The Caribbean supra-subduction system has undergone continuous evolution and repeated reorganizations since the Late Mesozoic, while remaining intensely active today. Subduction, arc and back-arc dynamics interact with major strike-slip systems, collision zones and distributed deformation, together shaping a broad, complex and evolving plate-boundary region. The geological record and present-day activity of this system provide complementary constraints on how plate boundaries initiate, evolve, interact, merge and disappear, and on the processes controlling their localization and reorganization.
Increasingly refined geological, geochemical, geochronological, geophysical and geodetic observations constrain this evolution from Mesozoic plate configurations to present-day fault kinematics and deformation. Geochronological, geochemical and isotopic records provide temporal and petrogenetic constraints on magmatism, metamorphism, deformation, crust–mantle interactions and changes in geodynamic regime through time. Together, these observations reveal interactions between crustal deformation, inherited structures, subduction dynamics, mantle flow and magmatism, providing an opportunity to investigate how these processes interact across crustal and mantle depths and how past evolution influences present-day deformation.
We welcome contributions addressing the structure, kinematics, dynamics and evolution of the Caribbean tectonic system, including plate reconstructions and boundary reorganization, active faulting and deformation partitioning, subduction and back-arc processes, mantle dynamics, seismicity, magmatism and arc evolution, fluid-rock interactions, and vertical motions. We encourage contributions integrating geological, geochemical, geochronological, geophysical, geodetic and modelling approaches, particularly those using the Caribbean to address broader questions about the dynamics and evolution of plate boundaries and supra-subduction systems.