Foundations of Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean evolution: eight controversies resolved
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1344/105.000000371Keywords:
Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Tectonic evolution, Proto-Caribbean, Pacific originAbstract
Eight points of recurring controversy regarding the primary foundations of models of Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean tectonic evolution are identified and examined. The eight points are controversial mainly because of the disconnect between different scales of thinking by different workers, a common but unfortunate problem in the geological profession. Large-scale thinkers often are unaware of local geological detail, and local-scale workers fail to appreciate the level of evolutionary precision and constraint provided by regional tectonics and plate kinematics. The eight controversies are: (1) the degree of freedom in the Gulf-Caribbean kinematic framework that is allowed by Atlantic opening parameters; (2) the existence of a South Bahamas-Guyana Transform, and the role of this structure in Cuban, Bahamian, Trinidadian, and Guyanese evolution; (3) the anticlockwise rotation of the Yucatán Block during the opening of the Gulf of Mexico; (4) the Pacific origin of the Caribbean oceanic crust; (5) the Aptian age and plate boundary geometry of the onset of west-dipping subduction of Proto-Caribbean beneath Caribbean lithospheres; (6) the origin and causal mechanism of the Caribbean Large Igneous Province…not Galapagos!; (7) the number and origin of magmatic arcs in the northern Caribbean; and (8) the origin of Paleogene “flysch” deposits along northern South America: the Proto-Caribbean subduction zone. Here we show that there are viable marriages between the larger and finer scale data sets that define working and testable elements of the region’s evolution. In our opinion, these marriages are geologically accurate and suggest that they should form discrete elements that can and be integrated into regional models of Gulf and Caribbean evolution. We also call upon different facets of the geological community to collaborate and integrate diverse data sets more openly, in the hopes of improving general understanding and limiting the publication of unnecessary papers which only serve to spread geological uncertainty.
References
Acton, G.D., Galbrun, B., King, J.W., 2000. Paleolatitude of the Caribbean plate since the Late Cretaceous. In: Garman, E. (ed.). Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program. Scientific results, 165, 149–173.
Algar, S.T., Pindell, J.L., 1993. Structure and deformation history of the Northern Range of Trinidad and adjacent areas. Tectonics, 12, 814-829.
Angstadt, D.M., Austin, J.A., Buffler, R.T., 1985. Early Late Cretaceous to Holocene seismic stratigraphy and geologic history of the Gulf of Mexico. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 69, 977-995.
Aspden, J.A., Bonilla, W., Duque, P., 1995. The El Oro Complex, Ecuador: geology and economic mineral deposits. British Geological Survey, Overseas Geology and Mineral Resources, 67, 63pp.
Avé Lallemant, H.G., Sisson, V.B., 1993. Caribbean-South American plate interactions: Constraints from the Cordillera de la Costa Belt, Venezuela. In: Pindell, J.L., Perkins, R.F. (eds.). Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic development of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean region - A context for hydrocarbon exploration. Selected papers presented at the GCSSEPM Foundation thirteenth annual research conference, Gulf Coast Section SEPM, 211-219.
Baldwin, S.L., Harrison, T.M., Burke, K., 1986. Fission track evidence for the source of accreted sandstones, Barbados. Tectonics, 5, 457-468.
Baldwin, S., Harrison, T. M., 1989. Geochronology of blueschists from west-central Baja California and the timing of uplift in subduction complexes. Journal of Geology, 97, 149-163.
Baldwin, S., Harrison, T.M., 1992. The P-T-t history of blocks in serpentinite-matrix mélange, west-central Baja California. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 104, 18-31.
Barragan, R., Baby P., 1999. A Cretaceous hot spot in the Ecuadorian Oriente Basin: geochemical, geochronological, tectonic indicators. 4th International Symposium Andean Geodynamics, Gottingen, Germany, Proceedings, 77–80.
Barragan, R., Ramirez, F., Rodas, J., 1997. Evidence of an Intra Plate ‘Hot Spot’ under the Ecuadorian Oriente Basin during the Cretaceous tectonic evolution. VI Simposio Bolivariano “Exploración Petrolera en las cuencas Subandinas”, Cartagena, 99-104.
Beck, C., 1977. Geología de la faja piemontina y del frente de montañas en el noreste del estado Guárico, Venezuela septentrional. Memorias del V Congreso Geologico Venezolano, Caracas, 2, 759-782.
Bird, P., 2003. An updated digital model of plate boundaries. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 4, 1027. Boettcher, S.S., Jackson, J.L., Quinn, M.J., Neal, J.E., 2003. Lithospheric structure and supracrustal hydrocarbon systems, offshore eastern Trinidad. In: Bartolini, C., Buffler, R.T., Blickwede, J.F. (eds.). The circum-Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean; hydrocarbon habitats, basin formation, and plate tectonics. Tulsa, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir, 79, 529-544.
Bourgois, J., Calle, B., Tournon, J., Toussaint, J.F., 1982. The Andean ophiolitic megastructures on the Buga-Buenaventura transverse (Western Cordillera-Valle Colombia). Tectonophysics, 82, 207-299.
Bourgois, J., Toussaint, J.F., Gonzalez, H., Azema, J., Calle, B., Desmet, A., Murcia, L.A., Acevedo, A.P., Parra, E., Tournon, J., 1987. Geological history of the Cretaceous ophiolitic complexes of northwestern South America (Colombian Andes). Tectonophysics, 143, 307-327.
Bowin, C.O., 1966. Geology of the central Dominican-Republic (A case history of part of an island arc). In: Hess, H.H. (ed.). Caribbean Geological Investigations. Boulder, Geological Society of America Memoir, 98, 11-84.
Bralower, T.J., Iturralde-Vinent, M.A., 1997. Micropaleontological dating of the collision between the North American Plate and the Greater Antilles Arc in western Cuba. Palaios, 12, 133-150.
