Internal architecture of the Tuxtla volcanic field, Veracruz, Mexico, inferred from gravity and magnetic data

Abstract

The Tuxtla Volcanic Field (TVF) is a basaltic volcanic field emerging from the plains of the western margin of the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican State of Veracruz. Separated by hundreds of kilometers from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt to the NW and the Chiapanecan Volcanic Arc to the SE, it stands detached not only in location but also in the composition of its rocks, which are predominantly alkaline. These characteristics make its origin somewhat puzzling. Furthermore, one of the large volcanoes of the field, San Martin Tuxtla, underwent an eruptive period in historical times (CE 1793). Such volcanic activity conveys particular importance to the study of the TVF from the perspective of volcanology and hazard assessment. Despite the above circumstances, few investigations about its internal structure have been reported. In this work, we present analyses of gravity and aeromagnetic data obtained from different sources. We present the complete Bouguer anomaly of the area and its separation into regional and residual components. The aeromagnetic data were processed to yield the reduction to the pole, the analytic signal, and the upward continuation to complete the interpretation of the gravity analyses. Three-dimensional density models of the regional and residual anomalies were obtained by inversion of the gravity signal adding the response of rectangular prisms at the nodes of a regular grid. We obtained a body with a somewhat flattened top at 16 km below sea level from the inversion of the regional. Three separate slender bodies with tops 6 km deep were obtained from the inversion of the residual. The gravity and magnetic anomalies, as well as the inferred source bodies that produce those geophysical anomalies, lie between the Sontecomapan and Catemaco faults, which are proposed as flower structures associated with an inferred deep-seated fault termed the Veracruz Fault. These fault systems along with magma intrusion at the lower crust are necessary features to understand the origin and structure of the TVF.