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Central America |
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla, California 92093, U.S.A.
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, U.S.A.
Marine Science Institute, University of Texas, Galveston, Texas 77550, U.S.A.
Gulf Science & Technology Company, P.O. Box 2038, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230, U.S.A.
The relationship between sedimentation and structural variations observed in geophysical data provides insight into tectonic processes on the convergent Middle America Trench margin. We observe that some of the hemipelagic and pelagic oceanic sediments seem to continue relatively undeformed beneath the lowermost slope. Trench sediment bodies restricted to ponds in the vicinity of submarine canyons are incorporated into the lower slope by folding and thrust faulting. This offscraping (shallow accretion) at the base of the Middle America Trench slope appears at least partly dependent on the presence of trench fill. The internal structure of the so-called accretionary zone, the top of which is usually identified on seismic reflection profiles by a prominent zone of diffractions, is rarely resolved in the seismic reflection data. The shallow part of the accretionary zone along much of the margin may consist of deformed slope sediments since down-section increase in both folding and other deformation are observed in the seismic reflection and drill data. Beneath the undeformed and deformed slope sediments, offscraped trench fill may occur if trench fill was present in the ancient trench. The deeper part of the accretionary zone representing the bulk of the volume is not resolved in the reflection data but may consist of other sediments or crustal rocks added by an underplating process at deeper structural levels.
