The Caribbean Region

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The Caribbean Region

Edited by

Gabriel Dengo Centro de Estudios Geológicos de América Central Apartado 468 Guatemala City, Guatemala

J. E. Case U.S. Geological Survey 345 Middlefield Road Menlo Park, California 94025

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Publication of this volume, one of the synthesis volumes of The Decade of North American Geology Project series, has been made possible by members and friends of The Geological Society of America, corporations, and government agencies through contributions to the Decade of North American Geology fund of the Geological Society of America Foundation. Following is a list of individuals, corporations, and government agencies giving and/or pledging more than $50,000 in support of the DNAG Project:

Amoco Production Company Pennzoil Exploration and ARCO Exploration Company Production Company Chevron Corporation Phillips Petroleum Company Cities Service Oil and Gas Company Shell Oil Company Diamond Shamrock Exploration Caswell Silver Corporation Standard Oil Production Company Exxon Production Research Company Oryx Energy Company (formerly Getty Oil Company Sun Exploration and Production Gulf Oil Exploration and Production Company) Company Superior Oil Company Paul V. Hoovler Tenneco Oil Company Kennecott Minerals Company Texaco, Inc. Kerr McGee Corporation Union Oil Company of California Marathon Oil Company Union Pacific Corporation and Maxus Energy Corporation its operating companies: McMoRan Oil and Gas Company Union Pacific Resources Company Mobil Oil Corporation Union Pacific Railroad Company Occidental Petroleum Corporation Upland Industries Corporation U.S. Department of Energy

® 1990 by The Geological Society of America, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data All rights reserved. The Caribbean region / edited by Gabriel Dengo, J. E. Case, p. cm. — (The Geology of North America; v. H) All materials subject to this copyright and included Includes bibliographical references and index. in this volume may be photocopied for the noncommercial ISBN 0-8137-5212-4 purpose of scientific or educational advancement. 1. Geology—Caribbean Area. I. Dengo, Gabriel. II. Case, James E., 1933- . III. Series. Copyright is not claimed on any material prepared QE71.G48 1986 vol. H by government employees within the scope of their [QE220] employment. 557 s—dc20 [557.29] 90-40295 Published by The Geological Society of America, Inc. CIP 3300 Penrose Place, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, Colorado 80301

Printed in U.S.A.

Front cover: Part of the "Geological Map of Part of Guatemala and El Salvador" surveyed in 1865-1866 by Auguste Dollfus and Eugene de Montserrat. This is the oldest geological map of part of Central America and one of the first geological maps produced in the Western Hemisphere.

10 98765432

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Preface vii

Foreword ix

INTRODUCTION

1. History of geological investigation in the Caribbean region 1 Grenville Draper and Gabriel Dengo

2. Caribbaean crustal provinces; Seismic and gravity evidence 15 J. E. Case, William D. MacDonald, and Paul J. Fox

3. Northern Central America; The Maya and Chortis blocks 37 Thomas W. Donnelly, Gregory S. Home, Richard C. Finch, and Ernesto López-Ramos

REGIONAL GEOLOGY

4. Geology and tectonic evolution of the northern Caribbean margin 77 John F. Lewis and Grenville Draper, with contributions by C. Bourdon, C. Bowin, P. Mattson, F. Maurrasse, F. Nagle, and G. Pardo

5. Geology of the Lesser Antilles 141 R. C. Maury, G. K. Westbrook, P. E. Baker, Ph. Bouysse, and D. Westercamp

6. The Caribbean mountain system, northern South America; A summary 167 Alirio Bellizzia and Gabriel Dengo

7. Geology of the northern Andes; An overview 177 J. E. Case, Reginald Shagam, and Robert F. Giegengack

8. The geology of southern Central America and western Colombia 201 Gregorio Escalante

iii

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9. Caribbean marine geology; Ridges and basins of the plate interior 231 Troy L. Holcombe, John W. Ladd, Graham Westbrook, N. Terence Edgar, and Christopher L. Bowland

10. Caribbean marine geology; Active margins of the plate boundary 261 John W. Ladd, Troy L. Holcombe, Graham K. Westbrook, and N. Terence Edgar

REGIONAL GEOPHYSICS AND GEOCHEMISTRY

11. Seismicity, large earthquakes, and the margin of the Caribbean Plate 291 William R. McCann and Wayne D. Pennington

12. Review of Caribbean neotectonics 307 Paul Mann, Carlos Schubert, and Kevin Burke

13. History and tectonic setting of Caribbean magmatism 339 Thomas W. Donnelly, Dirk Beets, Michael J. Can, Trevor Jackson, Gerard Klaver, John Lewis, Rene Maury, Hans Schellenkens, Alan L. Smith, Geoffrey Wadge, and Denis Westercamp

