Center for Embedded Network Sensing

The position of the subducting Cocos Plate beneath Mexico is unknown from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) northward. Geochemical analysis suggests that there may be a slab tear causing mafic volcanism along the northern edge of the (TMVB). An array of 100 seismometers at 5 km spacing is currently installed in Mexico by the MesoAmerican Seismic Experiment (MASE) in conjunction with the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS) at UCLA, the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), and the California Institute of Technology (CIS). The data from this array is used to develop P and S wave tomographies to locate the slab. Beneath the MASE line the Cocos plate dips from the trench to a ~ 50 km depth. It is almost subhorizontal between 110 km to 275 km from the trench at a ~50 km depth. Then it continues to dip at a near constant angle.