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

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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8818-3328, Davy, Richard, Kendall, J. Michael, Macpherson, Colin, Wilkinson, Jamie and Wilson, Marjorie 2021. Subduction history of the Caribbean from upper-mantle seismic imaging and plate reconstruction. Nature Communications 12 (1) , 4211. 10.1038/s41467-021-24413-0

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Nature Research
ISSN:	2041-1723
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 March 2024
Date of Acceptance:	21 May 2021
Last Modified:	15 Mar 2024 15:39
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/166656

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