Locations of profiles (A through H) shown on map.  Triangles are Quaternary volcanos.  Heavy solid lines are plate margins.  Cocos plate colors represent age of ocean crust (green- > 20 Ma, Yellow - 10 to 20 Ma, Pink - 0 to 10 Ma).  Thin lines on Coco plate are seafloor magnetic anomalies.  All profiles are from earth surface to 1000 km deep.  Scroll down for depth slices at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 km.  Images were created by Hrafnkell Karason and Rob van der Hilst at MIT.  Several of these images appear in Rogers, R.D., H. Karason and R. van der Hilst, 2002, Epeirogenic uplift above a detached slab in northern Central America, Geology, v.30, no. 11, p1031-1034 - pdf

We make these images available for research and educational purposes.  Please give credit by citing the above paper and/or this website.  Should you find these images useful to your research and wish to collaborate on a paper or proposal, please contact either Rob Rogers or Rob van der Hilst.

 
 

	P-Wave Tomographic Profile A. Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt from earth surface to 1000 km depth.  Reds are slow velocities, blues are fast. Cells of differing sizes represent the quantity of P-wave ray paths.  The smaller the cell, the more ray paths and greater precision of the velocity model.
	Tomographic Profile B. Ismuth of Tehuantepec North America plate.  Incoming Cocos plate is upper blue region.  The detached slow slab (Farallon-Cocos) is blue region along center left part of image.  A slab gap (red and orange colors) exists between the incoming Cocos slab and the detached slab at depth.
	Tomographic Profile C.  Beneath Guatemala on North America plate.  The Cocos slab appears to be broken into pieces.
	Tomographic Profile D.  Beneath El Salvador and western Honduras on Chortis block of Caribbean plate.
	Tomographic Profile E.  Beneath Honduras on Chortis block of Caribbean plate.
	Tomographic Profile F.  Beneath central Nicaragua on Chortis block of Caribbean plate.
	Tomographic Profile G.  Beneath northern Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua near Chortis/Chorotega block boundary of Caribbean plate.
	Tomographic Profile H.  Beneath central Costa Rica on Chorotega block of Caribbean plate.  Subducting Cocos plate generated by Coco-Nazca spreading.

 

Depth slice at 100 km	Depth slice at 200 km
Depth slice at 300 km	Depth slice at 400 km
Depth slice at 500 km	Depth slice at 600 km