Preliminary Tomographic Imaging of the Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Microplate

Date: 4/25/2019

Time: 06:00 PM

Room: Grand Ballroom

The Puerto Rico-Virgin Island (PRVI) microplate, situated along the Northeastern Caribbean margin, is a component of the highly complex oblique subduction of the North American plate beneath the Caribbean Plate. The PRVI microplate is bound to North by the Puerto Rico Trench, to the West the Mona Passage, to the South the Muertos Trough (which may also be a subduction structure), and the East by the Anegada Passage. Here we present preliminary P wave tomographic results using local and teleseismic sources from the implementation of the finite marching method code FMTOMO. The preliminary results not only highlight features of the local subduction zone and crustal structure, but also highlight the need for future amphibious arrays in the region to increase imaging resolution. The need for amphibious arrays is of particular interest to image the Muertos Trough and the extensional crustal structures in the Mona Passage which are not well resolvable given the current data availability. In this presentation the preliminary tomographic results and tectonic implications will be discussed as well as the pitfalls and challenges of tomographic imaging in the region such as local 1D model selection and balancing of local seismic sources due to earthquake swarm activity.

Presenting Author: Elizabeth A. Vanacore

Authors