The southern margin of the Caribbean Plate in Venezuela: tectono-magmatic setting of the ophiolitic units and kinematic evolution
Abstract The southern Caribbean Plate margin in Venezuela consists of a W–E elongated deformed belt, composed of several tectonic units dismembered along the northern part of the South America continental Plate since the Late Cretaceous. The present review, based on petrology and tectono-magmatic significance of each unit, makes it possible to define the main geotectonic elements and to reconstruct the paleogeographic domains from Late Jurassic to Tertiary: (a) Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalt (MORB) proto-Caribbean oceanic basin (Loma de Hierro Unit); (b) oceanic plateau (Dutch and Venezuelan Islands basement); (c) rifted continental margin (Cordillera de La Costa and Caucagua–El Tinaco Units) with …
Petrological and structural significance of the Santa Elena-Nicoya ophiolitic complex in Costa Rica and geodynamic implications
Detailed structural and petrological investigations were carried out on the Santa Elena-Nicoya ophiolitic complex in Costa Rica, which is represented by a classic association of mantle tectonites (Santa Elena Peninsula), a cumulitic gabbroic-plagiogranite sequence, and basaltic volcanics and sills (Matapalo and Esperanza Units of the Nicoya Peninsula), with discontinuous radiolarian covers. Despite biostratigraphically different ages (Late Jurassic for Matapalo and Mid-Late Cretaceous for Esperanza) in both units, the major and trace element data, Sr-Nd isotope systematics, and mineral phase crystallization order show identical tholeiitic fractionation trends, where the marked Fe-Ti enrichm…