Three‐dimensional crustal structure of the Mendocino Triple Junction region from local earthquake travel times

Abstract

The large‐scale, three‐dimensional geometry of the Mendocino Triple Junction at Cape Mendocino, California, was investigated by inverting nearly 19,000 P wave arrival times from over 1400 local earthquakes to estimate the three‐dimensional velocity structure and hypocentral parameters. A velocity grid 175 km (N‐S) by 125 km (E‐W) centered near Garberville, California, was constructed with 25 km horizontal and 5 fan vertical node spacing. The model was well resolved near Cape Mendocino, where the earthquakes and stations are concentrated. At about 40.6° N latitude a high‐velocity gradient between 6.5 and 7.5 km/s dips gently to the south and east from about 15 km depth near the coast. Relocated hypocenters concentrate below this high gradient which we interpret as the oceanic crust of the subducted Gorda Plate. Therefore the depth to the top of the Gorda Plate near Cape Mendocino is interpreted to be ∼15 km. The Gorda Plate appears intact and dipping ∼8° eastward due to subduction and flexing downward 6°–12° to the south. Both hypocenters and velocity structure suggest that the southern edge of the plate intersects the coastline at 40.3° N latitude and maintains a linear trend 15° south of east to at least 123° W longitude. The top of a large low‐velocity region at 20–30 km depth extends about 50 km N‐S and 75 km E‐W (roughly between Garberville and Covelo) and is located above and south of the southern edge of the Gorda Plate. We interpret this low velocity area to be locally thickened crust (8–10 km) due to either local compressional forces associated with north‐south compression caused by the northward impingement of the rigid Pacific Plate or by underthrusting of the base of the accretionary subduction complex at the southern terminous of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. South of Cape Mendocino and southwest of the Garberville fault, high velocities indicative of oceanic crust are detected at 15 km depth. We interpret this evidence as tectonic underplating of the Pacific oceanic crust beneath the coastal Franciscan Complex, similar to the situation seismically imaged in central coastal California (Page and Brocher, 1994). This geometry indicates that the westernmost portion of the slab window has been filled by tectonic underplating and crustal thickening, while deep‐seated mantle upwelling is confined to an area centered about 75 km north of Clear Lake (Benz et al, 1992; Zandt et al., 1992).