Bullard, E.C., Everett, J.E. Smith, A G., 1965. The fit of the continents around the Atlantic. Symposium on continental drift, Royal Society of London, Philosophical Transactions, 258, 41-51.
Burke, K., 1988. Tectonic evolution of the Caribbean. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 16, 210-230.
Byerly, G.R., 1991. Igneous activity. In: Salvador, A. (ed.). Geology of North America, J, Gulf of Mexico Basin. Boulder, Geological Society of America, 91-108.
Calvo, C., 2003. Provenance of plutonic detritus in cover sandstones of Nicoya Complex, Costa Rica: Cretaceous unroofing history of a Mesozoic ophiolite sequence. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 115, 832–844.
Calvo, C., Bolz, A., 1994. Der älteste kalkalkaline InselbogenVulkanismus in Costa Rica; Marine Pyroklastika der Formation Loma Chumico (Alb bis Campan) - The oldest calcalkaline island arc volcanism in Costa Rica. Marine tephra deposits from the Loma Chumico Formation (Albian to Campanian). Profil, 7, 235-264.
Case, J.E., Holcombe, T.L., Martin, R.G., 1984. Map of geologic provinces in the Caribbean region. In: Bonini, W.E., Hargraves, R. Shagam, R. (eds.). 1984. The Caribbean-South American Plate Boundary and Regional Tectonics. Boulder, Geological Society of America Memoir, 162, 1-30.
Cazañas, X., Proenza, J.A., Mattietti-Kysar, G., Lewis, J., Melgarejo, J.C., 1998. Rocas volcánicas de las series Inferior y Media del Grupo El Cobre en la Sierra Maestra (Cuba Oriental): volcanismo generado en un arco de islas tholeiítico (Volcanic rocks from the lower and intermediate series of the El Cobre Group, Sierra Maestra, Eastern Cuba: a case of island arc tholeiites). Acta Geologica Hispanica, 33, 57-74.
Christie, D.M., Duncan, R.A., McBirney, A.R., Richards, M.A., White, W.M., Harpp, K. S., Fox, C.G., 1992. Drowned islands downstream from the Galapagos hotspot imply extended speciation times. Nature, 355, 246-248.
Clark, S.A., Sawyer, D.S., Levander, A., Magnani, B., Zelt, C.A., Schmitz, M., 2004, BOLIVAR: Backstepping of Subduction and Accretion of New Continental Crust along the SE Caribbean Plate Margin at 64°W. Fall Meeting Supplement, Eos Transactions American Geophysical Union, 85(47), Abstract T33B-1378.
Cobiella, J., 1988. El volcanismo paleógenico cubano. Apuntes para un nuevo enfoque. Revista Tecnológica, 18, 25-32.
Cobiella, J., Quintas, F., Campos, M., Hernández, M., 1984. Geología de la región central y suroriental de la provincia de Guantánamo. Santiago de Cuba, Editorial Oriente, 125 pp.
Cox, A., Hart, R.B., 1986. Plate Tectonics - How it works, Oxford, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 392 pp.
Dewey, J.F., 1980. Episodicity, Sequence, Style at Convergent Plate Boundaries. In: Strangway, D.W. (ed.). The Continental Crust and its Mineral Deposits. Waterloo, Geological Association of Canada Special Paper, 20, 553-573.
Dewey, J.F., Burke, K., 1974. Two plates in Africa during the Cretaceous. Nature, 249, 313-316.
Diebold, J.B., Driscoll, N.W., Abrams, L., Buhl, P., Donnelly, T., Laine, E., Leroy, S., Toy, A., 1999. New insights on the formation of the Caribbean Basalt Province revealed by multichannel seismic images of volcanic structures in the Venezuelan Basin. In: Mann, P. (ed.). Caribbean Basins, Sedimentary Basins of the World. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 4, 561-590.
Dolan, J., Mann, de Zoeten, R., Heubeck, C., Shiroma, J., Monechi, S., 1991. Sedimentologic, stratigraphic, tectonic synthesis of Eocene-Miocene sedimentary basins, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. In: Mann, P., Draper, G., Lewis J.F. (eds.). Geologic and Tectonic Development of the North AmericaCaribbean Plate Boundary in Hispaniola, Boulder, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 262, 217-264.
Donnelly, T.W., Beets, D., Carr, M.J., Jackson, T., Klaver, G., Lewis, J., Maury, R., Schellekens, H., Smith, A.L., Wadge, G., Westercamp, D., 1990. History and tectonic setting of Caribbean magmatism. In: Dengo, G., Case, J.E. (eds.). The Geology of North America: The Caribbean Region. Boulder, Geological Society of America, 339-374.
Draper, G., 1986. Blueschists and associated rocks in eastern Jamaica and their significance for Cretaceous plate margin development in the northern Caribbean: Geological Society of America Bulletin, 87, 48-60.
Draper, G., Barros, J.A., 1994. Cuba. In: Donovan, S.K., Jackson, T.A. (eds.). Caribbean Geology: An Introduction. Kingston, University of West Indies Publishers Association, 65-86.
Driscoll, N.W., Diebold, J.B., 1999. Tectonic and stratigraphic development of the eastern Caribbean: New Constraints from multichannel seismic data. In: Mann, P. (ed.). Caribbean Basins, Sedimentary Basins of the World. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 4, 591-626.
Ducloz, C., Vuagnat, V., 1962. A propose de l´age des serpentinites de Cuba. Archives de Sciences, Société de Physique et de Histoire Naturelle, Geneve, 15(2), 309-332.
Duncan, R.A., Hargraves, R.B., 1984. Plate tectonic evolution of the Caribbean region in the mantle reference frame. In: Bonini, W.E., Hargraves, R., Shagam, R. (eds.). The Caribbean-South American Plate Boundary and Regional Tectonics. Boulder, Geological Society of America Memoir, 162, 81-94.
