Structural Evolution of the Northern Range of Trinidad

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This Science in Developing Countries (SDC) Program award will support Professor Robert Speed of Northwestern University in a research collaboration with Professor Keith Rowley of the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad. The investigators intend to study the structural and tectonic evolution of the schist belt that forms the Northern Range of Trinidad. Their work will focus on (1) the sequence of structures in the schist belt, (2) their kinematics, mechanisms, and conditions of formation, (3) the kinematics of emplacement of the schist belt at its present position, (4) the structure of its southern margin, and (5) the ages of protolith deposition, metamorphism, unroofing, and final emplacement. The problems Drs. Speed and Rowley will be working on constitute some of the most significant unknowns in the Cenozoic evolution of the Caribbean-South American plate boundary. An improved understanding of the Northern Range should throw new light on (1) the most applicable of current models of late Cenozoic southeastern Caribbean plate boundary kinematics; (2) the evolution of regional structures, basins, and hydrocarbons of onland and offshore Trinidad; and (3) faulting in the Trinidad region, including the question whether Venezuela's El Pilar fault extends to Trinidad or not and the origin of Trinidadian seismicity and its hazard potential.