A palaeomagnetic study and age determinations of Tertiary rocks in Nicaragua, Central America

• Palaeomagnetic, K-Ar and Ar40/Ar39 measurements have been made to elucidate Nicaragua's plate tectonic history. These show that the Nicaraguan Highland rotated 90° counterclockwise between 30 and 18 Myr ago, but the Pacific Coastal Plain has not rotated.A lack of data has prevented a direct comparison with the tectonic history of adjacent areas, in particular, the Chortis Block, which is the part of the Caribbean Plate that is geologically most closely related to the Nicaraguan Highland. However, our data suggest that the Caribbean Plate in this part of Central America was not consolidated until c. 15 Ma.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Geofysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geophysics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Applied Geophysics

Tillämpad geofysik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)