Subduction of Atlantic aseismic ridges and Late Cenozoic evolution of the Lesser Antilles island arc

Plutonic xenoliths from Martinique, Lesser Antilles: evidence for open system processes and reactive melt flow in island arc crust

“…1). The distinct westward jump occurred at ~7 Ma and has been attributed to the flattening of the subducting slab by the subduction of an aseismic ridge (Bouysse and Westercamp 1990). There is an extensive geochemical variation along the arc, which to a first order is systematic, (Brown et al 1977;Smith et al 1980;Turner et al 1996;Macdonald et al 2000), although the large geochemical and isotopic variations at each volcanic centre add to the complexity (Bezard et al 2015).…”

Relative Motion between St. Croix and the Puerto Rico-Northern Virgin Islands Block Derived from Continuous GPS Observations (1995–2014)

“…The age of the Kallinago trough is not well known. According to the geological study of Bouysse and Westercamp [33], the trough originated during the Miocene or younger.…”

“…Epicenters of recent earthquakes (1990-2014, ≥ 4.0) are also plotted on this map. The boundary between the Lesser Antilles inner and outer forearcs is drawn out primarily based on previous investigations (e.g., [25,33,34,60,61]). It appears that the Lesser Antilles inner forearc moves at a similar velocity with St. Croix relative to the PRNVI block.…”

“…The Lesser Antilles forearc diverges from the Anegada Passage to the north of Martinique into an outer (eastern) arc and an inner (western) arc. The outer forearc was volcanically active from Eocene to possibly early Miocene; the inner forearc is volcanically active from late Miocene to present (e.g., [32,33]). Tomographic data from 3D seismic refraction indicate that the inner and outer forearcs are two distinct units with different histories.…”

Forearc structures and tectonics in the southern Peru?northern Chile Continental Margin

“…Long term uplift in forearc areas may be brought about by tectonic accretion of oceanic plate sediments and crust (Seely et al, 1974) and short term uplift followed by subsidence may be caused by subduction of positive oceanic features, such as ridges and seamounts (Lallemand and Le Pichon, 1987;Hussong et al, 1988;Ballance el al., 1989;Bouysse and Westercamp, 1990;Fisher et al, 1991). In contrast, tectonic subsidence in the forearc area of the active margin is attributed to tectonic erosion of the overriding plate (Scholl et al, 1980;Hussong and Wipperman, 1981;Glacon and Bourgois, 1985;von Huene and Lallemand, 1990).…”