Abstract
EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION,
VOL. 87, NO. 9,
PAGE 97, 2006
doi:10.1029/2006EO090001
FEATURE
Evolution of the Southern Caribbean Plate Boundary
Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas
Venezuelan Foundation for Seismological Research, FUNVISIS, Caracas, Venezuela
Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas
Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas
Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas
Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas
Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas, Austin
Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas, Austin
Department of Geology University of Georgia, Athens
Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington
Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas
It is generally accepted that the cores of the continents, called cratons, formed by the accretion of island arcs into proto-continents and then by proto-continental agglomeration to form the large continental masses. Mantle-wedge processes, combined with higher melting temperatures during the Archean (2.5–3.8 billion years ago) and possibly thrust stacking of highly depleted Archean oceanic lithosphere, produced a strong, buoyant, upper mantle chemical boundary layer. This stabilizing mantle layer, known as the tectosphere, has shielded the Archean cratons from most subsequent tectonic disruption and is highly depleted in iron, providing the positive buoyancy that is required to ‘float’ the continents more than four kilometers above the surrounding ocean basins.
Citation: (2006), Evolution of the Southern Caribbean Plate Boundary, Eos Trans. AGU, 87(9), 97, doi:10.1029/2006EO090001.
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