Deep-Focus Earthquake Mechanisms at the Subducting Nazca Plate (Peru-Brazil Border): Cold Slab Behavior in a Warm Plate

Abstract

We calculate focal mechanisms and centroid depths for deep-focus earthquakes (DFEs) along the Peru-Brazil border. We obtained a total of 28 focal solutions for events with magnitudes between 4.2 and 7.5 Mw and occurring between 2014 and 2022. Focal mechanisms indicate predominance of normal faulting, demonstrating a rather uniform down-dip compression (DDC) regime within the plate. The orientations of the nodal planes suggest that earthquakes tend to occur along faults parallel to the local slab strike, although other fault types are documented. Stress orientations derived from the focal mechanisms agree with patterns expected if faulting were initiated by transformational faulting on a metastable olivine wedge (MOW) under DDC. Centroid depths range between 557 and 659 km, defining a narrow seismic zone within the lower portion of the subducting plate and an aseismic upper portion. We suggest that DFEs nucleate through transformational faulting within a narrow MOW preserved at a colder slab segment right above the lower mantle and juxtaposed to a shallower, warmer segment at around 500 km depth. This thermal complexity was possibly produced through flat subduction initiated by the subduction of the Nazca Ridge. We speculate that subduction of other aseismic ridges is possibly controlling the thermal state of the Nazca slab as a whole and, consequently, the depth distribution of DFEs along the South America subduction front.