Jurassic-Cretaceous history of Cuba: implications for the evolution of the southern margin of the North American plate

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1985 · Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:6863444

Barros, J A; Rosencrantz, E

The oldest Cuban sedimentary rocks, clastics of the Bajocian San Cayetano Fm. provide the earliest record of North American-Gondwana rifting as seen in Cuba. A similar clastic sequence is seen below the carbonates of the Bahamas platform. In the Pinar del Rio area, the San Cayetano is succeeded by Oxfordian limestones, the shallow water Jagua Fm. to the south and deeper water Francisco Fm. to the north. Both contain basaltic pillow lavas, related either to rifting or to leaky transform motion parallel to the margin. The Oxfordian units are overlain by Kimmeridgian to Tithonian pelagic limestones, the Guasasa and Artemisa Fms. The later interfingers with northerly derived calci-turbidites. North of the Escambray, silici-clastic fragments in late Jurassic pelagic limestones suggests that a basement high existed south of the platform until the Berriasian. The carbonate platform continues to shed debris along its southern edge throughout the Cretaceous. To the south an Aptian-Albian episode of turbidite deposition suggests that South America-Africa rifting caused tectonic disturbances in the Caribbean. Southerly derived volcanoclastics deposited during the Maastrichtian marks the start of the Cuban orogeny.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Miami, FL (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6863444
• Report Number(s): CONF-8510489-
• Journal Information: Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States), Vol. 17; Conference: 98. annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Orlando, FL, USA, 28 Oct 1985
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
CUBA
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
OROGENESIS
PLATE TECTONICS
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
JURASSIC PERIOD
RIFT ZONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GREATER ANTILLES
ISLANDS
MESOZOIC ERA
ROCKS
TECTONICS
WEST INDIES
580201* - Geophysics- Seismology & Tectonics- (1980-1989)