Structural Configuration of the Northwestern Caribbean Plate Boundary

Pinet, Paul R.

doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1971)82[2027:scotnc]2.0.co;2

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The western transtensional region of the North America-Caribbean margin is a diffuse plate margin with three main groups of active faults: (1) linear faults mapped along the Motagua-Swan Islands strike-slip fault zone (Plafker, 1976;Rosencrantz and Mann, 1991); (2) more discontinuous, northtrending normal faults associated with rift structures of western Honduras and Guatemala; and (3) a broad, 125-150-kmwide zone of submarine faults occupying the offshore region of shelfal to abyssal depths (200-2000 m) known as the Honduran borderlands (Pinet, 1971;Case and Holcombe, 1980). The north-trending faults of western Honduras and southwestern Guatemala bound rifts at right angles to the trend of the arcuate, strike-slip Motagua fault plate boundary (Fig.…”

Section: Regional Geology and Active Tectonicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The structure and late Neogene sedimentation of the Honduran borderlands is described in papers by Kornicker and Bryant (1969) and Pinet (1971Pinet ( , 1972Pinet ( , 1975 using single-channel seismic profiling and shallow coring. We utilize deeper penetration, multi-channel seismic reflection profiles, sidescan images of the seafloor, and offshore exploration wells to better define the distribution and structure of the elongate basins and ridges underlying the Honduran borderlands.…”

Section: Offshore Structure and Stratigraphy Of The Honduran Borderlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Transtensional deformation of the western Caribbean–North America plate boundary zone

Rogers¹,

Mann²

2007

Special Paper 428 Geologic and Tectonic Development of the Caribbean Plate Boundary in Northern Central America

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Divergence, expressed as the angle between the plate motion vector and the azimuth of a plate margin fault, has been proposed to explain development of contrasting styles of transtensional deformation along transform margins. We present the western North America-Caribbean plate margin as a test of this hypothesis. Here, geologic, earthquake, marine geophysical, and remote sensing data show two distinct structural styles: (1) east-west extension along north-trending rifts normal to the plate margin in the western study area (western Honduras and southern Guatemala); and (2) NNW-SSE transtension along rifts subparallel to the plate margin in the eastern study area (northern Honduras and offshore Honduran borderlands region). Orientations of rifts in each area coincide with the angle of divergence between the GPS-derived plate motion vector and the azimuth of the plate boundary fault, such that the western zone of east-west extension has an angle >10°, while the eastern zone of NNW-SSE extension occurs when the angle of divergence is between 5° and 10°. A narrow transition area in north-central Honduras separates the plate boundarynormal rifts of western Honduras from the plate boundary-parallel rifts to the east.Faults of the offshore Honduran borderlands extend onshore into the Nombre de Dios range and Aguan Valley of northern Honduras where tectonic geomorphology studies show pervasive oblique-slip faulting with active left-lateral river offsets and active uplift of stream reaches. Offshore, seismic data tied to wells in the Honduran borderlands reveal active submarine faults bounding asymmetric half-grabens filled by middle Miocene clastic wedges with continued deposition to Pliocene-Pleistocene. The north-trending rifts of western Honduras form discontinuous half grabens that cut the late Miocene ignimbrite strata. Plate reconstructions indicate the northtrending rifts of western Honduras developed in response to increased interplate divergence as the western margin of the Caribbean plate shifted from the Jocotan fault to the Polochic fault in the middle Miocene.

show abstract

Section: Regional Geology and Active Tectonicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Offshore Structure and Stratigraphy Of The Honduran Borderlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transtensional deformation of the western Caribbean–North America plate boundary zone

Rogers¹,

Mann²

2007

Special Paper 428 Geologic and Tectonic Development of the Caribbean Plate Boundary in Northern Central America

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To the north of the Aguan is th• La Ceiba Fault [Muehlberger, 1976]. Both of these faults curve offshore along the strike of major magnetic anomalies [Pinet, 1971] on the Honduran continental shelf. Very little is known about the displacement history of these Honduran faults but they are intersected in a few places by north trending normal faults of Plio-Pleistocene age, suggesting that major strike slip displacements occurred earlier.…”

Section: Unlike the Polochic And Motagua Faults Which Downthrow The Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neogene Caribbean Plate rotation and associated Central American tectonic evolution

Wadge¹,

Burke²

1983

Tectonics

140

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the Neogene the Caribbean plate moved eastward with respect to the North and South American plates. Reconstructing this motion by closing the Cayman Trough along its bounding transform faults creates a gore of ocean between northern Central America and southern Mexico. We present, instead, a reconstruction which juxtaposes these two continental areas by strike slip motion. Using geological evidence from around the Cayman Trough, the strike‐slip fault zones of northern Central America, and the continental margin of southern Mexico as our constraints, we propose that seafloor spreading began in the Cayman Trough at 30 ± 5 Ma and that subsequently there was 1100 km of relative plate displacement at an average rate of 3.7 ± 0.6 cm/yr. This Neogene plate motion cannot be achieved by rigid plate rotation about a single pole, which implies that Central America must have rotated anticlockwise relative to the rest of the plate. There is evidence for internal plate deformation in Central America consistent with such a sense of rotation. Our suggestion of an originally easterly trending arc in southern Central America is more consistent with the timing and geometry of the collision of Panama with northern Colombia and the resultant deformation than were earlier models that depicted collision of a northerly trending arc.

show abstract

“…The resultant new basins accommodated salt deposition. Since salt diapirs and ultramafic rocks are seen along northern Honduras (Pinet 1971(Pinet , 1972 and since serpentinites occur in the Motagua fault zone in the Cretaceous (Harlow et al 2004), this paper suggests that the early Cayman Trough extended between Maya and Chortís as a salt basin at this time (Figs 4 & 5).…”

Section: Geological Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Evolution of Middle America and the in situ Caribbean Plate model

James

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Regional geological data and global analogues suggest Caribbean Plate geology continues that seen along the margin of eastern North America in a more extensional setting, between the diverging Americas. From west to east there are continental masses with Triassic rifts, proximal continental blocks with kilometres-thick Mesozoic carbonates, more distal areas of Palaeozoic horsts flanked by Triassic-Jurassic dipping wedges of sediments, including salt and overlain by Cretaceous basalts, and most distal areas of serpentinized upper mantle. Plate history began along with the Late Triassic formation of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province and involved Triassic-Jurassic rifting, Jurassic-Early Cenozoic extension and OligoceneRecent strike-slip. Great extension promoted volcanism, foundering, eastward growth of the plate by backarc spreading and distribution of continental fragments on the plate interior and along its margins. Hydrocarbons probably are present. Caribbean geology has important implications for understanding of oceanic plateaus, intra-oceanic volcanic arcs, the 'andesite problem' and genesis of 'subduction' HP/LT metamorphic rocks. The model can be tested by re-examination of existing samples and seismic data and by deep sea drilling.

show abstract

Structural Configuration of the Northwestern Caribbean Plate Boundary

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Transtensional deformation of the western Caribbean–North America plate boundary zone

Transtensional deformation of the western Caribbean–North America plate boundary zone

Neogene Caribbean Plate rotation and associated Central American tectonic evolution

Evolution of Middle America and the in situ Caribbean Plate model

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About