14. Volcanism 375 Michael J. Carr and Richard E. Stoiber

15. Survey of Caribbean paleomagnetism 393 William D. MacDonald

GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND RESOURCES 16. Geological evolution of the Caribbean region; A plate- tectonic perspective 405 James L. Pindell and Stephen F. Barrett

17. Tectonic evolution of the Caribbean region; Alternative hypothesis 433 Anthony E. L. Morris, Irfan Taner, Howard A. Meyerhoff, and Arthur A. Meyerhoff (Supplemental references on microfiche in pocket inside back cover)

18. Metallogenic evolution of the Caribbean region 459 Stephen E. Kesler, Enrique Levy, and Cecilia Martin F.

19. Energy resources of the Caribbean region 483 Anthony E. L. Morris, Arthur A. Meyerhoff, Irfan Taner, Rafael Bueno-Salazar, and Gordon A. Young

Index 511

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Plates (in accompanying slipcase)

Plate 1. Bathymetry, drainage patterns, and surficial sediments of the Caribbean region T. L. Holcombe

Plate 2. Crustal cross sections in the Caribbean region J. E. Case

Plate 3. Crustal structure of the Caribbean region J. E. Case and W. D. MacDonald

Plates 4, 5A, and 5B. Stratigraphic correlation for the circum-Caribbean region F. J-M. R. Maurrasse

Plate 6. Magnetic anomaly map of the Caribbean S. A. Hall and G. K. Westbrook

Plate 7. Gravity anomaly map of the Caribbean G. K. Westbrook

Plates 8 and 9. Representative Caribbean seismic sections, I and II T. L. Holcombe

Plate 10. Seismicity map of the Caribbean region W. D. Pennington, D. C. Chow, and W. R. McCann

Plate 11. Neotectonic map of the Caribbean region P. Mann, C. Schubert, and K. Burke

Plate 12. Caribbean plate tectonic history J. L. Pindell and S. F. Barrett

Plate 13. Mineral deposits of the Caribbean region C. Martin F. and M. A. Soares

Plate 14. Tables to accompany "Energy resources of the Caribbean region" A.E.L. Morris, A. A. Meyerhoff, R. Bueno-Salazar, I. Taner, and G. A. Young

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The Geology of North America series has been prepared to mark the Centennial of The Geological Society of America. It represents the cooperative efforts of more than 1,000 individuals from academia, state and federal agencies of many countries, and industry to prepare syntheses that are as current and authoritative as possible about the geology of the North American continent and adjacent oceanic regions. This series is part of the Decade of North American Geology (DNAG) Project, which also includes eight wall maps at a scale of 1:5,000,000 that summarize the geology, tectonics, magnetic and gravity anomaly patterns, regional stress fields, thermal aspects, seismicity, and neotectonics of North America and its surroundings. Together, the synthesis volumes and maps are the first coordinated effort to integrate all available knowledge about the geology and geophysics of a crustal plate on a regional scale. The products of the DNAG Project present the state of knowledge of the geology and geophysics of North America in the 1980s, and they point the way toward work to be done in the decades ahead. This book has been a major international effort involving authors and organizations from 13 countries. In addition to the contributions from organizations and individuals acknowledged at the front of this book, major support has been provided to one of the editors (Case) by the U.S. Geological Survey.

