Cuban Geology: A New Plate-Tectonic Synthesis (original) (raw)
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Cenozoic tectonic history of the North America-Caribbean plate boundary zone in western Cuba
Journal of Geophysical Research, 1997
Structural studies of well-dated Jurassic to lower Miocene rocks in western Cuba constrain the sequence of structural events affecting this oblique collisional zone between the late Cretaceous island arc and the Jurassic-Cretaceous North America passive margin in the southeastem Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida. Results of detailed mapping and collection of fault slip data at 34 sites define a regionally consistent, five phase tectonic model for the period from the late Paleocene to the post-early Miocene. During the late Paleocene to the early Eocene, the Cuban island arc collided with the North American passive margin (Bahamas Platform). Northwest-ward overthrusting during the collision defines tectonic phase I. A NNE-SSW compression concurrent with early Eocene left-lateral strike-slip faulting along the Pinar fault zone defines phase II. This result is consistent with structural mapping showing sinistral shear within the 065 ø striking Pinar fault zone. An ENE-WSW to E-W compression defining phase III overprinted phase II faults in the lower Eocene and older rocks. Post-early Miocene normal faulting characterizes phase IV. Inversion of fault slip data indicates two contemporaneous directions of tension of 120 and 170. Strike-slip faults that overprint phase IV normal faults yield a 120 compression (phase V). The direction of compression associated with the arc/continent collision rotates clockwise from NW-SE in the late Paleocene/early Eocene (phase I), to NNE-SSW (phase II) and to ENE-WSW by the middle Eocene (phase III). The rotation in the compression direction occurred because the arc turned toward an oceanic area in the present-day area of central and eastern Cuba. Progressive collision led to complete subduction of the remnant oceanic crust by middle to late Eocene time. Collision between arcs and continents leads to orogenesis and the reorientation of arcs toward a nearby oceanic margin or "free face" [McKenzie, 1972; Burke and Seng6r, 1986]. The Cenozoic collisional history of the Caribbean arc has been proposed as an example of the tectonic escape process. Northwestward movement of the Caribbean plate was opposed by the collision between the Caribbean plate and Bahamas Platform [Malfait and Dinkelman, 1972; Rosencrantz, 1990] (Figure lb) and yielded to Eocene to Recent east-northeastward motion in eastern Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico [Mann et al., 1991, 1995] (Figure la). Transtensional left-lateral strikeslip faults beneath the Yucatan basin and in the Cayman Trough allowed continued clockwise rotation, collision, and eastward motion toward a free face in the Atlantic Ocean. The negative buoyancy of the subducted Jurassic-Cretaceous age Atlantic Ocean lithosphere [Royden, 1993] was probably the driving force for the change in plate convergence direction and continued motion of the Caribbean arc toward the free face to the east
Geological Society London Special Publications
Within the last decade, modern petrological and geochronological methods in combination with detailed studies of the field geology have allowed the reconstruction of tectonic processes in the northwestern part of the Caribbean Plate. The development of an oceanic Proto-Yucatan Basin can be traced from the Late Jurassic to the Mid-Cretaceous. From the Mid-Cretaceous onward, an interaction of this basin with the Caribbean Arc can be observed. Geochronological data prove continuous magmatic activity and generation of HP mineral suites in the Caribbean Arc from the Aptian to the Campanian/Maastrichtian. Magmatism ceased at least in onshore central Cuba at about 75 Ma, probably as the southern edge of the continental Yucatan Block began to interact with the advancing arc system. Similarly, the youngest recorded ages for peak metamorphism of high-pressure metamorphic rocks in Cuba cluster at 70 Ma; rapid uplift/exhumation of these rocks occurred thereafter. After this latest Cretaceous in...
International Geology Review, 2008
Paleogene deposits of north-central Cuba have been identified as a deformed foredeep basin, whose stratigraphy recorded very well the collision of the Bahamas-Proto-Caribbean realm (North American plate) with the Caribbean plate, a process that occurred since latest Cretaceous to early Late Eocene time. The debris incorporated in the foredeep basin has two provenance regions and four tectonostratigraphic sources, including: (1) the Caribbean Plate (1a = allochthonous Cretaceous arcs, 1b = serpentinite mélanges and ophiolites); (2) the North American plate (2a = Pre-Paleogene sedimentary rocks derived from the substrate of the foredeep basin, 2b = Cretaceous Bahamian carbonate platform rocks). Evaluation of the age, size, and volume of the debris demonstrate the formation of a forebulge within the Bahamas platform in response to the collision between the Caribbean and North American plates, and the northeastward migration of the axis of maximum subsidence of the foredeep basin since the Paleocene. By the early Late Eocene, structural NE-SW shortening ended in central Cuba, with uplift and deep erosion, followed by a quick transgression before the end of the Eocene. The resulting Upper Eocene sediments unconformably cover the deformed foredeep deposits and underlying rocks, finishing the formation of the North Cuba-Bahamas fold-and-thrust belt. Palinspastic reconstructions suggest that this belt accommodated nearly 1000 kilometers of shortening, during underthrusting of the Proto-Caribbean crust below the Caribbean Plate.
