitative Seismology (University Science Books, Sausalito 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Angelier, J., Colletta, B., Chorowicz, J., Ortlieb, L., and Rangin, C. (1981), Fault Tectonics of the Baja California Peninsula and the Opening of the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, J. Struct. Geol. 3(4), 347–357. doi:10.1016/0191-8141(81)90035-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atwater, T. (1970), Implications of Plate Tectonics for the Cenozoic Tectonic Evolution of Western North America, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 81, 3513– 3536. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1970)81[3513:IOPTFT]2.0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atwater, T., and Stock, J. (1998), Pacific–North America Plate Tectonics of the Neogene Southwestern United States: An update, Int. Geol. Rev. 40, 375–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Axen, G.J., Grove, M., Stockli, D., Lovera, O.M., Rothstien, D.A., Fletcher, J.M., Farley, K., and Abbott, P.L. (2000), Thermal Evolution of Monte Blanco Dome: Low-Angle Normal Faulting during Gulf of California Rifting and Late Eocene Denudation of the Eastern Peninsular Ranges, Tectonics 19, 197–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bassin, C., Laske, G., and Masters, G. (2000), The Current Limits of Resolution for Surface Wave Tomography in North America, Eos Trans. AGU 81:F897

    Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Menahen, A., and Singh, S.J., Seismic Waves and Sources (Springer, New York 1981).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Zion, Y., and Ampuero, J.P. (2009), Seismic Radiation from Regions Sustaining Material Damage, Geophys. J. Int. 178, 1351–1356, doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04285.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bohnenstiehl, D.R., and Dziak, R.P., Mid-ocean Ridge Seismicity, In Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences, 2nd ed. (ed. Steele, J.H., Turekian, K.K., and Thorpe, S.A.) (Elsevier, Boston 2009) pp. 837–851.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bohnenstiehl, D.R., Tolstoy, M., Dziak, R.P., Fox, C.G., and Smith, D.K. (2002), Aftershock Sequences in the Mid-ocean Ridge Environment: An Analysis Using Hydroacoustic Data, Tectonophysics 354(1–2), 49–70. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(02)00289-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, D., and Hudson, J.A. (1999), Defining the Scalar Moment of a Seismic Source with a General Moment Tensor, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 89(5), 1390–1394.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brune, J.N., Brown, N.S., and Johnson, P.A. (1993), Rupture Mechanism and Interface Separation in Foam Rubber Models of Earthquakes: A Possible Solution to the Heat Flow Paradox and the Paradox of Large Overthrusts, Tectonophysics 218, 59–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castro, R. R., A. Perez-Vertti, I. Mendez, A. Mendoza, and L. Inzunza (2010). Location of moderate-sized earthquakes recorded by the NARS-Baja Array in the Gulf of California region between 2002 and 2006, Pure Appl. Geophys. 168, no. 8–9, 1279–1292, doi:10.1007/s00024-010-0177-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castro, R.R., and Ben-Zion, Y. (2013), Potential Signatures of Damage-Related Radiation from Aftershocks of the 4 April 2010 (Mw 7.2) El Mayor–Cucapah Earthquake, Baja California, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 103, 1130–1140. doi:10.1785/0120120163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, C.H., and Leaney, W.S. (2012), A New Moment Tensor Decomposition for Seismic Events in Anisotropic Media, Geophys. J. Int. 188, 343–370. doi:10.1111/j1365-246X.2011.05265.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton, R.W., Trampert, J., Rebollar, C.J., Ritsema, J., Persaud, P., Paulssen, H., Pérez-Campos, X., van Wettum, A., Pérez-Vertti, A. and F. Di Luccio (2004). The NARS-Baja Array in the Gulf of California Rift Zone, Margins Newsl. 