Subduction history of the Caribbean from upper-mantle seismic imaging and plate reconstruction.

Autor: Braszus, Benedikt, Goes, Saskia, Allen, Rob, Rietbrock, Andreas, Collier, Jenny, Harmon, Nick, Henstock, Tim, Hicks, Stephen, Rychert, Catherine A., Maunder, Ben, van Hunen, Jeroen, Bie, Lidong, Blundy, Jon, Cooper, George, Davy, Richard, Kendall, J. Michael, Macpherson, Colin, Wilkinson, Jamie, Wilson, Marjorie
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Zdroj: Nature Communications; 7/9/2021, Vol. 12 Issue 1, p1-14, 14p
Abstrakt: The margins of the Caribbean and associated hazards and resources have been shaped by a poorly understood history of subduction. Using new data, we improve teleseismic P-wave imaging of the eastern Caribbean upper mantle and compare identified subducted-plate fragments with trench locations predicted from plate reconstruction. This shows that material at 700–1200 km depth below South America derives from 90–115 Myr old westward subduction, initiated prior to Caribbean Large-Igneous-Province volcanism. At shallower depths, an accumulation of subducted material is attributed to Great Arc of the Caribbean subduction as it evolved over the past 70 Ma. We interpret gaps in these subducted-plate anomalies as: a plate window and tear along the subducted Proto-Caribbean ridge; tearing along subducted fracture zones, and subduction of a volatile-rich boundary between Proto-Caribbean and Atlantic domains. Phases of back-arc spreading and arc jumps correlate with changes in age, and hence buoyancy, of the subducting plate. Seismic imaging of subducted plates offers a way to improve plate tectonic reconstructions. Here, Braszus et al. use new ocean-bottom seismometer data from the Lesser Antilles to locate subducted spreading centres and faults thus providing a new understanding of the evolution of the Caribbean plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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