Seismic Hazard, Lithosphere Hydration, and Double-Verging Structure of the Puerto Rico Subduction Zone: A Seismic Reflection and Refraction Perspective
Description:
The Puerto Rico Trench (PRT) is an oblique subduction zone where Atlantic lithosphere subducts under the Caribbean plate. The PRT poses major earthquake and tsunami hazards in the Caribbean and the US East Coast. In Fall 2023 we conducted the NSF-supported PRISTINA experiment (Puerto Rico Subduction Tectonics Seismic Investigation), a controlled-source seismic survey across the PRT, its outer rise, and across the island of Puerto Rico using the RV Langseth(cruises MGL2315 and MGL2316). PRISTINA consists of: (1) 2140 km of 2D ultra-long-offset (13.65 km) multichannel seismic reflection data along 8 primary profiles trending parallel to, and perpendicular to the main axis of the PRT; (2) an amphibious island-crossing 430-km-long N-S wide-angle profile sampling the incoming plate, PRT, Puerto Rico, Muertos thrust belt and Caribbean plate instrumented with 49 short-period, 3-component nodal land stations and with short-period, 3-component geophone+hydrophone ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) successfully deployed at 46 stations: 34 stations using OBS from the US OBS Instrument Center (OBSIC) and 12 stations with ultra-deep OBS (up to 8000 m) from GEOMAR; (3) a 220-km-long NE-SW wide-angle profile crossing the PRT north of the British Virgin Islands instrumented with 17 OBSIC and 7 ultra-deep OBS; (4) Four wide-angle fan profiles over the incoming plate; (5) Underway multibeam bathymetry, gravity and magnetics. In addition, a deployment of 6 temporary broadband in conjunction with permanent PRSN stations through central PR is currently collecting data. These datasets will be used to address the following scientific questions: the shallow geometry of the subducting slab and its lateral continuity along the PRT; the degree and spatial extent of hydration of the Atlantic lithosphere entering the PRT; the nature of an oceanic bivergent thrust system. In this presentation we will inform the interested community about PRISTINA objectives, datasets and expected derived models, which we anticipate will provide new critical constraints to inform the 2025 Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands USGS National Seismic Hazard Model.
Session: The 2023 USGS National Seismic Hazard Model and Beyond [Poster Session]
Type: Poster
Date: 5/1/2024
Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)
Presenting Author: Juan Pablo
Student Presenter: No
Invited Presentation:
Authors
Juan Pablo Canales Presenting Author Corresponding Author jpcanales@whoi.edu Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
Shuoshuo Han han@ig.utexas.edu University of Texas at Austin |
Uri ten Brink utenbrink@usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey |
Elizabeth Vanacore elizabeth.vanacore@upr.edu University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez |
Nicholas Harmon nicholas.harmon@whoi.edu Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
Hanchao Jian hjian@whoi.edu Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
Charles Babendreier babendreiercharles@utexas.edu University of Texas at Austin |
Liam Moser lmoser@whoi.edu Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
Wayne Baldwin wbaldwin@usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey |
David Foster dfoster@usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, United States |
Samuel Heller sheller@usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado, United States |
Jose-Luis Granja-Bruña jlgranja@ucm.es Universidad Complutense, Madrid, , Spain |
Elisaveta Sokolkova esokolkova@geomar.de GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre of Ocean Research, Kiel, , Germany |
Michael E Mann michael.mann@whoi.edu Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States |
Ingo Grevemeyer igrevemeyer@geomar.de GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre of Ocean Research, Kiel, , Germany |
Seismic Hazard, Lithosphere Hydration, and Double-Verging Structure of the Puerto Rico Subduction Zone: A Seismic Reflection and Refraction Perspective
Category
The 2023 USGS National Seismic Hazard Model and Beyond