Abstract
This chapter demonstrates the need for multiple working hypotheses in the evaluation of complex tectonic zones such as the diffuse northwest Caribbean triple junction zone. Where an underlying incompatibility can be identified in the contextual major plate system, a number of nonrigid processes may arise in isolation or in some combination to stabilize the system. Recognition of the relative roles for the various processes requires explicit consideration of all of these possibilities. Characteristics of the different processes are also not always diagnostic. In this case, it is a combination of phenomena preserved in the rock record that must be interpreted together in order to discriminate between the different possibilities.
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Keppie, D. (2014). Normalization Analysis for Possibly-Unstable Triple Junction Zones. In: The Analysis of Diffuse Triple Junction Zones in Plate Tectonics and the Pirate Model of Western Caribbean Tectonics. SpringerBriefs in Earth Sciences. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9616-8_3
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