Engebretson, D.C., Cox, A., Gordon, R.G., 1985. Relative Motions Between Oceanic and Continental Plates in the Pacific Basin. Boulder, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 206, 59 pp.
Erbacher, J., Mosher, D.C., Malone, M.J., Shipboard Scientific Party, 2004. Leg 207 Summary. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Initial Reports, 207, 1-89.
Erikson, J.P., Pindell, J.L., Larue, D.K., 1990. Mid-Eocene-Early Oligocene sinistral transcurrent faulting in Puerto Rico associated with formation of the northern Caribbean plate boundary zone. Journal of Geology, 98, 365-384.
Erlich, R.N., Astorga, A., Sofer, Z., Pratt, L.M., Palmer, S.E., 1996. Palaeooceanography of organic rich rocks of the Loma Chumico Formation of Costa Rica, Late Cretaceous, eastern Pacific. Sedimentology, 43, 691-718.
Estrada, J.J., 1995. Paleomagnetism and accretion events in the Northern Andes. Doctoral thesis. State University of New York, Binghamton, 172 pp.
Exxon Tectonic Map of the World, 1985. World Mapping Project, Exxon Production Research Company, Houston.
Flores, K., Baumgartner, P.O., Denyer, P., Bandini, A., Baumgartner-Mora, C., 2005. Pre- Campanian terranes in Nicoya area (Costa Rica, Middle America). 17th Caribbean Geological Conference, Puerto Rico, Abstracts, p. 25.
Foland, K.A., Speed, R., Weber, J., 1992. Geochronologic studies of the Caribbean mountains orogen of Venezuela and Trinidad. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 24, A148.
Freydier.C., Lapierre, H., Ruiz J., Tardy, M., Martinez, J., Coulon, C., 2000. The Early Cretaceous Arperos basin: an oceanic domain dividing the Guerrero arc from nuclear Mexico evidenced by the geochemistry of the lavas and sediments. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 13, 325-336.
García-Casco, A., Torres-Roldán, R.L., Millán, G., Monié, P., Haissen, F., 2001. High-grade metamorphism and hydrous melting of metapelites in the Pinos terrane (W Cuba): Evidence for crustal thickening and extension in the northern Caribbean collisional belt. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 19, 697-715.
García-Casco, A., Torres-Roldán, R.L., Iturralde-Vinent, M., Millán, G., Nuñez Cambra, K., Lázaro, C., Rodríguez Vega, A., 2006. High-pressure metamorphism of ophiolites in Cuba. Geologica Acta, 4, 63-88.
Gealey, W.K., 1980. Ophiolite obduction mechanism. In: Panayiatou, A. (ed.). Ophiolites: Proceedings of the International Ophiolite Symposium, Nicosia, Cyprus Geological Survey Department, 228-243.
Gerya, T.V., Stöckhert, B., Perchuk, A.L., 2002. Exhumation of high-pressure metamorphic rocks in a subduction channel: a numerical simulation. Tectonics, 21, 1056.
Gradstein, F.M., Ogg, J.G., 1996. A Phanerozoic time scale. Episodes, 19, 3-5.
Gradstein, F.M., Ogg, J.G., Smith, A.G. (eds.), 2005. A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press, 610 pp.
Harlow, G.E., Hemming, S.R., Avé Lallemant, H.G., Sisson, B., 2004. Two high-pressure–low-temperature belts, Motagua fault zone, Guatemala: A record of Aptian and Maastrichtian collisions. Geology, 32, 17–20.
Hatten, C.W., Somin, M.L. Millan, G., Renne, P., Kistler, R.V., Mattinson, J.M., 1988. Tectonostratigraphic units of Central Cuba. XI Caribbean Geological Conference, Barbados, Memoirs, 1-13.
Hedberg, H.D., 1950. Geology of the eastern Venezuela Basin (Anzoategui-Monagas-Sucre-eastern Guarico portion). Geological Society of America Bulletin, 61, 1173-1215.
Hempton, M.R., Barros, J.A., 1993. Mesozoic stratigraphy of Cuba: deposition architecture of a southeast facing continental margin. In: Pindell, J.L., Perkins, R.F. (eds.). Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic development of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean region - A context for hydrocarbon exploration. Selected papers presented at the GCSSEPM Foundation thirteenth annual research conference, Gulf Coast Section SEPM, 193-209.
Hoernle, K., Hauff, F., van den Bogaard, P., 2004. A 70 m.y. history (139-69 Ma) for the Caribbean large igneous province. Geology, 32, 697-700.
Hoernle, K., van den Bogaard, P., Werner, R., Lissinna, B., Hauff, F., Alverado, G., Garbe- Schoenberg, D., 2002. Missing history (16-71 Ma) of the Galápagos hotspot: Implications for the tectonic and biological evolution of the Americas. Geology, 30, 795-798.
Hutson, F., Mann, P., Renne, P., 1998. 40Ar/39Ar dating of single muscovite grains in Jurassic siliciclastic rocks (San Cayetano Formation): Constraints on the paleoposition of western Cuba. Geology, 26, 83–86.
Iturralde-Vinent, M., 1994. Cuban Geology: a new plate tectonic synthesis. Journal of Petroleum Geology, 17, 39-70.
Iturralde-Vinent, M., 1996. Cuban ophiolites and volcanic arcs, IGCP Project 364, Miami, Special Contribution, 1, 265 pp.
Iturralde-Vinent, M., 1998. Sinopsis de la Constitución Geológica de Cuba (Synopsis of Geological Constitution of Cuba). Acta Geologica Hispanica, 33, 9-56.
Iturralde-Vinent, M.A., Díaz Otero, C., Rodríguez Vega, A., Díaz Martínez, R., 2006. Tectonic implications of paleontologic dating of Cretaceous-Danian sections of Eastern Cuba. Geodinamic. Geologica Acta, 4, 89-102.