… Society of America …, 1999
Accreted terranes, comprising a wide variety of Jurassic and Cretaceous igneous and sedimentary rocks, are an important and conspicuous feature of Cuban geology. Although the Mesozoic igneous rocks are generally poorly exposed and badly altered, we have collected and geochemically analyzed 25 samples that place new constraints on plate tectonic models of the Caribbean region. From our recognizance sampling, six main lava types have been identified within the Mesozoic igneous rocks of Cuba: rift basalts, oceanic tholeiites, backarc basin lavas, boninites, island arc tholeiites (IAT), and calc-alkaline lavas. We suggest that the rift-related basalts may have formed during the development of the proto-Caribbean, as the Yucatan block rifted away from northern South America in Jurassic-Early Cretaceous time. The Early Cretaceous oceanic tholeiites have flat rare earth element patterns, and are compositionally similar to Pacific mantle plume-derived oceanic plateaus of similar age. The Early Cretaceous arcrelated rocks are either backarc basalts, boninites, or relatively trace element-depleted IAT lavas. A limited amount of geochemical and field evidence hints that two parallel arc systems existed in the western proto-Caribbean area in Early Cretaceous time. This leads us to speculate that in the proto-Caribbean at this time there was a western arc with a northeast-dipping subduction zone erupting IAT lavas (with Farallon plate being consumed), and a more eastern boninitic arc with a south-west-dipping subduction zone (with proto-Caribbean plate being consumed). This latter arc was relatively short lived and after being aborted was mostly eroded away. The Cretaceous primitive (IAT) arc survived and, later in Cretaceous time, as this arc system moved into the widening gap between North and South Americas, calc-alkaline lavas began to be erupted. The evidence suggests that the change from IAT to calc-alkaline lavas was gradual and not abrupt. These new data, although limited, provide geochemical constraints on the tectonic development of the northern part of the Caribbean plate. In consequence, we present a new plate tectonic model for this area of the Caribbean.
Neogene-Quaternary tectonics along the North Caribbean transform fault, Cuba
2003
The Neogene to Recent North Caribbean (Oriente) Transform Fault (OTF) off the coast of southern Cuba is part of the northern Caribbean transform fault system. It has affected the southern Sierra Maestra mountain range, SE Cuba, and portrays the dynamics and tectonic evolution of the southern Cuban coast in the boundary zone between the Caribbean and North American plates. The region has been affected by historical earthquakes and shows many structures due to brittle deformation in Neogene to Pleistocene shallow-water limestones. Present-day structures vary along strike of the OTF, with dominant transpression in the east and transtension in the west. The focal mechanisms of historical earthquakes are in agreement with dominant ENE-WSW compression found onland. Neogene-Pleistocene limestones are deformed, faulted, fractured, and contains calcite- and karst-filled extension gashes. Type and orientation of the principal normal paleostresses vary along strike in accordance with observations of large-scale submarine structures at the southern Cuban continental margin. Deformation phase D1 comprises N-S extension, exemplified mainly by karst-filled extensional veins and normal faults. We correlate this deformation with the regional kinematics in the Caribbean realm, imposed by the opening of the Cayman trough and the disruption between Cuba and Hispaniola. D2 and D3 comprise NE-SW to nearly N-S and subsequent NW-SE-directed compression and generated conjugate Mohr shears that correlate with strike-slip movement along the main fault to the south. These phases are also associated with a transpressional tectonic regime in the submarine Santiago Deformed Belt and with deformation processes along the Oriente Deep, both located off the southern Cuban coast. D4 reflects ENE-WSW to E-W-directed compression and corresponds to reactivation of sinistral strike-slip faults and formation of Riedel shears, consistent with stress orientations deduced from earthquake focal mechanisms. The present-day stress field in the Neogene to Pleistocene deposits in the southern Sierra Maestra evolved from oblique collision to transcurrent movement with a combination of transpression in the east and transtension in the west.
