Caribbean Plate

The Caribbean Plate is a small tectonic plate underlying the Caribbean Sea and parts of Central America and northern South America. Its boundaries include active subduction zones, transform faults, and spreading ridges.

Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc: A chain of volcanic islands formed where Atlantic oceanic crust subducts beneath the Caribbean Plate. Subduction along the plate’s eastern margin builds this island arc.
Plate tectonics: The theory that Earth’s lithosphere is divided into moving plates whose interactions shape the surface. The Caribbean Plate is one moving unit in this global system.
Caribbean large igneous province: A vast body of thickened oceanic crust produced by extensive Cretaceous volcanism in the Caribbean region. Its volcanic rocks make up much of the Caribbean Plate’s interior.
2010 Haiti earthquake: A devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Port-au-Prince on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system. It exposed the severe seismic risk of faults within the plate-boundary zone.
Caribbean plate motion: The present-day movement of the Caribbean Plate relative to surrounding tectonic plates. GPS measurements refine estimates of motion that vary across its complex boundaries.
Cayman Trough: A deep, narrow basin in the western Caribbean formed by seafloor spreading along the Cayman spreading center. This spreading center marks a divergent boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates.
Lithosphere: Earth’s rigid outer layer, comprising the crust and uppermost mantle and broken into tectonic plates. The Caribbean Plate is a segment of this rigid outer shell.
Galápagos hotspot: A mantle hotspot beneath the Galápagos Islands that generates volcanic activity and has left a track on the Nazca Plate. Hotspot volcanism is a leading explanation for the Caribbean large igneous province.
2010 Chile tsunami in the Caribbean: The arrival of tsunami waves in the Caribbean after the magnitude 8.8 2010 Maule earthquake in Chile. It illustrates how distant earthquakes can create hazards across the Caribbean basin.
Caribbean plate origin models: Competing geological reconstructions of where the Caribbean Plate formed and how it entered its present position. Models differ over the timing, route, and role of mantle hotspots in its formation.

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