| Because of its strategic location at the intersection of three regional trends, a kinematic study of the deformation on Isla de Margarita was undertaken to provide additional constraints for Caribbean plate tectonic models. Previous work revealed a metamorphic nucleus composed of amphibolites, schists, marble, serpentinized ultramafics, and leucocratic intrusives. Studies on eclogite knockers provided quantitative estimates for the meta-morphic pressures and temperatures.;In this study, five generations of deformational structures were identified on Isla de Margarita. The earliest structures (D;Analysis of the relative motions between North and South America shows there is insufficient Mesozoic convergence to form in situ the metamorphic belts of northern South America. These metamorphic belts must therefore have formed far to the west along the Farallon/South American plate boundary. A proposed model relates the Cretaceous synmetamorphic D... |