Iturralde-Vinent, M., MacPhee. R., 1999, Paleogeography of the Caribbean region, implications for Cenozoic biogeography. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 238, 1-95.
James, K.H., 2004, A Simple Synthesis of Caribbean Geology. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Search and Discovery Article 30026, (http://www. searchanddiscovery.net/documents/2004/james/index.htm).
Jolly, W., Lidiak., E.G., 2005. Role of crustal melting in petrogenesis of the Cretaceous water island formation, Virgin Islands Northeast Antilles Island Arc. 17th Caribbean Geological Conference, Puerto Rico, Abstracts, 41-42.
Kelley, K., 1993. Relative motions between North America and oceanic plates of the Pacific Basin during the past 130 Ma. M.Sc. Thesis. Western Washington University, 189 pp.
Kerr, A.C., Tarney J., 2005. Tectonic evolution of the Caribbean and northwestern South America: The case for accretion of two Late Cretaceous oceanic plateaus. Geology, 33, 269-272.
Kerr, A.C., Iturralde Vinent, M.A., Saunders, A.D., Babbs, T.L., Tarney, J., 1999. A new plate tectonic model of the Caribbean: Implications from a geochemical reconnaissance of Cuban Mesozoic volcanic rocks. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 111, 1581-1599.
Kerr, A.C., Tarney, J., Nivia, A., Marriner, G.F., Saunders, A.D., 1998. The internal structure of oceanic plateaus: Inferences from obducted Cretaceous terranes in western Colombia and the Caribbean. Tectonophysics, 292, 173-188.
Kerr, A.C., White, R.V., Thompson, M.E., Tarney, J., Saunders, A.D., 2003. No oceanic plateau-No Caribbean plate? The seminal role of an oceanic plateau in Caribbean plate evolution. In: Bartolini, C., Buffler, R.T., Blickwede, J.F. (eds.). The circum-Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean; hydrocarbon habitats, basin formation, and plate tectonics, Tulsa, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir, 79, 126–168.
Kesler, S.E., Campbell, I.H., Allen, C.M., 2005. Age of the Los Ranchos Formation, Dominican Republic: Timing and tectonic setting of primitive island arc volcanism in the Caribbean region. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 117, 987-995.
Klitgord, K.D., Mammerickx, J., 1982. Northern East Pacific Rise: Magnetic Anomaly and Bathymetric Framework. Journal of Geophysical Research, 87, 6725-6750.
Klitgord, K.D., Schouten, H., 1986, Plate kinematics of the central Atlantic. In: Klitgord, K.D., Schouten, H. (eds.), 1986. The Geology of North America: The Western North Atlantic Region. Boulder, Geological Society of America, 351-378.
Krebs, M., Maresch, W.V., Schertl, H.P., Baumann, A., Münker, C., Trapp, E., Gerya, T.V., Draper, G., 2003. Geochronology and petrology of high pressure metamorphic rocks of the Rio San Juan Complex, northern Dominican Republic. Transactions of the 18th Geowissenschaftliches Lateinamerika Kolloquium, Freiburg, Germany, Terra Nostra, 18, 49 pp.
Krebs, M., Maresch, W.V., Schertl, H.P., Draper, G., Idleman, B., 2005. Pressure-temperature-time paths critically constrain Cretaceous subduction-zone dynamics in the Rio San Juan Complex (Northern Dominican Republic. 17th Caribbean Geological Conference, Puerto Rico, Abstracts, 45 pp.
Kugler, H.G., 1953, Jurassic to Recent sedimentary environments in Trinidad. Bulletin of the Association of Swiss Petroleum Geologists and Engineers, 20, 27-60.
Ladd, J.W., 1976. Relative motion of South America with respect to North America and Caribbean tectonics. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 87, 969-976.
Ladd, J.W., Sheridan, R.E., 1987. Seismic stratigraphy of the Bahamas. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 71, 719-736.
Lapierre, H., Dupuis, V., de Lepinay, B.M., Bosch, D., Monie, P., Tardy, M., Maury, R.C., Hernández, J., Polve, M., Yeghicheyan, D., Cotten, J., 1999. Late Jurassic oceanic crust and Upper Cretaceous Caribbean plateau picritic basalts exposed in the Duarte igneous complex, Hispaniola. Journal of Geology, 107, 193-207.
Lebron, M.C., Perfit, M.R., 1993. Stratigraphic and petrochemical data support subduction polarity reversal of the Cretaceous Caribbean island arc. Journal of Geology, 101, 389-396.
Lewis, J.F., Draper, G., 1990. Geological and tectonic evolution of the northern Caribbean margin. In: Dengo, G., Case, J. (eds.). The Geology of North America, The Caribbean Region. Boulder, Geological Society of America, vol. H, 77-140.
Lewis, G.E., Straczek, J.A., 1955. Geology of south-central Oriente Province, Cuba. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 975-D, 171-336.
Lewis, J.F., Perfit, M.R., Kysar Mattietti, G., Arevalo, R., Mortensen. J., Ullrich, T., Friedman, R., Kamenov, G., 2005. Anomalous granitoid compositions from the northwestern Cayman Trench: Implications for the composition and evolution of the Cayman Ridge. 17th Caribbean Geological Conference, Puerto Rico, Abstracts, 49-50.
Lidiak, E., Jolly, W.T., 2005. Cretaceous (115-75 Ma) Geochemical Stratigraphy in the northern Virgin Islands-, northeast Antilles Island Arc. 17th Caribbean Geological Conference, Puerto Rico, Abstracts, 50.
Linares, E., Smagoulov, R., 1987. Resultados de análisis de minerals pesados de rocas de algunas formaciones litostratigráficas del miogeosinclinal cubano. La Habana, Revista Tecnológica, Serie Geológica, Minbas, 4, 75-99.
