Questioning Standard Models of Caribbean Tectonics by Rob Clayton, Younghee Kim and Fraser Keppie, Caltech

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Questioning standard models of Caribbean tectonics by Rob Clayton, YoungHee Kim and Fraser Keppie, Caltech Abstract Recent receiver function images from the VEOX seismic array on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southwest Mexico show an enigmatic seismic structure dipping south from the Gulf of Mexico beneath the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Could this structure represent a slab or subduction zone antithetic to the north-dipping subduction of the Cocos Plate? Standard models of Caribbean tectonics do not support this hypothesis since, in these models, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec would only have been affected by the eastwards migration of the Caribbean plate and/or north-dipping subduction of the Cocos plate. However, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec has a number of unusual characteristics that may indicate a more complex history. First, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is a topographic low. In this, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is essentially unique for lithosphere sitting above western American subduction zones. Second, the north Caribbean plate boundary curves to the northwest and heads through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In this, the plate boundary is in conflict with the requirements of standard Caribbean tectonic models. Third, a Miocene slab window has been inferred beneath the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Fourth, the volcanic arc associated with Cocos plate subduction is abnormal in space and time. Fifth, to the west, the South Mexico Block is decoupled from North America and, to the east, the Central America forearc sliver is decoupled from the Caribbean plate, but the motion of both microplates is not easily explained by strain-partitioning above oblique subduction. A new model of Caribbean plate evolution will be presented which explains all of these features with one basic kinematic pattern. A corollary of the new model is that the VEOX seismic structure could represent a back-dipping slab, if oceanic lithosphere lay to the northeast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the Eocene. .

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3768 JOURNAL OF CLIMATE VOLUME 20 Midsummer Gap Winds and Low-Level Circulation over the Eastern Tropical Pacific ROSARIO ROMERO-CENTENO,JORGE ZAVALA-HIDALGO, AND G. B. RAGA Centro de Ciencias de la Atmosfera, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico (Manuscript received 12 October 2005, in final form 14 November 2006) ABSTRACT The low-level seasonal and intraseasonal wind variability over the northeastern tropical Pacific (NETP), its relationship with other variables, and the connection with large- and middle-scale atmospheric patterns are analyzed using a suite of datasets. Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) wind data show that the low-level circulation over the NETP is mainly affected by the northerly trades, the southerly trades, and the wind jets crossing through the Tehuantepec, Papagayo, and Panama mountain gaps. The seasonal and intraseasonal evolution of these wind systems determines the circulation patterns over the NETP, showing predominant easterly winds in winter and early spring and wind direction reversals in summer over the central region of the NETP. During summer, when southerly trades are the strongest and reach their maximum northward penetration, weak westerlies are observed in June, easterlies in July–August, despite that strong southerlies tend to turn eastward, and again westerlies in September–October. This circulation pattern appears to be related to the Tehuantepec and Papagayo jets, which slightly strengthen during midsummer favored by the westward elongation and intensification of the Azores–Bermuda high (ABH). This ABH evolution induces an across-gap pressure gradient over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec favoring the generation of the jet and a meridional sea level pressure (SLP) gradient in the western Caribbean that favors the funneling of the trade winds through the Papagayo gap.
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