13, 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeMets, C. (1995), A Reappraisal of Seafloor Spreading Lineations in the Gulf of California: Implications for the Transfer of Baja California to the Pacific Plate and Estimates of Pacific–North America Motion, Geophys. Res. Lett. 22(24), 3545–3548. doi:10.1029/95GL03323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Luccio, F., Persaud, P., and Clayton, R.W. (2014), Seismic Structure beneath the Gulf of California: A Contribution from Group Velocity Measurements, Geophys. J. Int. 199(3), 1861–1877.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dorsey, R.J., and Umhoefer, P.J. (2000), Tectonic and Eustatic Controls on Sequence Stratigraphy of the Pliocene Loreto Basin, Baja California Sur, Mexico, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 112, 177–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreger, D.S., Tkalcic, H., and Johnston, P.A. (2000), Dilatational Processes Accompanying Earthquakes in the Long Valley Caldera, Science 288, 122–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dufumier, H., and Rivera, L. (1997), On the Resolution of the Isotropic Component in Moment Tensor Inversion, Geophys. J. Int. 131, 595–606. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1997.tb06601.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dziak, R.P., Bohnenstiehl, D.R., Matsumoto, H., Fowler, M.J., Haxel, J.H., Tolstoy, M., and Waldhauser, F. (2009), January 2006 Seafloor-Spreading Event at 9°50′N, East Pacific Rise: Ridge Dike Intrusion and Transform Fault Interactions from Regional Hydroacoustic Data, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 10. doi:10.1029/2009GC002388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engeln, J.F., Wiens, D.A., and Stein, S. (1986), Mechanisms and Depths of Atlantic Transform Earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res. 91, 548–577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, J., and Munguía, L. (2000), Active Continental Rifting in Southern Baja California, Mexico: Implications for Plate Motion Partitioning and the Transition to Seafloor Spreading in the Gulf of California, Tectonics 19, 1107–1123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, J.M., Grove, M., Kimbrough, D., Lovera, O., and Gehrels, G.E. (2007), Ridge-Trench Interactions and the Neogene Tectonic Evolution of the Magdalena Shelf and Southern Gulf of California: Insights from Detrital Zircon U-Pb Ages from the Magdalena Fan and Adjacent Areas, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 119, 1313–1336. doi:10.1130/B26067.1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford, S.R., Dreger, D.S., and Walter, W.R. (2009), Identifying Isotropic Events Using a Regional Moment Tensor Inversion, J. Geophys. Res. 114, B01306, 1–12, doi:10.1029/2008JB005743.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foulger, G., and Long, R.E. (1984), Anomalous Focal Mechanisms: Tensile Crack Formation on an Accreting Plate Boundary, Nature 310, 43–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, C.G., Matsumoto, H., and Lauc, T.-K.A. (2001), Monitoring Pacific Ocean Seismicity from an Autonomous Hydrophone Array, J. Geophys. Res. 106(B3), 4183–4206. doi:10.1029/2000JB900404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukuyama, E., and Dreger, D. (2000), Performance Test of an Automated Moment Tensor Determination System for the Future “Tokai” Earthquake, Earth Planets Space 52, 383–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goff, J.A., Bergman, E.A., and Solomon, S.C. (1987), Earthquake Source Mechanism and Transform Fault Tectonics in the Gulf of California, J. Geophys. Res. 92, 10485–10510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hara, T. (1996), Determination of the Isotropic Component of Deep Focus Earthquakes by Inversion of Normal-Mode Data, Geophys. J. Int. 127(2), 515–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauksson, E., Stock, J., Hutton, K., Yang, W., Vidal-Villegas, J.A., and Kanamori, H. (2010), The 2010 Mw 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah Earthquake Sequence, Baja California, Mexico and Southernmost California, USA: Active Seismotectonics along the Mexican Pacific Margin, Pure Appl. Geophys. 168(8–9), 1255–1277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hausback, B.P., Cenozoic Volcanic and Tectonic Evolution of Baja California Sur, Mexico, PhD thesis (University of California, Berkeley 1984).

