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Descent of the ancient Farallon slab drives localized mantle flow below the New Madrid seismic zone
Département des sciences de la Terre et de l'Atmosphère, Centre de recherche en géochimie et en géodynamique, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Département des sciences de la Terre et de l'Atmosphère, Centre de recherche en géochimie et en géodynamique, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Jackson School of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Jackson School of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
The great earthquake sequence that occurred in the central Mississippi River Valley during the winter of 1811–1812 is unprecedented in the historical record of seismicity within stable continental plate interiors. We show, using viscous flow models based on high resolution seismic tomography, that the descent of the ancient Farallon slab into the deep mantle beneath central North America induces a highly localized flow directly below the New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ). This localization arises because of structural variability in the Farallon slab and the low-viscosity of the sub-lithospheric upper mantle, and it represents a heretofore unrecognized and possibly significant driving mechanism for the enigmatic intraplate seismicity.
Received 31 August 2006; accepted 22 January 2007; published 23 February 2007.
Citation: (2007), Descent of the ancient Farallon slab drives localized mantle flow below the New Madrid seismic zone, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L04308, doi:10.1029/2006GL027895.
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