Articles | Volume 15, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-15-281-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-15-281-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
15 Feb 2024
Research article |
| 15 Feb 2024
| 15 Feb 2024
Thermal structure of the southern Caribbean and northwestern South America: implications for seismogenesis
Ángela María Gómez-García
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Corporation Centre of Excellence in Marine Sciences (CEMarin), Bogotá, Colombia
now at: Geosciences Barcelona (GEO3BCN), CSIC, Lluís Solé i Sabarís s/n, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
Álvaro González
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM), Campus UAB, Edifici C. 08193, Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
Mauro Cacace
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Gaspar Monsalve
Facultad de Minas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia
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Revised manuscript not accepted
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Short summary
We compute a realistic three-dimensional model of the temperatures down to 75 km deep within the Earth, below the Caribbean Sea and northwestern South America. Using this, we estimate at which rock temperatures past earthquakes nucleated in the region and find that they agree with those derived from laboratory experiments of rock friction. We also analyse how the thermal state of the system affects the spatial distribution of seismicity in this region.
We compute a realistic three-dimensional model of the temperatures down to 75 km deep within the...
