GPS Measurement of Relative Motion of the Cocos and Caribbean Plates and Strain Accumulation Across the Middle America Trench

Authors

Timothy H. Dixon, University of MiamiFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1993

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1029/93GL02415

Abstract

Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements in 1988 and 1991 on Cocos Island (Cocos plate), San Andres Island (Caribbean plate), and Liberia (Caribbean plate, mainland Costa Rica) provide an estimate of relative motion between the Cocos and Caribbean plates. The data for Cocos and San Andres Islands, both located more than 400 km from the Middle America Trench, define a velocity that is equivalent within two standard errors (7 mm/yr rate, 5 degrees azimuth) to the NUVEL-1 plate motion model. The data for Liberia, 120 km from the trench, define a velocity that is similar in azimuth but substantially different in rate from NUVEL-1. The discrepancy can be explained with a simple model of elastic strain accumulation with a subduction zone that is locked to a relatively shallow (20±5 km) depth.

Rights Information

Terms of use for work posted in Scholar Commons.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

No

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Geophysical Research Letters, v. 20, issue 20, p. 2167-2170

Copyright 1993 by the American Geophysical Union.

Scholar Commons Citation

Dixon, Timothy H., "GPS Measurement of Relative Motion of the Cocos and Caribbean Plates and Strain Accumulation Across the Middle America Trench" (1993). School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications. 500.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/500