Lithospheric Coupling At The Caribbean-South America Plate Boundary: Deformation And Exhumation Of Ductile Crust In Oblique Convergence

韧性下部岩石圈和地幔通过脆性-韧性转换和脆性上地壳向上运动的理论模型尚不足以解释许多现象，部分原因是无法获得代表同一总体构造环境变形结果的完整地壳剖面。该项目利用加勒比-南美洲板块边界来解决这一问题，过去5000万年来，该边界一直是斜向会聚的地点。这一系统将一系列岩石带到了地表，这些岩石代表了从西向东沿着委内瑞拉至特立尼达两个板块之间的接触暴露的地壳的连续垂直部分。将收集结构和热年代学数据，并用于开发、改进和测试该序列的起源、响应划分和折返的模型。结果有可能对岩石圈内的流变学差异施加重大限制，这对于理解构造系统和板块相互作用是至关重要的。

Theoretical models of motion transfer from the ductile lower lithosphere and mantle upward through the brittle-ductile transition and the brittle upper crust are as yet inadequate to account for many phenomena, partly because of lack of access to intact crust sections that represent deformation results from the same overall tectonic environment. This project utilizes the Caribbean-South America plate boundary, which has been the locus of oblique convergence for the past 50 million years to address this problem. This system has brought a sequence of rocks to the surface that represent a continuous vertical section of the crust exposed from west to east along the contact between the two plates from Venezuela to Trinidad. Structural and thermochronologic data will be collected and used to develop, refine and test models for the origin, response partitioning, and exhumation of this sequence. Results have the potential to place significant constraints on rheological differences within the lithosphere, which is of fundamental importance in understanding tectonic systems and plate interactions.