Is the Lesser Antilles a subduction zone?
The Lesser Antilles subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary on the seafloor along the eastern margin of the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc. In this subduction zone, oceanic crust of the South American Plate is being subducted under the Caribbean Plate.
What plate is the Lesser Antilles on?
the Caribbean Plate
The islands of the Lesser Antilles are formed by the subduction of the North and South American Plates (referred here as the “Atlantic plate”) beneath the Caribbean Plate.
Is the Caribbean a subduction zone?
1A; Molnar and Sykes, 1969). The Caribbean plate borders the Lesser Antilles (LA) subduction zone in the east, where the North Atlantic lithosphere subducts westwards in an arcuate shape below the Caribbean plate (van Benthem et al., 2014).
Is the Lesser Antilles a volcanic arc?
Lesser Antilles volcanic arc. The active volcanic arc of the Lesser Antilles is an expression of the westward subduction of the Atlantic plate beneath that of the Caribbean (Fig. 5).
How many volcanoes are in the Lesser Antilles?
Geologically, the Lesser Antilles island arc stretches from Anguilla in the north to Grenada in the south. The Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc includes nineteen volcanoes (5 active and 1 potentially active): Soufriere Hills on Montserrat.
How was the Lesser Antilles island arc formed?
The Lesser Antilles are an active island arc formed by the subduction of old Atlantic crust (Lower Campanian–Maestrichtian) under the Caribbean plate.
What makes up the Lesser Antilles?
The Lesser Antilles is made up of three groups of smaller islands: the Virgin Islands, Bahamas archipelago, and the Windward and Leeward Islands.
What type of plate boundary is the Caribbean islands?
The Caribbean Plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America….
| Caribbean Plate | |
|---|---|
| Type | Minor |
| Approximate area | 3,300,000 km2 |
| Movement1 | north-west |
| Speed1 | 10-11mm/year |
Is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge a subduction zone?
Description: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) is known as a mid-ocean ridge, an underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonics. It is the result of a divergent plate boundary that runs from 87° N – about 333 km (207 mi) south of the North Pole – to 54 °S, just north of the coast of Antarctica.
Why do the Lesser Antilles have so many volcanoes?
Many of the islands were formed by subduction of oceanic crust of the North American Plate under the Caribbean Plate in the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. This process of subduction is ongoing and is why there are frequent volcanoes and earthquakes.
Is the Caribbean an island arc?
The Caribbean islands have been pushed east over the last 50 million years, driven by the movement of the Earth’s viscous mantle against the more rooted South American continent, reveals new research by geophysicists at USC.
Where subduction zones are found?
the Pacific Ocean
Subduction zones occur all around the edge of the Pacific Ocean, offshore of Washington, Canada, Alaska, Russia, Japan and Indonesia. Called the “Ring of Fire,” these subduction zones are responsible for the world’s biggest earthquakes, the most terrible tsunamis and some of the worst volcanic eruptions.
What are found along subduction zones?
The main features of subduction zones include ocean trenches, volcanoes, and mountains. Earthquakes also happen as a result of these collisions. When two continental plates collide, the land is broken and pushed upwards, creating mountain ranges.
Which island in the Lesser Antilles has the most volcanoes?
Most of the islands of the Lesser Antilles have a single live volcano that may erupt in the future (e.g. Nevis, Montserrat). The other islands are more complex, of which Dominica is the most extreme with no less than nine live volcanoes.
What are the Lesser Antilles made up of?
What are the Lesser Antilles called?
The islands of the Lesser Antilles are divided into three groups: the Windward Islands in the south, the Leeward Islands in the north, and the Leeward Antilles in the west.
Is the Caribbean plate convergent or divergent or transform?
transform plate
In the Caribbean Sea, the U. S. Virgin Islands lie along a transform plate boundary where the small Caribbean Plate moves eastward past the oceanic part of the North American Plate.
Is the Lesser Antilles arc subducted?
In this study we present some results of the investigation programme SISMANTILLES I, conducted from November 1999 to January 2002, on the Lesser Antilles Arc. The latter forms the eastern boundary of the Caribbean plate beneath which the Atlantic crust is subducted at a rate now known to be 2 cm/yr (Fig. 1) [DeMets et al., 2000].
How were the Lesser Antilles formed geologically?
Geological formation. The Lesser Antilles more or less coincide with the outer edge of the Caribbean Plate. Many of the islands were formed as a result of the subduction of oceanic crust of the Atlantic Plate under the Caribbean Plate in the Lesser Antilles subduction zone.
Where is the Lesser Antilles?
Geologically, the Lesser Antilles island arc stretches from Grenada in the south to Anguilla in the north.
What type of plate boundary is the Lesser Antilles?
The Lesser Antilles subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary on the seafloor along the eastern margin of the Lesser Antilles island arc. In this subduction zone, oceanic crust of the South American Plate is being subducted under the Caribbean Plate.