MacDonald, W.D., Estrada, J.J., Gonzalez, H., 1997. Paleoplate affiliations of volcanic accretionary terranes of the northern Andes. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 29, 245.
Mahoney, J.J., Fitton, J.G., Wallace, J., Shipboard Scientific Party., 2001. Leg 192 Summary. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Initial Reports, 192, 1-75.
Mammerickx, J., Klitgord, D.K., 1982. Northern East Pacific Rise: Evolution from 25 m.y. B.P. to the present. Journal of Geophysical Research, 87, 6751-6759.
Mann, P., Burke, K., 1984. Neotectonics of the Caribbean. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics, 22, 309-362.
Mann, P., Taylor, F.W., Edwards, R. L., Ku, T.L., 1995. Actively evolving microplate formation by oblique collision and sideways motion along strike-slip faults: An example from the northeastern Caribbean plate margin. Tectonophysics, 246, 1-69.
Mantovani, E., Albarello, D., Babbucci, D., Tamburelli, C., Viti, M. 2002. Trench-Arc-BackArc Systems in the Mediterranean area: Examples of Extrusion Tectonics. In: Rosenbaum, G., Lister, G.. (eds.). Reconstruction of the evolution of the Alpine-Himalayan Orogen. Journal of the Virtual Explorer, 8, 131-147.
Maresch, W.V., Gerya, T.V., 2003. Blueschists and blue amphiboles: how much subduction do they need?. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 35, 95.
Maresch, W.V., Stanek, K.P., Grafe, F., Idleman, B., Baumann, A., Krebs, M., Schertl, H.P., Draper, G., 2003. Age systematics of high-pressure metamorphism in the Caribbean: confronting existing models with new data. 5th Cuban Geological Congress, Havana, Cuba, Abstracts, 296-298.
Marques de Almeida, F. F., Dal Re Carneiro, C., Mizusaki, A.M.P., 1996. Correlação do Magmatismo das Bacias da Margem Continental Brasileira com o das Áreas Emersas Adjacentes. Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 26, 125-138.
Martön, G., Buffler, R.T., 1994. Jurassic reconstruction of the Gulf of Mexico Basin. International Geology Review, 36, 545-586.
Mascle, J., Lohmann, G., Clift, P, 1995. The Côte D’ivoire-Ghana Transform Margin, Eastern Equatorial Atlantic. Ocean Drilling Program, Leg 159 Preliminary Report, 71 pp.
McCann, W.R., Pennington, W.C., 1990. Seismicity, large earthquakes, the margin of the Caribbean plate. In: Dengo, G., Case, J.E. (eds.). The Geology of North America: The Caribbean Region. Boulder, Geological Society of America, 291-305.
McCourt, W.J., Aspden, J.A., Brook, M., 1984. New geological and geochronological data from the Colombian Andes: continental growth by multiple accretion. Journal of the Geological Society, 141, 831-845.
Meschede, M., Frisch, M., 1998. A plate-tectonic model for the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic history of the Caribbean Plate. Tectonophysics, 296, 269-291.
Meyerhoff, A.A., Hatten, C.W., 1968. Diapiric structure in Central Cuba. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir, 8, 315-357.
Myczynski, R., Iturralde-Vinent, M., 2005. The Late Lower Albian Invertebrate Fauna of the Río Hatillo Formation of Pueblo Viejo, Dominican Republic. Caribbean Journal of Science, 41, 3.
Millan, G., Myczynski, R. 1978. Fauna Jurásica y consideraciones sobre la edad de las secuencias metamórficas del Escambray. Informe Científico Técnico, Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, 80, 1-14.
Miranda, E., Pindell, J., Patiño, J., Alor, I., Alvarado, A., Alzaga, H., Cerón, A., Dario, R., Espinosa, M., Granath, J., Hernández-A., L., Hernández-B., J., Hernández-M., J., Jacobo, J., Kennan, L., Maldonado, M., Marin, A., Marino, A., Mendez, J., Pliego, E., Ramirez, A., Reyes, G., Rosenfeld, J., Vera, A., 2003. Mesozoic Tectonic Evolution of Mexico and Southern Gulf of Mexico: Framework for Basin Evaluation in Mexico. 2003 AAPG International Conference & Exhibition, Barcelona. http://aapg.confex.com/aapg/barcelona/techprogram/paper_83820.htm.
Mizusaki, A.M.P., Thomaz-Filho, A., Milani, E.J., de Cesaro, P., 2002. Mesozoic and Cenozoic igneous activity and its tectonic control in northeastern Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 15, 183-198.
Molina-Garza, R.S., Van der Voo, R., Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., 1992. Paleomagnetism of the Chiapas Massif, southern Mexico; evidence for rotation of the Maya Block and implications for the opening of the Gulf of Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 104, 1156-1168.
Müller, R.D., Royer, J.-Y., Lawver, L.A., 1993. Revised plate motions relative to the hotspots from combined Atlantic and Indian Ocean hotspot tracks. Geology, 16, 275–278.
Müller, R.D., Roest, W.R., Royer, J.-Y., Gahagan, L.M., Sclater, J.G., 1997. Digital isochrons of the world’s ocean floor. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 3211-3214.
Müller, R.D., Royer, J.-Y. Cande, S.C. Roest, W.R., Maschenkov, S., 1999. New constraints on the Late Cretaceous/Tertiary plate tectonic evolution of the Caribbean. In: Mann, P. (ed.). Caribbean Basins, Sedimentary Basins of the World. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 4, 33-57.
Nagy, E., Brezsnyánszky, K., Brito, A., Coutín, D., Formell, F., Franco, G., Gyarmati, P., Radocz, G., Jakus, P., 1983. Contribución a la geología de Cuba Oriental. La Habana, Editorial Científico-Técnica, 1-273
Ojeda, H.A.O., 1982. Structural framework, stratigraphy, evolution of Brazilian marginal basins. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 66, 732-749.
