🏞️ Cayman Trough

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. It is the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea and forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. It extends from the Windward Passage, going south of the Sierra Maestra of Cuba toward Guatemala. It is bisected by the Mid-Cayman Rise, a small mid-ocean ridge and divergent plate boundary running south from Grand Cayman Island. The transform fault continues onshore as the Polochic-Motagua fault system, which consists of the Polochic and Motagua faults. This system continues on until the Chiapas massif where it is part of the diffuse triple junction of the North American, Caribbean and Cocos plates.