Seismic investigations in the Colombia, Venezuela and Grenada Basins, and on the Barbados ridge for future IPOD drilling

Abstract

The geological setting of five sites for future IPOD drilling in the Caribbean is described. These sites were surveyed in 1976 by IFN-CNEXO with 2800 km of multichannel seismic records. The first two sites straddle the lesser Antilles island arc where the oceanic Atlantic plate is subducted westwards under the Caribbean plate. The main objectives of these sites are to investigate the frontal overthrust of the Barbados Ridge (accretionary prism) on the Barracuda abyssal plain, and the age and nature of sediments and crust of the back a¡c basin, e.g. the Grenada Basin. The three other sites are located in the Venezuela and Colombia Basins in order to understand their composite structure better and to compare their geological history with the geological evolution of their surrounding margins.