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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: Caribbean Tectonics - Facts and Fantasy
By
A currently-accepted interpretation of the tectonic
history of the Caribbean favors the idea that the so-called
Caribbean plate is a fragment of the Pacific that has
progressively wedged itself between the North American
and South American plates during the last 40 to 50 million
years. This interpretation would require very large horizontal
displacement
along the northern and southern boundaries
of the plate. While there is evidence of large horizontal
displacement
between the North American and Caribbean
plates, particularly along the Cayman Trough, evidence of
comparably large
displacement
between the Caribbean and
South American plates is not evident.
East-west-striking transcurrent faults have been
recognized onshore and offshore in northern Venezuela
and Colombia, but present evidence indicates that their
horizontal displacement
is not of the required magnitude.
There is, on the other hand, considerable evidence of NNW-SSE
compressive deformation and NW-SE right-lateral
transcurrent
displacement
in northern Venezuela and the
southern Caribbean.
An alternative interpretation of the tectonic history of the Caribbean which better agrees with the available geological and geophysical evidence needs to be developed.
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