Ortiz-Hernández, L.E., Acevedo-Sandoval, O.A., Flores-Castro, K., 2003. Early Cretaceous intraplate seamounts from Guanajuato, central Mexico: geochemical and mineralogical data. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geologicas, 20, 27-40.
Ostos, M., Avé Lallemant, H., Sisson, V.B., 2005. The Alpinetype Tinaquillo peridotite complex, Venezuela; fragment of a Jurassic rift-zone? In: Avé Lallemant, H.G., Sisson, V.B. (eds.). Caribbean–South American plate interactions, Venezuela. Boulder, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 394, 207-222.
Pardo, G., 1975. Geology of Cuba. In: Nairn, A.E., Stehli, F.G. (eds.). The Ocean Basins and Margins: The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. New York, Plenum Press, 553-615.
Paulus, F.J., 1972. The geology of site 98 and Bahama Platform. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 15, 877-897.
Peel, F., Cole, G., DeVay, J., 2001. Paleogeographic Evolution of the Deep-Water Frontier of the Gulf of Mexico during the Late Jurassic to Cretaceous; a Radical Reappraisal, and it’s Impact on the Petroleum System. AAPG 2001 Annual Meeting, Denver. http://aapg.confex.com/aapg/de2001/techprogram/paper_8700.htm.
Perfit, M.R., Heezen, B.C., 1978. The geology and evolution of the Cayman Trench. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 89, 155-1174.
Pindell, J.L., 1981. Permo-Triassic reconstruction of Western Pangea and the evolution of the Gulf Of Mexico-Caribbean region. M.Sc. thesis. State University of New York, Albany,121 pp.
Pindell, J.L., 1985a. Alleghenian reconstruction and the subsequent evolution of the Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas: protoCaribbean Sea. Tectonics, 4, 1-39.
Pindell, J.L., 1985b. Plate tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean region. Doctorl thesis. Durham University, 227 pp.
Pindell, J.L., 1990. Geological arguments suggesting a Pacific origin for the Caribbean Plate. In: Larue, D.K., Draper, G. (eds.). Transactions of the 12th Caribbean Geological Conference, St. Croix, Miami Geological Society, 1-4.
Pindell, J.L., 1993. Regional synopsis of Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean evolution. In: Pindell, J.L., Perkins, R.F. (eds.). Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic development of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean region - A context for hydrocarbon exploration. Selected papers presented at the GCSSEPM Foundation thirteenth annual research conference, Gulf Coast Section SEPM, 251-274.
Pindell, J.L., 2004. Origin of Caribbean Plateau Basalts, the Arc-Arc Caribbean-South America Collision, and Upper Level Axis Parallel Extension in the Southern Caribbean Plate Boundary Zone. Eos Transactions American Geophysical Union, 85 (47), Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract T33B-1365.
Pindell, J.L., Barrett, S.F., 1990. Geological evolution of the Caribbean region; a plate tectonic perspective. In: Dengo, G., Case, J.E. (eds.). The Geology of North America: The Caribbean Region. Boulder, Geological Society of America, vol. H, 405-432.
Pindell, J.L., Dewey, J.F., 1982. Permo-Triassic reconstruction of western Pangea and the evolution of the Gulf of Mexico/ Caribbean region. Tectonics, 1, 179-211.
Pindell, J.L., Draper, G., 1991. Stratigraphy and geological history of the Puerto Plata area, northern Dominican Republic. In: Mann, P., Draper, G., Lewis J.F., (eds.). Geologic and Tectonic Development of the North America-Caribbean Plate Boundary in Hispaniola. Boulder, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 262, 97-114
Pindell, J.L., Erikson, J.P., 1994. The Mesozoic passive margin of northern South America. In: Salfity, J.A. (ed.). Cretaceous Tectonics of the Andes. Braunschwieg/Wiesbaden, Vieweg Publishing, 1-60.
Pindell, J.L., Kennan, L., 2001a. Kinematic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Transactions, Petroleum systems of deep-water basins: global and Gulf of Mexico experience. GCSSEPM 21st Annual Research Conference, Houston, Texas, GCSSEPM, 193-220 .
Pindell, J.L., Kennan, L., 2001b. Processes and events in the terrane assembly of Trinidad and eastern Venezuela. Transactions, Petroleum systems of deep-water basins: global and Gulf of Mexico experience. GCSSEPM 21st Annual Research Conference, Houston, Texas, GCSSEPM, 159-192.
Pindell, J.L., Tabbutt, K.D., 1995. Mesozoic-Cenozoic Andean paleogeography and regional controls on hydrocarbon systems. In: Tankard, A.J., Suarez-Soruco, R., Welsink, H.J. (eds.). Petroleum basins of South America. Tulsa, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir, 62, 101-128.
Pindell, J.L., Erikson, J.P., Algar, S.T., 1991. The relationship between plate motions and sedimentary basin development in northern South America: from a Mesozoic passive margin to a Cenozoic eastwardly progressive transpressional orogen. In: K.A. Gillezeau (ed.). Transactions of the Second Geological Conference of the Geological Society of Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain, 191-202.
Pindell, J.L., Cande, S.C., Pitman, W.C., III, Rowley, D.B., Dewey, J.F., LaBrecque, J., Haxby, W., 1988. A plate-kinematics framework for models of Caribbean evolution. Tectonophysics, 155, 121-138.
Pindell, J.L, Kennan, L., Maresch, W.V., Stanek, K.P., Draper, G., Higgs, R., 2005. Plate-kinematics and crustal dynamics of circum-Caribbean arc-continent interactions: Tectonic controls on basin development in Proto-Caribbean margins. In: Avé Lallemant, H.G., Sisson, V.B. (eds.). Caribbean–South American plate interactions, Venezuela. Boulder, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 394, 7-52.
