Search

Under the long-term influence of subduction, collision and strike-slip faults, the Caribbean Sea and its surroundings have evolved complex topography and terranes, making it an excellent site to study the tectonic of microplates. However, some microplate boundaries of this area are still controversial or unclear. Here we employed the widely-used satellite-derived gravity dataset in combination with previous findings to conduct a detailed re-interpretation of tectonic boundaries. A newly proposed product of normalized multi-edge-attributes (PNMEA) with upward-continued free-air gravity anomalies (FGA) is used to constrain deep large-scale boundaries (i.e., oceanic trenches, deformed belts and fault systems). The residual crustal gravity anomalies (RCGA) obtained based on wavelet multi-scale decomposition further reveal density variations within the crust domain. The Tilt angle (TA) of FGA highlights fault strikes and patterns in the near-surface. Consequently, we refine the possible boundaries of microplates within the northern Caribbean boundary zone and the Nicaraguan Rise, and analyze the contact relationships among microplates. The results suggest a triple junction among the Gonave, Hispaniola and Septentrional microplates exists in the Windward Passage, and a zigzag low RCGA in the Mona Passage separates the Hispaniola and Puerto Rico microplates. In addition, the north and south Nicaraguan rises are inclined to be unaffiliated implied by the differences in multiple physical properties. We thus conclude that an integrated analytical approach involving potential-field edge detection and RCGA can provide additional constraints for identification of tectonic or microplate boundaries. Deep-shallow coupling and lithosphere-scale cooling differences may provide new perspectives to explain the complexity of temporal-spatial configuration due to multiple microplate interactions. • Tectonic characteristic rechecked by product of normalized multi-edge-attributes. • A new residual crustal gravity anomaly map is derived. • Refinement of microplate boundaries in west and north Caribbean. • Physical variations of microplates imply complexity of deep and shallow interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]