Chapter 17 Structure of the Gulf of paria pull-apart basin (Eastern Venezuela-Trinidad)

The Gulf of Paria lies entirely within the broad strike-slip plate boundary zone of the southeastern Caribbean. The structure of the Gulf consists of a complex set of transtensional basins superimposed on a fold-and-thrust belt (Serrania del Interior of eastern Venezuela). This province extends to the east into the Caroni Basin of northern Trinidad and to the west into the San Juan graben and other minor extensional basins of the Guanoco area. The main structural elements of the Gulf of Paria are: the Casanay-Arima fault bounding the transtensional province to the north, the Warm Springs fault to the south and the Domoil and Gopa Highs located in the central part of the Gulf of Paria. Rapid extensional collapse since the late Neogene resulted in deep half-grabens, which are characterized by large offsets along the major extensional faults and by shallow-water sedimentary fill. Transtensional tectonics in the Gulf of Paria was coeval with north-vergent thrusting in the Pedernales region to the south. The north-vergent imbricates constitute a passive-roof duplex with respect to the underlying south-vergent thrusts of the Serrania del Interior of eastern Venezuela. Late Pleistocene-Holocene compression in the Gulf of Paria has caused minor positive inversions involving the main basin-bounding faults. Seismic data used in this study have enabled us to significantly modify existing wrench models.