The birth of the Gulf of California, which rifted from Mexico and created the Baja Peninsula 6 million to 8 million years ago, was accelerated by the formation of a double subduction zone more than 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometers) away, near Japan. This reorganization led to a transfer of tectonic force across the Pacific tectonic plate, which, in turn, opened the Gulf of California and ultimately led to the Grand Canyon's formation, according to new research published Oct. 29 in the journal Science.
"It's more than a regional curiosity," study co-author Thorsten Becker, a geophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), told Live Science. "It's a reminder of the global connectedness of mantle convection and plate tectonics."
Study co-author Guido Gianni, a geophysicist at the Czech Academy of Sciences, wondered why that was. No previous research fully explained the rapid rifting, which changed the face of North America in many ways. Not only did the rifting transfer Baja California to the Pacific Plate, but it provided an outlet for the developing Colorado River, which subsequently carved the Grand Canyon on its way to sea level.
A double subduction zone off Japan (left inset) accelerated the growth of the Gulf of California (right inset). (Image credit: He et al.)
This transition at the western end of the Pacific Plate influenced the tectonic forces on the other side of the plate, He, Gianni, Becker and their colleagues found.
The researchers tweaked their model to see if the result held with different assumptions about stresses and mantle properties, and it did.
"It turned out — ta-da! — [with] the change in this pulling stress, Baja California was one of the few places outside the Japan region that were affected," Becker said. It was "unexpected and sort of a little bit too good to be true."
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The findings have a direct effect on scientists' understanding of how plate boundaries form, Becker said. And this isn't just academic. The findings could have implications for understanding earthquake-generating faults such as the San Andreas in California and the Cascadia subduction zone in the Pacific Northwest, Becker said. Cascadia is what's known as a "megathrust" boundary, capable of triggering quakes of more than magnitude 9.
"If I'm asking what is the mantle doing underneath Cascadia so I get our megathrust correct," Becker said, "I need to include these effects."
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