South-American-Caribbean plate boundary

Continental interiors are thought to be constructed from welded pieces of island arcs, metamorphosed sediments, oceanic plateaux and continental fragments (e.g. Hoffinan 1989). Modern-day analogues for this include the convergent zones of the Western Pacific (Hamilton 1979), and the South American-Caribbean plate boundary, where the Leeward Antilles arc is colliding with South America (Ave Lallemant 1997). To what extent these processes were occurring... 

Ave Lallemant, H. G. 1977. Transpression, displacement partitioning and exhumation in the eastern Caribbean/South American plate boundary zone. Tectonics, 16, 272-289. 

These tectonic plates have roughly definable boundaries that have been subdivided into three fairly arbitrary categories in the following manner 9 major (or primary) plates (area greater than 10 million km2), 8 minor (or secondary) plates (area less than 10 million km2 but greater than 1 million km ), and several tens microplates (or tertiary plates) (area less than 1 million km2 they are often grouped with an adjacent major plate). The major plates include Pacific Plate (103,300,000 km ). North American Plate (75,900,000 km ), Eurasian Plate (67,800,000 km ), African Plate (61,300,000 km ), Antarctic Plate (60,900,000 km ), Australian Plate (47,000,000 km ). South American Plate (43,600,000 km ), Somali Plate (16,700,000 km ), Nazca Plate (15,600,000 km ), and Indian Plate (11,900,000 km ).The minor plates include Philippine Sea Plate (5,500,000 km ), Arabian Plate (5,000,000 km ), Caribbean Plate (3,300,000 km ). Cocos Plate (2,900,000 km ), Caroline Plate (1,700,000 km ), Scotia Plate (1,600,000 km ), Burma Plate (1,100,000 km ), and New Hebrides Plate (1,100,000 km ). 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ ]

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