Early tectonic history of the Greater Antilles

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

OSTI ID:6319445

Lewis, J F; Draper, G; Mattson, P

The islands of the Greater Antilles exhibit differing pre-Oligocene tectonic styles and histories, but all display the results of convergent plate activity from the Early Cretaceous to the Middle Eocene. Western and central Cuba consist of autochthonous, Jurassic and older continental crust, which was overthrust by Cretaceous ophiolites in the Early to Middle Eocene. In contrast, eastern Cuba seems to be similar to Northern Hispaniola, and both areas consist of complexes of upper Cretaceous to Eocene magmatic-arc rocks, and trench generated ophiolites and blueschists produced by SW directed subduction. The oldest rocks in central Hispaniola are exposed in NW trending linear fault-bounded belts. Unusual high-Mg greenschists and amphibolites, quartz-feldspathic greenschists, together with N-type MORB basalts and keratophyric volcanics, are juxtaposed against a medial serpentinite belt. Central and eastern Puerto Rico consist of Lower to Upper Cretaceous volcanic rocks intruded by upper Cretaceous to Eocene plutons. Similar Cretaceous volcanics occur in SW Puerto Rico, but they are overthrust by Upper Jurassic cherts, spilites and amphibolites. Jamaica lies along the Nicaraguan Rise to the SW of the other islands and consists of Barremian to Maastrichtian volcanics and volcanogenic sediments intruded by upper Cretaceous calc-alkalic plutons. Blueschists and related rocks in eastern Jamaica, and geochemical zonation in the igneous rocks suggest that the subduction was to the NW. Change in tectonic movements from convergence to left lateral shear took place during the Late Eocene/Early Oligocene.

• Research Organization: George Washington Univ., DC (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6319445
• 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
CONTINENTAL CRUST
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GREATER ANTILLES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
PLATE TECTONICS
VOLCANIC ROCKS
AMPHIBOLITES
BASEMENT ROCK
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DEFORMATION
PETROLOGY
SCHISTS
SUBDUCTION ZONES
TERTIARY PERIOD
CENOZOIC ERA
EARTH CRUST
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
IGNEOUS ROCKS
ISLANDS
MESOZOIC ERA
METAMORPHIC ROCKS
ROCKS
TECTONICS
WEST INDIES
580201* - Geophysics- Seismology & Tectonics- (1980-1989)
580300 - Mineralogy
Petrology
& Rock Mechanics- (-1989)