Proenza, J.A., Díaz-Martínez, R., Iriondo, A., Marchesi, C., Melgarejo, J.C., Gervilla, F., Garrido, C.J., Rodríguez-Vega, A., Lazano-Santacruz, R., Blanco-Moreno, J.A., 2006. Primitive Cretaceous island-arc volcanic rocks in eastern Cuba: the Téneme Formation. Geologica Acta, 4, 103-121.
Pszczolkowski, A., 1999. The exposed passive margin of North America in western Cuba. In: Mann, P. (ed.). Caribbean Basins. Sedimentary Basins of the World. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 4, 93-121.
Pszczolkowski, A., Myczynski, R., 2003. Stratigraphic constraints on the Late Jurassic-Cretaceous paleotectonic interpretations of the Placetas Belt in Cuba. In: Bartolini, C., Buffler, R.T., Blickwede, J.F. (eds.). The circum-Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean; hydrocarbon habitats, basin formation, and plate tectonics. Tulsa, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir, 79, 545-581.
Pushcharovsky, Yu. (ed.), 1988. Mapa geológico de la República de Cuba escala 1:250 000 (40 sheets). Academy of Sciencies of Cuba and USSR. Printed in Leningrad.
Rankin, D.W., 2002. Geology of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. US Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1631, 42 pp.
Rojas-Agramonte, Y., Neubauer, F., Kröner, A., Wan, Y.S., Liu, D.Y., Garcia-Delgado, D.E., Handler, R., 2004. Geochemistry and age of late orogenic island arc granitoids in the Sierra Maestra, Cuba: Evidence for subduction magmatism in the early Palaeogene. Chemical Geology, 213, 307-324.
Rojas, R., Iturralde-Vinent, M., Skelton, P., 1995. Stratigraphy, composition and age of Cuban rudist-bearing deposits. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas, 12, 2, 272-291.
Roperch, P., Megard, F., Laj, C., Mourier, T., Clube, T., Noblet, C., 1987. Rotated oceanic blocks in Western Ecuador. Geophysical Research Letters, 14, 558-561.
Rosenbaum, G., Lister, G.S., Duboz, C., 2002. Reconstruction of the tectonic evolution of the western Mediterranean since the Oligocene. In: Rosenbaum, G., Lister, G. S. (eds.). Reconstruction of the evolution of the Alpine-Himalayan Orogen. Journal of the Virtual Explorer, 8, 107-126.
Rosencrantz, E., 1990. Structure and tectonics of the Yucatán Basin, Caribbean Sea, as determined from seismic reflection studies. Tectonics, 9, 1037-1059.
Rosencrantz, E., Ross, M.I., Sclater, J.G., 1988. Age and spreading history of the Cayman Trough as determined from depth, heat flow, magnetic anomalies. Journal of Geophysical Research, 93, 2141-2157.
Rosenfeld, J.H., 1993. Sedimentary rocks of the Santa Cruz Ophiolite, Guatemala - a proto-Caribbean history. In: Pindell, J.L., Perkins, R.F. (eds.). Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic development of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean region - A context for hydrocarbon exploration. Selected papers presented at the GCSSEPM Foundation thirteenth annual research conference, Gulf Coast Section SEPM, 173-180.
Sigurdsson, H., Leckie, M., Acton, G., and ODP Leg 165 scientific party, 1997. Proceedings of the Oceanic Drilling Program. Initial Report of Ocean Drilling Project Leg 165. College Station TX: Ocean Drilling Program, 865 pp.
Smith, C.A., Sisson, V.B., Avé Lallemant, H.G.A., Copeland, P., 1999. Two contrasting pressure-temperature-time paths in the Villa de Cura blueschist belt, Venezuela: Possible evidence for Late Cretaceous initiation of subduction in the Caribbean. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 111, 831–848.
Smith, W.H., Sandwell, D.T., 1997. Global Sea Floor Topography from Satellite Altimetry and Ship Depth Soundings. Science, 277, 1956-1962.
Snoke, A.W., Rowe, D.W., Yule, J.D., Wadge, G., 2001. Petrologic and structural history of Tobago, West Indies: A fragment of the accreted Mesozoic oceanic-arc of the southern Caribbean. Boulder, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 354, 56 pp.
Somin, M., Millan, G., 1981. Geology of the metamorphic complexes of Cuba. Moscow, Ed. Nauka, 218 pp.
Speed, R.C., 1994. Barbados and the Lesser Antilles forearc. In: Donovan, S.K., Jackson, T.A. (eds.). Caribbean Geology: An Introduction. Kingston, University of West Indies Publishers Association, 179-192.
Speed, R., Westbrook, G., Mascle, A., Biju-duval, B., Ladd, J., Saunders, J., Stein, S., Schoonmaker, J., Moore, J., 1984. Lesser Antilles Arc and Adjacent Terranes. Ocean Margin Drilling Program, Regional Atlas Series, Atlas 10.
Stanek, K.P., 2000. Geotectonic development of northwestern Caribbean – Outline of the Geology of Cuba (Geotektonische Entwicklung der nordwestlichen Karibik - Abriß der Geologie Kubas). Freiburger Forschungshefte, 476, 166 pp.
Stanek, K.P., Cabrera, R., 1992. Tectono-magmatic development of central Cuba. In: Miller, H., Rosenfeld, U., WeberDiefenbach, K. (eds.). 12th symposium on Latin-American geosciences. Zentralblatt fuer Geologie und Palaeontologie, Teil I: Allgemeine, Angewandte, Regionale und Historische Geologie, 1991, 6, 1571-1580.
Stanek, K.P., Cobiella, J., Maresch, W.V., Millán, G., Grafe, F., Grevel, Ch., 2000. Geological development of Cuba. In: Miller, H., Hervé, F., (eds.). Geoscientific cooperation with Latin America. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Geologie, 1, 259-265.
