S U M M A R YWe use data from the Chile Argentina Geophysical Experiment (CHARGE) broad-band seismic deployment to refine past observations of the geometry and deformation within the subducting slab in the South American subduction zone between 30 • S and 36 • S. This region contains a zone of flat slab subduction where the subducting Nazca Plate flattens at a depth of ∼100 km and extends ∼300 km eastward before continuing its descent into the mantle. We use a grid-search multiple-event earthquake relocation technique to relocate 1098 events within the subducting slab and generate contours of the Wadati-Benioff zone. These contours reflect slab geometries from previous studies of intermediate-depth seismicity in this region with some small but important deviations. Our hypocentres indicate that the shallowest portion of the flat slab is associated with the inferred location of the subducting Juan Fernández Ridge at 31 • S and that the slab deepens both to the south and the north of this region. We have also determined first motion focal mechanisms for ∼180 of the slab earthquakes. The subhorizontal T-axis solutions for these events are almost entirely consistent with a slab pull interpretation, especially when compared to our newly inferred slab geometry. Deviations of T-axes from the direction of slab dip may be explained with a gap within the subducting slab below 150 km in the vicinity of the transition from flat to normal subducting geometry around 33 • S.

S U M M A R YThe Pampean flat slab of central Chile and Argentina (30 • -32 • S) has strongly influenced Cenozoic tectonics in western Argentina, which contains both the thick-skinned, basementcored uplifts of the Sierras Pampeanas and the thin-skinned Andean Precordillera fold and thrust belt. In this region of South America, the Nazca Plate is subducting nearly horizontally beneath the South American Plate at ∼100 km depth. To gain a better understanding of the deeper structure of this region, including the transition from flat to 'normal' subduction to the south, three IRIS-PASSCAL arrays of broad-band seismic stations have been deployed in central Argentina. Using the dense SIEMBRA array, combined with the broader CHARGE and ESP arrays, the flat slab is imaged for the first time in 3-D detail using receiver function (RF) analysis. A distinct pair of RF arrivals consisting of a negative pulse that marks the top of the oceanic crust, followed by a positive pulse, which indicates the base of the oceanic crust, can be used to map the slab's structure. Depths to Moho and oceanic crustal thicknesses estimated from RF results provide new, more detailed regional maps. An improved depth to continental Moho map shows depths of more than 70 km in the main Cordillera and ∼50 km in the western Sierras Pampeanas, that shallow to ∼35 km in the eastern Sierras Pampeanas. Depth to Moho contours roughly follow terrane boundaries. Offshore, the hotspot seamount chain of the Juan Fernández Ridge (JFR) is thought to create overthickened oceanic crust, providing a mechanism for flat slab subduction. By comparing synthetic RFs, based on various structures, to the observed RF signal we determine that the thickness of the oceanic crust at the top of the slab averages at least ∼13-19 km, supporting the idea of a moderately overthickened crust to provide the additional buoyancy for the slab to remain flat. The overthickened region is broader than the area directly aligned with the path of the JFR, however, and indicates, along with the slab earthquake locations, that the flat slab area is wider than the JFR volcanic chain observed in the offshore bathymetry. Further, RFs indicate that the subducted oceanic crust in the region directly along the path of the subducted ridge is broken by trench-parallel faults. One explanation for these faults is that they are older structures within the oceanic crust that were created when the slab subducted. Alternatively, it is possible that faults formed recently from tectonic underplating caused by increased interplate coupling in the flat slab region.

S U M M A R YThe convergence between the Nazca and South America tectonic plates generates a seismically active backarc region near 31 • S. Earthquake locations define the subhorizontal subducted oceanic Nazca plate at depths of 90-120 km. Another seismic region is located within the continental upper plate with events at depths <35 km. This seismicity is related to the Precordillera and Sierras Pampeanas and is responsible for the large earthquakes that have caused major human and economic losses in Argentina. South of 33 • S, the intense shallow continental seismicity is more restricted to the main cordillera over a region where the subducted Nazca plate starts to incline more steeply, and there is an active volcanic arc. We operated a portable broadband seismic network as part of the Chile-Argentina Geophysical Experiment (CHARGE) from 2000 December to 2002 May. We have studied crustal earthquakes that occurred in the back arc and under the main cordillera in the south-central Andes (29 • S-36 • S) recorded by the CHARGE network. We obtained the focal mechanisms and source depths for 27 (3.5 < M w < 5.3) crustal earthquakes using a moment tensor inversion method. Our results indicate mainly reverse focal mechanism solutions in the region during the CHARGE recording period. 88 per cent of the earthquakes are located north of 33 • S and at middle-to-lower crustal depths. The region around San Juan, located in the western Sierras Pampeanas, over the flat-slab segment is dominated by reverse and thrust fault-plane solutions located at an average source depth of 20 km. One moderate-sized earthquake (event 02-117) is very likely related to the northern part of the Precordillera and the Sierras Pampeanas terrane boundary. Another event located near Mendoza at a greater depth (∼26 km) (event 02-005) could also be associated with the same ancient suture. We found strike-slip focal mechanisms in the eastern Sierras Pampeanas and under the main cordillera with shallower focal depths of ∼5-7 km. Overall, the western part of the entire region is more seismically active than the eastern part. We postulate that this is related to the presence of different pre-Andean geological terranes. We also find evidence for different average crustal models for those terranes. Better-fitting synthetic seismograms result using a higher P-wave velocity, a smaller average S-wave velocity and a thicker crust for seismic ray paths travelling through the crust of the western Sierras Pampeanas (Vp = 6.2-6.4 km s −1 , Vp/Vs > 1.80, th = 45-55 km) than those of the eastern Sierras Pampeanas (Vp = 6.0-6.2 km s −1 , Vp/Vs < 1.70, th = 27-35 km). In addition, we observed an apparent distribution of reverse crustal earthquakes along the suture that connects those terranes. Finally, we estimated average P and T axes over the CHARGE period. The entire region showed P-and T-axis orientations of 275 • and 90 • , plunging 6 • and 84 • , respectively.

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