@article{13268,
  author = {Rainer Nerlich and Stuart Clark and Hans-Peter Bunge},
  title = {An outlet for Pacific mantle: The Caribbean Sea?},
  abstract = {The Pacific Ocean is surrounded by subduction zone systems leading to a decreasingsurface area as well as sub-surface mantle domain. In contrast, the Atlantic realm ischaracterized by passive margins and growing in size. To maintain global mass balance,the Caribbean and the Scotia Sea have been proposed as Pacific-to-Atlantic transferchannels for sub-lithospheric shallow mantle. We concentrate on the Caribbean here andtest this idea by calculating the present-day regional dynamic topography in search for agradual decrease from west to east that mirrors the pressure gradient due to the shrinkageof the Pacific. To calculate the dynamic topography, we isostatically correct the observedtopography for sediments and crustal thickness variations, and compare the result withthose predicted by lithospheric cooling models. The required age-grid was derived fromour recently published reconstruction model. Our results confirm previous geochemicaland shear-wave splitting studies and suggest some lateral asthenosphere flow away fromthe Galapagos hotspot. However, they also indicate that this flow is blocked in the CentralCaribbean. This observation suggests that rather than through large scale Pacific-to-Atlantic shallow mantle flow, the global mass balance is maintained through some otherprocess, possibly related to the deep mantle underneath Africa.},
  year = {2015},
  journal = {GeoResJ},
  volume = {7},
  pages = {59-65},
  month = {09/2015},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
}