Abstract: We analyze mantle structure under South America in the DETOX-P1 seismic tomography model, a global-scale, multifrequency inversion of teleseismic P waves. DETOX-P1 inverts the most extensive data set of broadband, waveform-based traveltime measurements to date, complemented by analyst-picked traveltimes from the ISC-EHB catalog. The mantle under South America is sampled by ∼665,000 cross-correlation traveltimes measured on 529 South American broadband stations and on 5,389 stations elsewhere. By their locations, depths, and geometries, we distinguish four high-velocity provinces under South America, interpreted as subducted lithosphere (“slabs”). The deepest (∼1,800–1,200 km depth) and shallowest (<600 km) slab provinces are observed beneath the Andean Cordillera near the continent’s northwest coast. At intermediate depths (1,200–900 km, 900–600 km), two slab provinces are observed farther east, under Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela, with links to the Caribbean. We interpret the slabs relative to South America’s paleo-position over time, exploring the hypothesis that slabs sank essentially vertically after widening by viscous deformation in the mantle transition zone. The shallowest slab province carries the geometric imprint of the continental margin and represents ocean-beneath-continent subduction during Cenozoic times. The deepest, farthest west slab complex formed under intra-oceanic trenches during late Jurassic and Cretaceous times, far west of South America’s paleo-position adjoined to Africa. The two intermediate slab complexes record the Cretaceous transition from westward intra-oceanic subduction to eastward subduction beneath South America. This geophysical inference matches geologic records of the transition from Jura-Cretaceous, extensional “intra-arc” basins to basin inversion and onset of the modern Andean arc ∼85 Ma.

Abstract: Source time functions (STFs) describe how the seismic moment rate is released with time, and carry information on integral rupture properties, such as static stress drop and radiated energy. In this study, we systematically analyze a set of 1,433 STFs extracted from the SCARDEC method (Vallée and Douet, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pepi.2016.05.012), containing the Mw≥5.6, shallow (z≤70 km) earthquakes with dip-slip mechanism that occurred between 1992 and 2014. At the global scale, STFs properties indicate scale invariance of stress drop and scaled radiated energy with magnitude. In a second step, these source parameters are investigated in light of the tectonic context of the earthquakes: in agreement with other approaches, we observe that subduction interface earthquakes have lower stress drop and scaled radiated energy relative to all other earthquakes (e.g., crustal earthquakes). Finally, a focus on subduction interface earthquakes (approximately 800 earthquakes) is done by considering 18 regional segments of subduction zones. We find that these segments do not have the same signature in terms of macroscopic rupture properties, which means that large-scale plate convergence and mechanical properties influence rupture behavior. In a given segment, local heterogeneities of stress drop or radiated energy can be associated with local features of the subduction zone: in particular, we find that low coupled zones generate earthquakes with low stress drop and scaled radiated energy. This last feature, also observed at a larger scale, suggests a positive correlation between coupling and stress drop.