Structure, age, and origin of the Caribbean Plate unraveled

Andreína García-Reyes (1) , Jérôme Dyment (1)

1 IPGP (UMR_7154) - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris

Our compilation of marine magnetics of the Caribbean Plate allows us to identify magnetic anomalies from the Cretaceous Normal Superchron (CNS) in the Colombia and Venezuela basins, from which we propose a model for the age and origin of the Caribbean Plate and its Large Igneous Province (CLIP). The comparison of selected marine magnetic profiles across these basins with high resolution profiles from other areas across the CNS indicates that the Colombia Basin formed 73-92 million years ago (Ma) and the Venezuela Basin 92-108 Ma. The two basins and the older part of the CLIP formed at a ridge axis in the Pacific Ocean, near the Central American Seaway. These results strongly constrain regional plate tectonic models for America and the Pacific Ocean.

Keywords: magnetic anomalies; Caribbean Plate; Caribbean Large Igneous Province; Cretaceous Normal Superchron; plate tectonic evolution

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Andreína García-Reyes, Jérôme Dyment. Structure, age, and origin of the Caribbean Plate unraveled. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2021, 571, ⟨10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117100⟩. ⟨insu-03590013⟩