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

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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.