A preliminary thermal model of the mexican seismovolcanic belt as a result of subduction

Abstract

A two-dimensional numerical thermal model of the Mexican Volcanic Belt (MVB) is developed. In this model geophysical and geological data are taken into account (heat generation, heat flow, volcanism, fault pattern and geometrical parameters of the assumed Zavaritskiy - Benioff zone), and an additional heat source due to friction is assumed. An increasing effective heat transport is introduced, coinciding with the observed highly faulted region. Using this model the temperature distribution with depth and surface heat flow are determined. The calculated profile Acapulco-Tuxpan shows that heat flow increases from a very low value (33.3 mW/m²) near to the trench, to values of 58.2 mW/m² in the geothermally active areas, and 108.2 mW/m² in the region of recent volcanism.