Emplacement of the northern ophiolites of Cuba and the Campanian-Eocene geological history of the northwestern Caribbean-SE Gulf of Mexico region

Abstract

The Mesozoic Proto-Caribbean Plate was consumed in the subduction zone of the Greater Antilles volcanic arc until the Campanian. At this time, volcanic arc magmatism ceased along Cuba. From Late Campanian to Danian, Cuba and its surroundings were a collision zone where the GAC accreted to the North American palaeomargin. In the Danian the almost east–west trending SE Cuba–Cayman Ridge–Hispaniola? volcanic arc was born. The related north dipping subduction zone acted as the SE North American plate boundary. From the Paleocene to Middle Eocene dense Caribbean lithosphere travelled northwards. The location, strike and subduction polarity of the assumed subduction zone are very different from those described by other models. Almost simultaneously the Cuban Orogeny developed in western and central Cuba. During the orogeny the northern ophiolite belt of Cuba and the Cretaceous volcanic rocks were thrust northwards tens of kilometres, onto the Mesozoic North American palaeomargin. In the Middle Eocene subduction stopped. Simultanously(?) a change in the regional stress field originated the near east–west trending sinistral Oriente fault zone, whose position and origin are probably tied to the weakened hot crust to the south of the Palaeogene volcanic arc axis.

Squamate areas of endemism in Cuba as determined by parsimony analysis of endemicity

“…The tectonic and eustatic changes led to the development of multiple islands that were variously joined and disconnected (e.g. Pardo, ; Iturralde‐Vinent, , ; Cobiella‐Reguera, ; Stanek et al., ). This history stretches back into the late Cretaceous so Cuba has had a long time to accrue its biota, via both vicariance and dispersal.…”

Oil and Gas Exploration in Cuba

“…The essential features of each (sometimes with different names) are discussed in various publications (Meyerhoff and Hatten 1968;Khudoley and Meyerhoff 1971;Pardo 1975;Iturralde-Vinent 1996a;Cobiella-Reguera 2009;Linares Cala et al 2011, among others).…”

Structural evolution of the La Trocha fault zone: Oblique collision and strike‐slip basins in the Cuban Orogen

“…the Yucatan and Bahamas borderlands— until the Eocene, when the Cuban Orogen was transferred to the North American Plate. The suture zone is marked by an extensive ophiolite belt and serpentinite mélange that crops out in the northern part of the Cuban Orogen [ Iturralde‐Vinent , 1996b; Cobiella‐Reguera , 2005, 2009; Lewis et al , 2006; García‐Casco et al , 2006] (Figure 1b).…”