What is the Cayman Trough and where is it located?

The Cayman Trough is a complex transform fault zone and pull-apart basin located on the floor of the western Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. It contains the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea, reaching a maximum depth of 7,686 meters, and forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates. Inside the trough lies the Mid-Cayman Rise, a slowly spreading ridge known for hosting exceptionally deep and hot hydrothermal vents.

What we know

• The Cayman Trough is a complex transform fault zone pull-apart basin on the floor of the western Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. [1, 2]
• It is the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea, with a maximum depth of 7,686 metres. [2]
• The trough contains a slowly spreading north-south ridge called the Mid-Cayman Rise, which shows a long-term opening rate of 11-12 mm/yr. [2]
• Deep-sea research discovered black smokers on the ocean floor within the trench at a depth of 5 km, releasing water at temperatures potentially exceeding 450 °C. [2]

Still open

• Researchers debate whether the Eocene subduction zone beneath the Cayman Ridge occurred as the Caribbean Plate was subducted directly beneath the North American Plate or beneath a plate fragment dubbed the East Cuban Microplate.

Where to go next

• what caused itHow did the Cayman Ridge form?
• a case in pointWhat hydrothermal vents exist in the Cayman Trough?
• how it workedHow do tectonic plates interact at the Cayman Trough boundary?
• the bigger pictureWhat are the geographic features of the Cayman Islands?
• whenWhat geological events shaped the region during the Eocene epoch?
• an unexpected connectionHow is an eyeless shrimp adapted to extreme hydrothermal vents?Exploration of the deep tectonic trench revealed new life forms, including an eyeless shrimp featuring a special light-sensing organ to detect the faint glow of extremely hot black smokers.

Sources

• [1]Cayman Trough (Wikidata Q119167) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Cayman Trough · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Cayman Islands · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Geography of the Cayman Islands · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Cayman Ridge · CC BY-SA 4.0