Deep-crustal magma reservoirs beneath the Nicaraguan volcanic arc, revealed by 2-D and semi 3-D inversion of magnetotelluric data

Abstract

A long-period magnetotelluric (MT) experiment was conducted in early 2009 in western Nicaragua to study the electrical resistivity and thus fluid/melt distribution at the Central American continental margin where the Cocos plate subducts beneath the Caribbean plate. Strike analysis yields a preference direction perpendicular to the profile, with moderate deviation from two-dimensionality, however. Two-dimensional modeling maps the sediments of the Nicaraguan Depression and a high-conductivity zone in the mid-crust, slightly offset from the arc. Further conductors are modeled in the backarc. However, these features are probably artifacts when a 2-D program is applied to data which show moderate 3-D characteristics. 3-D inversion clarifies the situation, and the major remaining conductive structure is now quasi directly beneath the volcanic chain and interpreted as a deep-seated magma deposit. Conductivity in the backarc is also relatively high and may either be caused by still existing partial melts beneath the Paleocene to Miocene volcanic arcs or by related metallic deposits in the aureoles of hydrothermal alteration.