Journal of Structural Geology, 2009
The deformation history of sedimentary units incorporated in the North Cuban fold and thrust belt in the Paleocene to middle-late Eocene was associated with major shortening between the Caribbean and North American plates. This led to the formation of an intensely deformed tectonic pile comprising from top to bottom of a volcanic arc nappe, a deformed mafic-ultramafic complex with Mesozoic ophiolite components and a serpentinitic mé lange with blocks of sedimentary (the Placetas belt) and metamorphic rocks; and the structurally lower unit composed of folded and thrusted sediments of the southern promontory of the Bahamas platform. In this paper we study the deformation history of sedimentary units incorporated in the North Cuban fold and thrust belt associated with this shortening history. We find that the occurrences of the Placetas sedimentary rocks within the foliated serpentinite mé lange show varying styles and intensity of deformation, and varying number of deformation phases. They form isolated blocks within the serpentinite mé lange and do not represent a coherent nappe underlying the allochtonous mafic-ultramafic complex. The deformation of the Remedios belt, part of the Bahamas platform, underwent a single phase of folding and thrusting, with shortening perpendicular to the plate contact. This folding occurred in the middle to late Eocene and marks the arrest of subduction and arc-continent collision. We find no evidence for a component of strike-slip during collision. The volcanic arc is thrusted upon the mafic-ultramafic complex, and the original forearc ophiolite appears to be shortened. This shortening may attest to a period of subduction erosion. Thrusting of the volcanic arc led to deposition of the Paleocene-lower Eocene Taguasco olistostrome which may date this event. We show that careful analysis of the complexly deformed Cuban fold and thrust belt may allow identification of subduction erosion and subduction accretion episodes. Expanding the analysis carried out in this paper to the scale of the northern Caribbean fold and thrust belt may provide a new and independent geological tool to constrain the geodynamic processes associated with subduction and arc-continent collision along the northern Caribbean margin.
2000
Mapping and prospecting activities of the Joint Cuban-German Geological Expedition (1981Expedition ( -1990) ) in the central part of the Province of Camaguey yielded a background knowledge of the geological structure and development of this region outlined here. •Outstanding rock units are the ophiolite of Camaguey and the volcan ic island arc, prospected for chromitites and disseminated porphyry ores. The ophiolite lies allochthonously above the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks belonging to the passive continental margin of the North American plate. Reaches of the Cretaceous volcanic arc with a remarkable predominance of potassium were overthrust to the north over the ophiolite. The detritus of the pre-Upper Paleocene rocks are located in synorogenic deformed foreland and piggy-back basins, covered by postorogenic basins filled with sediments from the late Upper Eocene to the Present. SH 1 (2000) I Sonderheft ZAG El conocimiento de Ia constitucion y evolucion geologica de Ia parte central de Ia Provincia de camaguey se ha profundizado como resultado de los trabajos de mapeo y de prospeccion ejecutados por Ia Expedicion Geologica Conjunta Cu ba-Republica Democratica Alemana entre 1981 y 1990. Las unidades litologicas mas destacadas son Ia ofiolita de Camaguey y el arco volcanico, que fueron prospectadas por cromitita y mena diseminada porffrica. La ofiolita yace aloctona sobre las rocas de edades Jurasico y Cret acico pertenecientes al margen continental de Ia placa norteamericana. Secciones del arco volca nico Cretacico, caracterizadas por un notable contenido de potasio, estan sobrecorridas hacia el norte sobre Ia ofiolita. Los detritos de las rocas pre-Paleocene Superior yacen en cuencas sinorogenicas deformadas de tipo antepafs y en cuencas del tipo "piggy-back", las que a su vez estan cubiertas por cuencas postorogenicas que contienen sedimentos del Eoceno Superior tardfo hasta el Reciente.
Micropaleontology, 1999
The San Agustine and San Francisco de Paula sections constitute two complementary, albeit incomplete, records of late Paleocene-early Eocene history of western Cuba (Bahia Honda tectonic unit). The San Agustine section is of exceptional value because it is the only definitive known record of the Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum (LPTM) in the Caribbean. This extends the geographic distribution of the LPTM calcareous nannofossil assemblage from the western Indian Ocean to the Caribbean through the Tethys and North Atlantic Ocean. The fact that this assemblage has not yet been documented outside this area may reflect provincialism or, alternatively, broadly distributed unconformities. The San Francisco de Paula section, sampled with the hope that would constitute a suitable reference section for the Paleocene/Eocene boundary, yields a valuable record of successive latest Paleocene-earliest Eocene erosional events, that may reflect regional tectonic in the Caribbean or may be part of a global pattern of sedimentary history.