Welcome
to the
TUCAN Web Page
UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
TUCAN is Tomography (and other
things) Under Costa rica And Nicaragua
TUCAN
is a major deployment of 48 broadband seismographs, 2003-2006, to
image the mantle wedge and subducting plate in Central America.
The aim is to better understand the processes that control melting
beneath arc volcanoes, the flow field and water cycle in subduction
zones, and ultimately better understand why arc volcanism occurs.
The
Central American convergent margin is an excellent target for seismic
imaging
because the arc exhibits nearly the complete global range in
geochemical indicators
of the subducting plate (e.g., 10Be, Ba/La) as well as some
of the
largest variations in indicators for degree of mantle melting. Nearly all of these changes occur between
western Nicaragua and central Costa Rica. For these reasons, the
Central America arc has been chosen as one of two Focus Areas for the US-MARGINS Subduction Factory
Initiative.
Major Collaborators
Funding provided by the U.S. National Science
Foundation, MARGINS
program
Instruments made available by the IRIS-PASSCAL Instrument
Center
Deployment Information
The initial deployment was completed July-August 2004, and will
continue until March 2006. Some preliminary documents.
Station map -- Updated
following the initial deployment, November 2004.
Station list (text file)