Cenozoic tectonic history of the North America‐Caribbean plate boundary zone in western Cuba

Gordon, Mark B.; Mann, Paul; Cáceres, Dámaso; Flores, R.

doi:10.1029/96jb03177

Cited by 85 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Various models of geodynamic evolution of the Caribbean plate from Late Jurassic to Late Eocene are available [Pindell and Dewey, 1982;Burke, 1988;Pindell and Barrett, 1990;Gordon et al, 1997;Hutson et al, 1998;Sinton et al, 1998;Kerr et al, 1999Kerr et al, , 2003Schneider et al, 2004; Kennan, 2009;Neill et al, 2010]. These models broadly agree on several important points.…”

Section: Tectonic Evolution Of La Désirade: a Key Aspect Of Caribbeansupporting

confidence: 65%

Discovery of Lower Cretaceous synmetamorphic thrust tectonics in French Lesser Antilles (La Désirade Island, Guadeloupe): Implications for Caribbean geodynamics

et al. 2011

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[1] Located east of Guadeloupe, the island of La Désirade exhibits the oldest rocks of the Lesser Antilles arc and the eastern Caribbean plate. An old magmatic basement is composed of (1) late Jurassic ophiolitic complex with meta-basaltic pillow lavas and interbedded radiolarites, (2) acid igneous complex comprising meta-quartz-diorite and meta-rhyolitic lavas flows, and (3) meta-diabasic/microdioritic dyke swarm complex. We present and discuss the discovery of synmetamorphic thrust tectonics in this island. Based on detailed structural analysis we evidenced two main compressive events. The first event (D1) is characterized by pervasive folding associated with thrust development. In the northeastern part of the island, a major thrust fault, the Grand Abaque Thrust, has been discovered which displaces for several kilometers the acid igneous complex onto the ophiolitic unit. The second deformation event (D2) is featured by a main pervasive cleavage S2 observed at the regional scale associated with upright folding (F2) and by the development of two sets of conjugated steeply dipping strike-slip shear zones, dextral 130°N and sinistral 20°N striking, respectively. Microstructural observations indicate that Greenschist facies metamorphism is clearly contemporaneous with the development of D1 and D2 superimposed tectonic structures. Ar/Ar geochronology was performed on two bulk of adularia minerals sampled in the northeast volcanic complex within a deformed zone related to a D2 event. These analyses yield well-defined and concordant plateau ages at 106.2 ± 1.7 Ma and 107.2 ± 1.8 Ma. Thus, shortening and thickening tectonics occurred during Lower Cretaceous (Albian). In the available framework of Caribbean geodynamics, the synmetamorphic thrust tectonics we discovered in the French Lesser Antilles is related to the collision between an Aptian-Albian oceanic plateau and the Andean-Cordilleran east-dipping subduction zone. Our results support subduction polarity reversal during Lower Cretaceous.

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Section: Tectonic Evolution Of La Désirade: a Key Aspect Of Caribbeansupporting

confidence: 65%

Discovery of Lower Cretaceous synmetamorphic thrust tectonics in French Lesser Antilles (La Désirade Island, Guadeloupe): Implications for Caribbean geodynamics

et al. 2011

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“…Thrust models, on the other hand, interpret the geology of Cuba to be part of an accretionary prism developed in front of the Caribbean Arc during the collision with the North American margin from Late Cretaceous to early Eocene times. Compressional models may either be thick-skinned in which the basement is involved in most thrust sheets [Bralower and Iturralde-Vinent, 1997;Iturralde-Vinent, 1998;Kerr et al, 1999], or thin-skinned, which interpret the thrust sheets to be formed only by cover rocks [Pszczolkowski, 1994b;Gordon et al, 1997;Otero Marrero and Tenreyro Perez, 1998]. However, none of the models presented to date have been validated by means of balanced and restored cross sections.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[2] Several models have been proposed for the structural architecture and evolution of western Cuba: (1) those based on transpressional tectonics [Perez-Othon and Yarmoliuk, 1985;Millán, 2003] and (2) those based on thrust tectonics [Hatten, 1957;Cubapetróleo and Simon-Petroleum-Technology, 1993;Pszczolkowski, 1994a;Bralower and Iturralde-Vinent, 1997;Gordon et al, 1997;Iturralde-Vinent, 1998;Otero Marrero and Tenreyro Perez, 1998;Kerr et al, 1999;Moretti et al, 2003]. Transpressional models are strongly conditioned by the surficial expression of major left-lateral faults that can be identified throughout Cuba.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and tectonic evolution of western Cuba fold and thrust belt

