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Abstract The Southern Puna plateau in the central Andes has a complicated tectonic history that includes episodes of distributed shortening and extension, lithospheric delamination, uplift and Quaternary backarc volcanism. In this study, the upper crustal structure and present‐day deformation in this area is investigated using a new regional earthquake catalog derived with a deep‐learning‐based phase picker. Results show abundant strike‐slip seismicity at shallow depths in the eastern Southern Puna plateau that reveals active fault systems in the area and indicates N‐S extension/E‐W compression that changes orientation and relative magnitude from north to south. A broad zone of seismic quiescence in the western plateau may indicate a zone of upper crustal decoupling from large‐scale deformation. The region separating the western and eastern plateau exhibits a complex stress field that can be related to the boundary of east/west oriented middle‐to‐lower crustal flow in the main volcanic arc. Southeast of the plateau in the Sierras Pampeanas, crustal seismicity deepens and is dominated by conjugate reverse faulting structures associated with the direction of plate convergence. Vp and Vs seismic velocity models of the upper crust obtained through local earthquake tomography with the improved seismic catalog show low‐velocity anomalies near intermontane basins, except in the Antofagasta basin where a high‐velocity anomaly possibly represents shallow intrusive component of Quaternary basaltic volcanism. Below the Cerro Galan caldera, an upper crustal 10‐day long earthquake swarm is observed which may indicate local stress perturbations from fluids at the top of the crustal magmatic system that feeds this volcano. 

Abstract Lateral movement of lithospheric fragments along strike-slip faults in response to collision (escape tectonics) has characterized convergent settings since the onset of plate tectonics and is a mechanism for the formation of new plates. The Anatolian plate was created by the sequential connection of strike-slip faults following ≥10 m.y. of distributed deformation that ultimately localized into plate-bounding faults. Thermochronology data and seismic images of lithosphere structure near the East Anatolian fault zone (EAFZ) provide insights into the development of the new plate and escape system. Low-temperature thermochronology ages of rocks in and near the EAFZ are significantly younger than in other fault zones in the region, e.g., apatite (U-Th)/He: 11–1 Ma versus 27–13 Ma. Young apatite (U-Th)/He ages and thermal history modeling record thermal resetting along the EAFZ over the past ~5 m.y. and are interpreted to indicate thermal activity triggered by strike-slip faulting in the EAFZ as it formed as a through-going, lithosphere-scale structure. The mechanism for EAFZ formation may be discerned from S-wave velocity images from the Continental Dynamics–Central Anatolian Tectonics (CD-CAT) seismic experiment. These images indicate that thin but strong Arabian lithospheric mantle extends ~50–150 km north beneath Anatolian crust and would have been located near the present surficial location of the Bitlis-Zagros suture zone (co-located with the EAFZ in our study area) at ca. 5 Ma. Underthrusting of strong Arabian lithosphere facilitated localization of the EAFZ and thus was a fundamental control on the formation of the Anatolian plate and escape system. 

SUMMARY The Ecuadorian forearc is a complex region of accreted terranes with a history of large megathrust earthquakes. Most recently, a Mw 7.8 megathrust earthquake ruptured the plate boundary offshore of Pedernales, Ecuador on 16 April 2016. Following this event, an international collaboration arranged by the Instituto Geofisico at the Escuela Politécnica Nacional mobilized a rapid deployment of 65 seismic instruments along the Ecuadorian forearc. We combine this new seismic data set with 14 permanent stations from the Ecuadorian national network to better understand how variations in crustal structure relate to regional seismic hazards along the margin. Here, we present receiver function adaptive common conversion point stacks and a shear velocity model derived from the joint inversion of receiver functions and surface wave dispersion data obtained through ambient noise cross-correlations for the upper 50 km of the forearc. Beneath the forearc crust, we observe an eastward dipping slow velocity anomaly we interpret as subducting oceanic crust, which shallows near the projected centre of the subducting Carnegie Ridge. We also observe a strong shallow positive conversion in the Ecuadorian forearc near the Borbon Basin indicating a major discontinuity at a depth of ∼7 km. This conversion is not ubiquitous and may be the top of the accreted terranes. We also observe significant north–south changes in shear wave velocity. The velocity changes indicate variations in the accreted terranes and may indicate an increased amount of hydration beneath the Manabí Basin. This change in structure also correlates geographically with the southern rupture limit of multiple high magnitude megathrust earthquakes. The earthquake record along the Ecuadorian trench shows that no event with a Mw >7.4 has ruptured south of ∼0.5°S in southern Ecuador or northern Peru. Our observations, along with previous studies, suggest that variations in the forearc crustal structure and subducting oceanic crust may influance the occurrence and spatial distribution of high magnitude seismicity in the region. 

SUMMARY The Ecuadorian convergent margin has experienced many large mega-thrust earthquakes in the past century, beginning with a 1906 event that propagated along as much as 500 km of the plate interface. Many subsections of the 1906 rupture area have subsequently produced Mw ≥ 7.7 events, culminating in the 16 April 2016, Mw 7.8 Pedernales earthquake. Interestingly, no large historic events Mw ≥ 7.7 appear to have propagated southward of ∼1°S, which coincides with the subduction of the Carnegie Ridge. We combine data from temporary seismic stations deployed following the Pedernales earthquake with data recorded by the permanent stations of the Ecuadorian national seismic network to discern the velocity structure of the Ecuadorian forearc and Cordillera using ambient noise tomography. Ambient noise tomography extracts Vsv information from the ambient noise wavefield and provides detailed constraints on velocity structures in the crust and upper mantle. In the upper 10 km of the Ecuadorian forearc, we see evidence of the deepest portions of the sedimentary basins in the region, the Progreso and Manabí basins. At depths below 30 km, we observe a sharp delineation between accreted fast forearc terranes and the thick crust of the Ecuadorian Andes. At depths ∼20 km, we see a strong fast velocity anomaly that coincides with the subducting Carnegie Ridge as well as the southern boundary of large mega-thrust earthquakes. Our observations raise the possibility that upper-plate structure, in addition to the subducting Carnegie Ridge, plays a role in the large event segmentation seen along the Ecuadorian margin.