ACTIVE TECTONIC SETTING OF CARIBBEAN

SEDIMENTARY BASINS

Major plates

The distribution of recorded earthquakes, active

calc-alkaline volcanoes, and spreading ridges defines

five rigid plates in the Caribbean region:

North America, South America, Caribbean, and

Nazca (Molnar and Sykes, 1969; Mann et al., 1990)

(Fig. 1). Geologic and seismic studies indicate that

the Caribbean plate is moving eastward relative to

the Americas, and this movement is accommodated

by left-lateral strike-slip faults along its boundary

with the North America plate, and right-lateral

strike-slip faults along its boundary with the South

America plate. Oceanic lithosphere of the North and

South America plates is consumed along the eastern

edge of the Caribbean at the Lesser Antilles

subduction zone. Oceanic lithosphere of the Cocos

and Nazca plates is consumed along the western

and southwestern edge of the plate at the Middle

America subduction zone (Fig. 1).