MODELLO

The timeline of major Caribbean events is characterized by different tectonic regimes, from the proto-Caribbean oceanization (Jurassic-Cretaceous), through two eo-Caribbean subduction-related accretionary stages (middle-Late Cretaceous), up to the collisional event (since Late Cretaceous). The proposed kinematic model, supported by regional correlations of the recognized geotectonic elements, is based on some important geological constraints.
For the proto-Caribbean event, considering that several data suggest an intra-or back arc supra-subduction (SSZ) origin of some ophiolitic units, the near American location of the original untickened oceanic crust seems better supported.
The reconstruction of the accretionary events should take primarily into account some critical points: 1) for the 1^ eo-Caribbean stage, the age of the early convergences, the location and the subduction polarity, the HP-LT assemblages in both oceanic and continental lithospheres, as well as the involvement of early volcanic arcs in subduction complexes; 2) for both the 1^ and the 2^ eo-Caribbean stages, the behaviour of the double arc magmatism; 3) for the 2^ eo-Caribbean stage, the distribution and diachronic evolution of the second arc magmatism, the differences in retrograde evolution, and the strike-slip exhumation conditions.
Both the accretionary and the collisional events took probably place in gradually enhanced oblique subduction settings. The strike-slip tectonic regime has largely ruled the geodynamics of the Caribbean margins, controlling the evolution of the northern and southern shear zones connected with two opposite triple points, shifting eastward during the general migration of the plate. The western Caribbean margin evolved by different rotation rates of volcanic arc complexes and continental fragments. During the collisional event the accretionary belts overthrust in part on both the continental plates and the Caribbean plateau, or were juxtaposed between them.
The diachronism in the development of the second arc magmatism or in the strike-slip tectonic activation, as well as of the deformed belt front-foredeep couple evolution is acquired in the proposed reconstruction.