    Google Scholar 

  • Herrmann, R. B. (2013), Computer programs in seismology: An evolving tool for instruction and research, Seism. Res. Lettr. 84, 1081-1088, doi:10.1785/022011009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, J.A., Pearce, R.G., and Rogers, R.M. (1989), Source Type Plot for Inversion of the Moment Tensor, J. Geophys. Res. 94(B1), 765–774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Julian, B.R., and Sipkin, S.A. (1985), Earthquake Processes in the Long Valley Caldera Area, California, J. Geophys. Res. 90(B13), 11155–11169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanamori, H. (1977), The Energy Release in Great Earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res. 82, 2981–2987. doi:10.1029/JB082i020p02981.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawakatsu, H. (1991), Enigma of Earthquakes at Ridge-Transform-Fault Plate Boundaries: Distribution of Non-double Couple Parameter of Harvard CMT Solutions, Geophys. Res. Lett. 18(6), 1103–1106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knopoff, L., and Randall, M.J. (1970), The Compensated Linear Vector Dipole: A Possible Mechanism for Deep Earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res. 75, 4957–4963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Křížová, D., Zahradník, J., and Kratzi, A. (2013), Resolvability of Isotropic Component in Regional Seismic Moment Tensor Inversion, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 103, 2460–2473. doi:10.1785/0120120097.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lay, T., Ammon, C.J., Kanamori, H., Rivera, L., Koper, K.D., and Hutko, A.R. (2010), The 2009 Samoa-Tonga Great Earthquake Triggered Doublet, Nature 466, 964–968. doi:10.1038/nature09214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lizarralde, D., Axen, G.J., Brown, H.E., Fletcher, J.M., González-Fernández, A., Harding, A.J., Holbrook, W.S., Kent, G.M., Paramo, P., Sutherland, F., and Umhoefer, P.J. (2007), Variation in Styles of Rifting in the Gulf of California, Nature 448, 466–469. doi:10.1038/nature06035.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lomnitz, C., Mooser, F., Allen, C.R., Brune, J.N., and Thatcher, W. (1970), Seismicity and Tectonics of the Northern Gulf of California Region, Mexico: Preliminary Results, Geof. Int. 10, 37–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lonsdale, P., (1989), Geology and tectonic history of the Gulf of California, in Winterer, E.L., et al., eds., The eastern Pacific Ocean and Hawaii: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, Geology of North America, v. N, p. 499–521.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin-Barajas, A., Fletcher, J.M., Lopez-Martinez, M., and Mendoza Bornda, R. (2000), Waning Subduction and Arc Volcanism in Baja California: The San Luis Gonzaga Volcanic Field, Tectonophysics 318, 27–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, A.D., Julian, B.R., and Foulger, G.R. (1998), Three Dimensional Seismic Structure and Moment Tensors of Non-double Couple Earthquakes at the Hengill-Gresdallur Volcanic Complex, Iceland, Geophys. J. Int. 133, 309–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molnar, P. (1973), Fault Plane Solutions of Earthquakes and Direction of Motion in the Gulf of California and on the Rivera Fracture Zone, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 84, 1651–1658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer, E., Gupta, S., and Cowie, P. (2005), Clinoform Nucleation and Growth in Coarse-Grained Deltas, Loreto Basin, Baja California Sur, Mexico: A Response to Episodic Accelerations in Fault Displacement, Basin Res. 17, 337–359. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2117.2005.00273.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munguía, L.M., González, M., Mayer, S., and Aguirre, A. (2006), Seismicity and State of Stress in the La Paz–Los Cabos Region, Baja California Sur, Mexico, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 96(2), 624–636. doi:10.1785/0120050114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ortega, R., and Quintanar, L. (2010), Seismic Evidence of a Ridge-Parallel Strike Slip Fault off the Transform System in the Gulf of California, Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L06301. doi:10.1029/2009GL042208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ortega, R., Quintanar, L., and Rivera, L. (2013), Full Moment Tensor Variations and Isotropic Characteristics of Earthquakes in the Gulf of California Transform Fault System, Pure. Appl. Geophys. 171, 2805–2817. doi:10.1007/s00024-013-0758-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Campos, X., and Clayton, R.W. (2013), Evidence of Upper-Mantle Processes Related to Continental Rifting versus Oceanic Crust in the Gulf of California, Geophys. J. Int. 194(2), 952–960.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plattner, C., Malservisi, R., Dixon, T.H., LaFemina, P., Sella, G.F., Fletcher, J., and Suarez-Vidal, F. (2007), New Constraints on Relative Motion between the Pacific Plate and Baja California Microplate (Mexico) from GPS Measurements, Geophys. J. Int. 170(3), 1373–1380. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03494.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reichele, M., and Reid, I. (1977), Detailed Study of Earthquake Swarms from the Gulf of California, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 67, 159–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, I., Reichele, M., Brune, J., and Bradner, H. (1973), Micro-earthquake Studies Using Sonobuoys: Preliminary Results from the Gulf of California, J. R. Astron. Soc. 34, 365–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shi, Z., and Ben-Zion, Y. (2009), Seismic Radiation from Tensile and Shear Point Dislocations between Similar and Dissimilar Solids, Geophys. J. Int. 179, 444–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stock, J.M., and Hodges, K.V. (1989), Pre-Pliocene Extension around the Gulf of California and the Transfer of Baja California to the Pacific Plate, Tectonics 8(1), 99–115. doi:10.1029/TC008i001p00099.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stock, J.M., and Lee, J. (1994), Do Microplates in Subduction Zones Leave a Geological Record?, Tectonics 13, 1472–1487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sumy, D.F., Gaherty, J.B., Won-Young, K., Diehl, T., and Collins, J.A. (2013), The Mechanisms of Earthquakes and Faulting in the Southern Gulf of California, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 103, 487–506. doi:10.1785/0120120080.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sykes, L.R., Seismological Evidence for Transform Faults, Sea-floor Spreading and Continental Drift, In The History of the Earth’s Crust (ed. Phinney, X.) (Princeton University Press, Princeton 1968) pp. 120–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sykes, L. R., (1970), Focal mechanism solutions for earthquakes along the world rift system, Bull Seismol Soc Am 60, 1749–1752

