0000000000049731
AUTHOR
D.e. Garcia-delgado
Tectonic evolution of the Sierra Maestra Mountains, SE Cuba, during Tertiary times: From arc-continent collision to transform motion
Abstract A structural study was carried out along the southern Sierra Maestra mountain range, SE Cuba. This was aimed to monitor the effects of Paleogene island arc formation and collision due to convergence of the Caribbean and North American plates and subsequent Neogene disruption of the arc by initiation of the North Caribbean Transform Fault. In the Sierra Maestra two different and unrelated volcanic arcs are exposed, one of Cretaceous age (pre-Maastrichtian) and the other of Paleogene age, the latter forming the main expression of the mountain range. The volcanic arcs are overlain by Middle–Upper Eocene siliciclastic, carbonate and terrigenous rocks. Six distinct phases of deformation…
Palaeomagnetism of the central Cuban Cretaceous Arc sequences and geodynamic implications
Abstract A detailed palaeomagnetic study of Cretaceous age volcanic and sedimentary arc rocks from central Cuba has been carried out. Samples from 32 sites (12 localities) were subjected to detailed demagnetisation experiments. Nineteen sites from the Los Paso, Matagua, Provincial and Cabaiguan Formations yielded high unblocking temperature, dual polarity directions of magnetisation which pass the fold tests with confidence levels of 95% or more and are considered to be primary in origin. The palaeomagnetic inclinations are equivalent to palaeolatitudes of 9°N for the Aptian, 18°N for the Albian. A synfolding remanence identified in 5 sites from the younger Hilario Formation indicates a lat…
Geochemistry and early Palaeogene SHRIMP zircon ages for island arc granitoids of the Sierra Maestra, southeastern Cuba
The Palaeogene volcanic arc successions of the Sierra Maestra, southeastern Cuba, were intruded by calc-alkaline, low- to medium-K tonalites and trondhjemites during the final stages of subduction and subsequent collision of the Caribbean oceanic plate with the North American continental plate. U‐Pb SHRIMP zircon dating of five granitoids yielded 206 Pb/ 238 U emplacement ages between 60.5F2.2 and 48.3F0.5 Ma. The granitoids are the result of subduction-related magmatism and have geochemical characteristics similar to those of magmas from intra-oceanic island-arcs such as the Izu Bonin‐Mariana arc and the New Britain island arc, Lesser Antilles. Major and trace element patterns suggest evol…