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

从韧性下岩石圈和地幔向上通过脆-韧性过渡和脆性上地壳的运动转移的理论模型还不足以解释许多现象，部分原因是缺乏获得完整的地壳部分，代表变形的结果，从相同的整体构造环境。 该项目利用加勒比-南美洲板块边界来解决这一问题，该边界在过去5 000万年里一直是斜向会聚的轨迹。 这一系统将一系列岩石带到地表，这些岩石代表了从委内瑞拉到特立尼达的两个板块之间的接触点沿着由西向东暴露的地壳的连续垂直剖面。 将收集结构和热年代学数据，并用于开发、完善和测试该序列的起源、响应划分和折返模型。 结果有可能把显着的限制岩石圈内的流变学差异，这是理解构造系统和板块相互作用的根本重要性。

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.