How did the Caribbean Plate move between the North American and South American plates?

The Caribbean Plate originated as a buoyant submarine plateau in the eastern Pacific basin. Approximately 80 million years ago, this plateau began penetrating the gap created by the westward drift of the North American and South American plates.12

As the Caribbean Plate moved eastward relative to these continents, it underwent complex tectonic interactions:

• Eastern Margin: The Atlantic Ocean floor is currently being underthrust beneath the Caribbean Plate, a process that sustains the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc.312
• Northern and Southern Margins: These boundaries have been characterized by shearing, dismemberment, and strike-slip faulting. In northern Venezuela, this movement involves right-lateral strike-slip faulting and crustal shortening.32
• Tectonic Reorganization: Between 60 and 35 million years ago, the collision of the Greater Antilles volcanic arc with the Bahamas platform caused a reorganization of regional tectonics, effectively fixing parts of the northern margin to the North American Plate.1

Currently, the Caribbean Plate continues to move eastward relative to North and South America at a rate of 10 to 20 millimetres per year.3