Layers of the Earth and Plate Tectonics

           The Caribbean Plate        

   The Island of Jamaica lies on the Caribbean Plate

The Caribbean Plate lies in a complex area with two major plates and two minor plates bordering it. The plate includes oceanic and continental crust. The Caribbean Sea covers most of the plate with Central America and volcanic islands covering the rest. The edges of the plate have intense seismic activity, frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Puerto Rico Trench

Between the North American Plate and this plate is a transform boundary and a subduction zone. The Puerto Rico trench runs between the plates and is the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean. The trench is 8,400 meters deep. Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are on the Caribbean  side of the trench.

Dangerous volcanoes

The area also contains seventeen active and dangerous volcanoes. Two notorious volcanoes in the area are Soufriere Hills on Montserrat and Mount Pelee on Martinique.

Plate boundaries

The southern border of the plate interacts with the South American Plate. The petroleum fields of Venezuela are thought to be a result of the interaction between the two plates.

Caribbean Islands

Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago islands all formed on the Caribbean side of the plates. Between these two plates there is a transform fault, thrust faults, and a subduction zone.

Western section

The western section of the plate includes Central America. The Cocos Plate in the Pacific Ocean is subducting beneath the Caribbean Plate forming the Central America Volcanic Arc with volcanoes in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

Work and photo credits

http://www.kids-fun-science.com/caribbean-plate.html

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03trench/trench/trench.html

http://education.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?layers=69cb1f185afa47528708dbaa89e0729b&useExisting=1