    Google Scholar 

  • Thatcher, W., and Brune, J. (1971), Seismic Study of an Oceanic Ridge Earthquake Swarm in the Gulf of California, Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc. 22, 473–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trampert, J., Paulssen, H., vanWettum, A., Ritsema, J., Clayton, R., Castro, R., Rebollar, C., and Perez-Vertti, A. (2003), New Array Monitors Seismic Activity Near the Gulf of California in Mexico, Eos Trans. AGU 84, 29–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Umhoefer, P.J., Mayer, L., and Dorsey, R.J. (2002), Evolution of the Margin of the Gulf of California Near Loreto, Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 114, 849–868. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(2002)114<0849:EOTMOT>2.0.CO;2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Umhoefer, P.J., Sutherland, F., Kent, G., Harding, A., Lizarralde, D., Schwennicke, T., Fletcher, J., Holbrook, W.S., and Axen, G. (2008), Synchronous Changes in Rift-Margin Basins and Initiation of the Alarcón Spreading Ridge and Related Transform Fault, Southwestern Gulf of California, Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Prog. 40(6), 151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vavryčuk, V. (2004), Inversion for Anisotropy from Non-Double-Couple Components of Moment Tensors, J. Geophys. Res. 109, B07306, doi:10.1029/2003JB002926.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei, S., Fielding, E., Leprince, S., Sladen, A., Avouac, J.P., Helmberger, D., Hauksson, E., Chu, R., Simons, M., Hudnut, K., Herring, T., and Briggs, R. (2011), Superficial Simplicity of the 2010 El Mayor–Cucapah Earthquake of Baja California in Mexico, Nat. Geosci. 4, 615–618. doi:10.1038/ngeo1213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, C., Bergman, E., and Solomon, S. (1993), Oceanic Transform Earthquakes with Unusual Mechanisms or Locations: Relation to Fault Geometry and State of Stress in Adjacent Lithosphere, J. Geophys. Res. 98(B9), 16187–16211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Unidad La Paz. Miraflores 334. Col. Bellavista., 23050, La Paz, BCS, Mexico

    Roberto Ortega

  2. Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica, 04510, Coyoacán, Mexico

    Luis Quintanar

  3. CONACYT Research Fellow, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Unidad La Paz. Miraflores 334. Col. Bellavista, 23050, La Paz, BCS, Mexico

    Eduardo Huesca-Pérez

Authors
  1. Roberto Ortega
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luis Quintanar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eduardo Huesca-Pérez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto Ortega .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Geofísica Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico

    William L. Bandy

  2. Vatican City State Holy See, Italy

    Juanjo Dañobeitia

  3. Instituto de Geofisica Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510, Mexico, Mexico

    Carlos Gutiérrez

  4. Volcanology Department, Institute of Geophysics, UNAM, 3000 Av. Universidad, 04510, Mexico, D.F., Mexico

    Yuri Taran

  5. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar-CSIC, P. Marítimo de la, Barceloneta 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Rafael Bartolomé

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ortega, R., Quintanar, L., Huesca-Pérez, E. (2015). Geometric Aspects of the Full Moment Tensors in the Gulf of California and the Mexican East Pacific Rise. In: Bandy, W.L., Dañobeitia, J., Gutiérrez, C., Taran, Y., Bartolomé, R. (eds) Geodynamics of the Latin American Pacific Margin. Pageoph Topical Volumes. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51529-8_20

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation