Evidence from physical geodesy for geodynamics in the Caribbean area

Geodynamic studies in the Caribbean consider a great deal of geophysical and geological information. Geodetic data have only been applied but little. Physical geodesy provides different parameters of the gravity field, such as geoid heights, deflections of the vertical, and gravity anomalies. As the gravity field is a function of the mass distribution within the earth, these parameters give information about mass inhomogeneities, in particular also about those correlated with geodynamics. This paper presents some results concerning geodynamic features in the Caribbean obtained from the inversion of the gravity field into a theoretical mass distribution of the earth. The effect of irregular mass distributions in the lithosphere is separated from the global gravity field and interpreted with respect to plate tectonics. A clear correlation between the geometry of the Caribbean plate and the lithospheric part of the gravity field can be found.