et al. 2008

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We present balanced and restored cross sections across the western Cuba fold and thrust belt to illustrate its structure and tectonic evolution, based on the interpretation of multichannel seismic profiles, field data and balancing techniques. The NNW–SSE trending Soroa cross section intersects, from south to north, (1) the Los Palacios Basin, (2) the Sierra del Rosario antiformal stack, (3) the Bahía Honda thrust unit, (4) the frontal ∼3‐km‐thick imbricated thrust sheets, and (5) the foredeep basin. At depth, a duplex that links the Sierra del Rosario unit and the frontal imbricates is defined using the thickness of the cover thrust sheets of the imbricated North American margin. The minimum calculated shortening is of 130 km in a SSE or south direction to fit large‐scale plate tectonic reconstructions. However, a more allochthonous alternative using thinner cover sequences is also discussed, which restores the Bahía Honda unit 220 km to the south of its present position. Syntectonic deposits in combination with a forward kinematic model provide a good constraint for the tectonic evolution of the orogen. The internally deformed Bahía Honda unit overthrusted the North America margin cover successions during Danian and Selandian times (∼65.5–60 Ma), before the stacking of these cover rocks during Selandian and Thanetian times (∼60–56 Ma). The growth of a large antiformal stack beneath the Sierra del Rosario occurred at early middle Eocene (∼56–45 Ma), generating about 4 km of structural relief between the paleoisland of Cuba and the synorogenic seafloor before the final infill of the foredeep.

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“…PszczóJkowski et al, Texto explicativo para el mapa geológico a escala 1: 250,000 de la provincia de Pinar del Río, unpublished report, 1975). As a matter of fact, Gordon et al [1997] proposed that the Pinar fault was active since early Eocene time (not ''since late Eocene times'' as incorrectly cited by Saura et al [2008]). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, they do not present their own detailed data changing the previously published stratigraphy of the Paleogene formations of the Sierra del Rosario. The Ancon Formation exposed in some tectonic units of the Sierra del Rosario is middle Paleocene in age and is transitional to the younger Manacas Formation [PszczóJkowski, 1994a;Bralower and IturraldeVinent, 1997]; therefore, these tectonic units hardly could be deformed by thrusting during the suggested time interval (except the latest Paleocene [Gordon et al, 1997;Bralower and Iturralde-Vinent, 1997]). Moreover, the interpretation of the Sierra del Rosario belt as a duplex structure is not a new idea.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Comment on “Structural and tectonic evolution of western Cuba fold and thrust belt” by Eduard Saura et al.

Pszczółkowski

2009

Tectonics

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Cenozoic tectonic history of the North America‐Caribbean plate boundary zone in western Cuba

Abstract: Abstract.Structural

Cited by 85 publications

References 33 publications

Discovery of Lower Cretaceous synmetamorphic thrust tectonics in French Lesser Antilles (La Désirade Island, Guadeloupe): Implications for Caribbean geodynamics

Discovery of Lower Cretaceous synmetamorphic thrust tectonics in French Lesser Antilles (La Désirade Island, Guadeloupe): Implications for Caribbean geodynamics

Structural and tectonic evolution of western Cuba fold and thrust belt

Comment on “Structural and tectonic evolution of western Cuba fold and thrust belt” by Eduard Saura et al.

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