Stanek, K.P., Maresch, W.V., Grafe, F., Grevel, CH., Baumann, A., 2006. Structure, tectonics and metamorphic development of the Sancti Spiritus dome (eastern Escambray massif, Central Cuba). Geologica Acta, 4, 151-170.
Steinberger, B., O’Connell, R.J., 2000. Effects of mantle flow on hotspot motion. In: Richards, M.A., Gordon, R.G., van der Hilst, R.D. (eds.). The History and Dynamics of Global Plate Motions. Washington, American Geophysical Union, 377-398.
Steiner, M.B., 2005. Pangean reconstruction of the Yucatan Block: Its Permian, Triassic, and Jurassic geologic and tectonic history. In: Anderson, T.H., Nourse, J.A., McKee, J.W., Steiner, M.B., (eds). The Mojave-Sonora megashear hypothesis: development, assessment, and alternatives. Geological Society of America Special Paper 393, 457-480, doi:10.1130/2005.2393(17).
Stephens, B., 2001. Basement controls on hydrocarbon systems, depositional pathways, exploration plays beyond the Sigsbee escarpment in the central Gulf of Mexico. Proceedings 21st Annual GCSSEPM Foundation Bob F. Perkins Research Conference, Petroleum Systems of DeepWater Basins: Global and Gulf of Mexico Experience, 129-157 pp.
Stöckhert, B., Maresch, W.V., Brix, M., Kaiser, C., Toetz, A., Kluge, R., Kruckhansleuder, G., 1995. Crustal history of Margarita Island (Venezuela) in detail: Constraint on the Caribbean plate-tectonic scenario. Geology, 23, 787-790.
Sykes, L.R., McCann, W.R., Kafka, A.L., 1982. Motion of the Caribbean plate during last 7 million years and implications for earlier Cenozoic movements. Journal of Geophysical Research, 87, 10656-10676.
Tada, R., Iturralde-Vinent, M.A., Matsui, T., Tajika, E., Oji, T., Goto, K., Nakano, Y., Takayama, H., Yamamoto, S., Kiyokawa, S., Toyoda, K., Garcia-Delgado, D., Diaz-Otero, C., Rojas-Consuegra, R., 2003. K/T boundary deposits in the Paleo-western Caribbean basin. In: Bartolini, C., Buffler, R.T., Blickwede, J.F. (eds.). The circum-Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean; hydrocarbon habitats, basin formation, and plate tectonics. Tulsa, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir, 79, 582–604.
Taylor, C., 2005. Connectivity within a field: How production startup data can answer some of the questions? 17th Caribbean Geological Conference, Puerto Rico, Abstracts, 85-86.
Thompson, M.E., Kempton, D., White, R.V., Kerr, A.C., Tarney, J., Saunders, A.D., Fitton, J.G., McBirney, A., 2003. Hf-Nd isotope constraints on the origin of the Cretaceous Caribbean plateau and its relationship to the Galapagos plume. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 217, 59-75.
Uchupi, E., Milliman, J.D., Luyendyk, B.P., Bowin, C.O., Emery, K.O., 1971. Structure and origin of southern Bahamas. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 55, 687-704.
Vandecar, J.C., Russo, R.M., James, D.E., Ambeh, W.B., Franke, M., 2003. Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath continental South America, Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, No.B1, 2043, doi:10.1029/2001JB000884.
van der Hilst, R., 1990. Tomography with P, PP, pP delay-time data and the three-dimensional mantle structure below the Caribbean region. Doctoral thesis. University of Utrecht, 250 pp. (Unpublished).
van der Hilst, R., Mann, P., 1994. Tectonic implications of tomographic images of subducted lithosphere beneath northwestern South America. Geology, 22, 451-454.
Villamil, T., Pindell, J.L., 1998. Mesozoic paleogeographic evolution of northern South America: Foundations for sequence stratigraphic studies in passive margin strata deposited during non-glacial times. In: Pindell, J.L., Drake, C. (eds.). Paleogeographic Evolution and Non-glacial Eustacy: North America. Tulsa, SEPM, Special Publication, 58, 283-318.
Wassal, H., 1956. The relationship of oil and serpentinites in Cuba. Geología del Petroleo, 20 Congreso Geológico Internacional, México. Sec. 3, 65-77.
Werner, R., Hoernle, K., van den Bogaard, P., Ranero, C., von Huene, R., 1999. Drowned 14-m.y. old Galápagos archipelago off the coast of Costa Rica: Implications for tectonic and evolutionary models. Geology, 27, 499-502.
Wessel, P., Smith, W.H.F., 1991. Free software helps map and display data, Eos Transactions American Geophysical Union, 72, p. 441.
White, R.V., Tarney, J., Kerr, A.C., Saunders, A.D., Kempton, D., Pringle, M.S., Klaver, G.T., 1999. Modification of an oceanic plateau, Aruba, Dutch Caribbean: Implications for the generation of continental crust. Lithos, 46, 43-68.
Wright, J.E., Wyld, S.J., 2005. Origin of the Caribbean Plate. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 37, p. 85.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright
Geologica Acta is the property of the UB, GEO3BCN, IDAEA and UAB. Geologica Acta must be cited for any partial or full reproduction. Papers are distributed under the Attribution-Share Alike Creative Commons License. This license allows anyone to reproduce and disseminate the content of the journal and even make derivative works crediting authorship and provenance and distributing possible derivative works under the same or an equivalent license.
Author Rights
Authors retain the copyright on their papers and are authorized to post them on their own web pages or institutional repositories. The copyright was retained by the journal from the year 2003 until 2009. In all cases, the complete citation and a link to the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the article must be included.
The authors can use excerpts or reproduce illustrations of their papers in other works without prior permission from Geologica Acta provided the source of the paper including the complete citation is fully acknowledged.
