ppt课件-asimplemodelforthecaribbean-doplumesexist.pptVIP

Geology of the Caribbean PlateauKeith JamesInstitute of Geography Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK,khj@aber.ac.uk This model: the plate formed in place, between N and S America. -it is mostly extended continental crust. Paradigm: -the Caribbean Plate is oceanic and came from the Pacific. -the Plateau formed over a mantle plume. -the plateau consists of NE trending continental blocks, Palaeozoic and older, flanked by Triassic-Jurassic seaward-dipping wedges and overlain by Cretaceous basalts. 5 ° 2 0 ° 3 5 ° - 8 5 ° - 7 0 ° - 5 5 ° NORTH AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA U L Atlantic Plate Pacific Plate “Middle America” Lesser Antilles K. H. James 07 Cayman Trough Cayman Ridge Grenada Basin Yucatán Basin Beata and Aves ridges Maya Block Chortis Block Bahamas Greater Antilles Chorotega Block Chocó Block Gulf of Mexico Colombia Basin Venezuela Basin “Accreted volcanic arc” Problems with Caribbean geology Geology is spread over many different countries. Some areas are poorly mapped (access, vegetation, weathering). There are no spreading ridges or magnetic anomalies in the whole of middle America, save for the central 300 km of the Cayman Trough (Miocene - Recent). Most data are collected/interpreted under the assumption that the Caribbean Plate is oceanic and came from the Pacific. K. H. James 07 Caribbean Plate crust in the western Venezuela Basin-Beata Ridge area is up to 20 km thick. This is the “original” Caribbean Plateau. Five ODP/DSDP sites have penetrated Cretaceous basalts, dated 88 - 90 Ma, at the very top of the thick, uncalibrated section. Overlying sediments are shallow marine carbonates. Peripheral to thick Caribbean crust, supposed “original” oceanic crust is thin, 3 km, not drilled, not dated. Other parts of the Caribbean Plate interior (in the Colombia, Grenada and Yucatán basins) also are thick. Together with the “original” plateau and accreted rocks around the Caribbean and in Colombia, they are seen to comprise an oceanic plateau or large