No abstract

In the Northern Andes, the magmatic arc rises from a broad area of active volcanism in the South, at the border between Ecuador and Colombia, to a linear north-directed trend of active and inactive volcanic cones. A ∼240-km-long west-east-striking slab tear (Caldas Tear) located approx. 5.5 • N creates an offset in the volcanic arc. This tear looks like a significant controller of volcanic activity: its quasi-WE structure separates inactive magmatic bodies of late Miocene age or older in the North from Quaternary magmatic activity in the South. Coda wave attenuation tomography applied on seismic waveforms recorded between 1993 and 2018 illuminates the volcanic arc, which appears as a segmented structure derived from the complex process of subduction of the Nazca and Caribbean plates under the South America Continent. The attenuation measurements are transformed into thermal measurement using standard rock physics relationships, supported by thermal estimations and geothermal gradient observations measured in wells. Active and inactive magmatic belts are associated with a range of relatively low temperatures (∼640 to ∼810 • C in the depth range of 25-100 km), which may be a consequence of the fluid content in hydrous minerals. Along the volcanic arc, the isotherms become shallower from South to North and are interrupted by a cold structure; this structure may reflect a lateral change of the mantle viscosity that prevents the continuity of the volcanic arc. Our estimations show an irregular depth-geometry of the isotherms, probably associated with recent slip events that have perturbed the thermal state along the study area. The isotherms also deepen to the West, probably due to the subduction process of the Nazca Plate (∼0-5 • N). In some areas, the isotherms follow a trend similar to that of a thrust fault-related folding geometry, which suggests a recent process of regional perturbation. We hypothesize that the Panama Arc collision at the north and the effect that imprint the Carnegie Ridge against the continent at the South are responsible for these thermal effects. The northern anomaly suggests thickening of the lithospheric system that prevents the development of the volcanic arc at the north of the Caldas Tear.

No abstract

We applied multi–temporal 1D magnetotelluric (MT) surveys to identify space–time anomalies of apparent resistivity (ρa) in the upper lithosphere in the Antarctic Peninsula (the border between the Antarctic and the Shetland plates). We used time series over several weeks of the natural Earth’s electric and magnetic fields registered at one MT station of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (RSUNAL) located at Seymour–Marambio Island, Antarctica. We associated resistivity anomalies with contrasting earthquake activity. Anomalies of ρa were detected almost simultaneously with the beginning of a seismic crisis in the Bransfield Strait, south of King George Island (approximately 85.000 events were reported close to the Orca submarine volcano, with focal depths < 20 km and MWW < 6.9). We explained the origin of these anomalies in response to fluid migration near the place of the fractures linked with the seismic swarm, which could promote disturbances of the pore pressure field that reached some hundreds of km away.

In this work, we apply multi-temporal 1D-magnetotelluric (MT) surveys to estimate the space–time variations of the apparent resistivity and correlate these changes with seismic activity in the central part of Colombia (South America). We use the time series of the Earth’s natural electric and magnetic fields registered at two MT stations of the National University of Colombia Seismological Network (RSUNAL), located in the Eastern Andean Cordillera, in the central part of Colombia, over several days. Assuming that large earthquakes may generate these types of anomalies, we identified positive results for the Mesetas earthquake (Mw6.0, Lon = 74.184° W, Lat = 3.462° N, H = 13 km-depth, 24 December 2019, UTC 19:03:55), with anomalies registered eight hours before the mainshock. The depth at which the resistivity anomaly was identified coincides with the depth of the earthquake hypocenter. The origin of these anomalies may be associated with the migration of fluids due to the change in the stress regime before, during, and after the earthquake. We hypothesize that before the occurrence of an earthquake, the stress field generates pore pressure gradients, promoting alterations in fluid migration that change the resistivity of the upper crust.