
Seeing Through the Sea
How researchers are plumbing the seafloor during a quest to understand ‘silent’ earthquakes off the Mexican coast.
At the Middle America Trench off the Pacific coast of Mexico, the Cocos oceanic plate slides underneath the North American plate, regularly producing large and devastating earthquakes. The Guerrero seismic gap is one of the few areas along this subduction zone that has not experienced any large earthquakes in the last 100 years. Instead, it hosts the largest known shallow slow-slip events, or ‘silent earthquakes,’ in the world. These events release energy slowly over days to months, without generating strong seismic waves, and consistently occur approximately every 3-5 years.
Expedition MGL2204 of Columbia University’s R/V Marcus G. Langseth has set sail from Manzanillo, Mexico, to better understand the origin of the slow earthquakes within this gap. The ultimate aim is to improve understanding of the long-term earthquake potential of this anomalous region, and the associated hazards for local Mexican inhabitants.
Anne Bécel from Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is leading the study along with Brian Boston, Brandon Shuck and former Columbia professor Donna Shillington. The science team looks forward to sharing their experiences from the 48-day expedition.
Location: Off the west coast of Mexico near Acapulco. Departing from Manzanillo in the State of Guerrero, Mexico, and returning to Manzanillo.
Purpose: To characterize the plate boundary fault zone as well as the architecture and properties of both the descending Cocos plate and overriding North American plate in order to better understand the mechanisms promoting the occurrence of slow or ‘silent’ earthquakes.
Time Period: May 14 -July 2, 2022
How researchers are plumbing the seafloor during a quest to understand ‘silent’ earthquakes off the Mexican coast.
Daily life on a research vessel is smaller and slower-paced — in a good way, for the most part.
When you work 4am to 12pm on a research vessel, you get to watch some beautiful sunrises and eat breakfast for lunch every day.
Aboard the R/V Marcus G. Langseth, Expedition MGL2204’s science team has started deploying ocean-bottom seismometers.
We are underway on our 48-day long expedition offshore of the west coast of Mexico near Acapulco, where the young Cocos oceanic plate dives beneath the North American plate.