the caribbean sea is part of the caribbean ocean.
the caribbean sea is part of the caribbean ocean.
the caribbean sea is part of which ocean?
caribbean sea
the geological age of the caribbean sea is estimated to be between 160 and 180 million years and was formed by a horizontal fracture that split the supercontinent called pangea in the mesozoic era. it is assumed the proto-caribbean basin existed in the devonian period. in the early carboniferous movement of gondwana to the north and its convergence with the euramerica basin decreased in size. the next stage of the caribbean sea's formation began in the triassic. powerful rifting led to the formation of narrow troughs, stretching from modern newfoundland to the west coast of the gulf of mexico which formed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. in the early jurassic due to powerful marine transgression, water broke into the present area of the gulf of mexico creating a vast shallow pool. the emergence of deep basins in the caribbean occurred during the middle jurassic rifting. the emergence of these basins marked the beginning of the atlantic ocean and contributed to the destruction of pangaea at the end of the late jurassic. during the cretaceous the caribbean acquired the shape close to that seen today. in the early paleogene due to marine regression the caribbean became separated from the gulf of mexico and the atlantic ocean by the land of cuba and haiti. the caribbean remained like this for most of the cenozoic until the holocene when rising water levels of the oceans restored communication with the atlantic ocean.
caribbean sea
the caribbean sea is an oceanic sea largely situated on the caribbean plate. the caribbean sea is separated from the ocean by several island arcs of various ages. the youngest stretches from the lesser antilles to the virgin islands to the north east of trinidad and tobago off the coast of venezuela. this arc was formed by the collision of the south american plate with the caribbean plate and includes active and extinct volcanoes such as mount pelee, the quill (volcano) on sint eustatius in the caribbean netherlands and morne trois pitons on dominica. the larger islands in the northern part of the sea cuba, hispaniola, jamaica and puerto rico lie on an older island arc.
caribbean sea