A. R. Palmer General Editor for the volumes published by The Geological Society of America

J. O. Wheeler General Editor for the volumes published by the Geological Survey of Canada

vii

It is a pleasure to present to the geological community this volume, Geology of the Caribbean region, for the Decade of North American Geology (DNAG). The volume is truly international in scope, with respect to both geography (Plate 1) and contributions from scientists of many nations. Dozens of dedicated geologists and geophysicists devoted months and years in preparing the 19 chapters and 14 plates that make up the volume. Government agencies, academic institutions, and industry organizations have provided outstanding support for the effort. Diligent reviewers spent much time with the manuscripts and maps, and found the task to be difficult because so many of the initial manuscripts exceeded space limitations. Some manuscripts required several rounds of review because of problems with style or scientific content. In addition to formal DNAG reviewers, most authors sought colleague reviews prior to submittal. We thank all of the authors for their patience with editors and reviewers. The Caribbean region represents one of the most geologically exciting parts of the world. As stated by Draper and Dengo (this volume): "In the two hundred years since the birth of modern geology, many prominent figures have worked in the Caribbean region, and their experiences there were seminal in the formation of hypotheses central to the development of the science." The chapters and plates in the volume represent a summary of the data and conclusions of literally thousands of geologists and geophysicists in the region. Preparation of the volume was complex logistically because many authors reside in countries where mail service is very slow, including the United States. Telephone bills were large. For some chapters, the author and reviewers had divergent views, and these had to be reconciled in amicable fashion. All of the authors had other work commitments, and about ten of the senior authors had serious illnesses during the years of preparation. We deeply regret the untimely death of Denis Westercamp, a key author of the chapter on the Lesser Antilles. Selection of authors was a traumatic process for us. For all chapters, we had a wide choice from which to select a principal author. We sought authors who are knowledgeable, write fluently, and are objective. Once the senior authors had been selected, they chose the other authors; in some cases, we suggested co-authors. For several chapters, senior authorship changed by decision of the original authors. As far as we know, we "lost" only a few authors because of job commitments or internal incompatibility, but we "stretched" many friendships during the editorial process. The focus of the volume is on regional geology and geophysics, magmatic processes, energy and metallic resources, marine geology, and tectonic processes and evolution. Origi- nally, another volume aimed at stratigraphie-paléontologie aspects was planned, but the Geological Society of America abandoned the volume because of cost with respect to the

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whole DNAG series. We regret this decision. However, the plates in the volume compiled by Maurrasse and others showing many old and new stratigraphie-lithologie columns for the region represent an invaluable contribution to the scientific community. Readers will find that some chapters are controversial, as expected for a region where so many geologists have worked and thought and written about its geologic evolution. Stu- dents and others unfamiliar with the region should remember that virtually every chapter would have a different set of interpretive conclusions if a different set of authors had been selected. It has been said that a new model for the tectonic evolution of the region has been formulated by each new worker in the region. At scientific meetings, we have a game that we play after presentation of the latest conceptual model—"That's number 1,023." Two chapters are devoted to conceptual models for the tectonic evolution of the region: the first, by Pindell and Barrett, is a modern plate-tectonics interpretation; the second, by Morris and others, is a presentation of a new hypothesis of mantle surge tectonics, which is an alternative to the plate-tectonics hypothesis and which utilizes some data from seismic tomography. Three models for the tectonic evolution that have not received adequate attention are those based on the "eugeosyncline-miogeosyncline (tectogene)" concept, those based on phase changes (basification), and those based on more recent concepts of suspect or tectonostratigraphic terranes. For the whole region, there has been much controversy regarding stratigraphie names, correlations of units, and ages. Many isotopic ages are suspect because the samples perhaps were weathered or hydrothermally altered, or were collected from sites that were not covered by detailed geologic maps. Some paleomagnetic interpretations were reported in the literature where site locations were not specified by latitude and longitude; problems of weathering, alteration, and detailed geologic maps plague evaluation of some data. In many ways, we believe that the most valuable part of this volume is the comprehen- sive bibliography that is included with most chapters. We note that the emphasis has been on the post-1960 literature. These references, in turn, will lead the readers back to the pre-1960 literature. Synthesis volumes by Nairn and Stehli (1975), Butterlin (1977), Zeil (1979), Weyl (1980), Bonini and others (1984), and Másele and others (1985) are exceptionally useful, as well as transactions volumes of the Caribbean, Central America, and Latin American Geolog- ical Conferences and Congresses listed in the chapter by Draper and Dengo. We thank the dozens (hundreds?) of typists, secretaries, and draftspersons who provided essential support for preparation of this volume. Working with A. R. ("Pete") Palmer, Jean Davis, the publications staff of the Geological Society of America, and contractors while preparing this complex volume has been a pleasure.

REFERENCES CITED

Bonini, W. E., Hargraves, R. B., and Shagam, R., eds., 1984, The Caribbean-South American plate boundary and regional tectonics: Geological Society of America Memoir 162, 421 p. Butterlin, J., 1977, Géologie structurale de la région des Caraïbes (Mexique-Amérique Centrale-Antilles-Cordillère Caraïbe): Paris, Masson, 259 p. Másele, A., éd., 1985, Caribbean Geodynamics Symposium, Paris, February 5-8, 1985: Paris, Editions Technip, 565 p. Nairn, A.E.M., and Stehli, F. G., eds., 1975, The ocean basins and margins; V. 3, The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean: New York, Plenum Press, 706 p. Weyl, R., 1980, Geology of Central America, 2nd ed.: Berlin, Gebriider Borntraeger, 371 p. Zeil, W., 1979, The Andes; A geological review: Berlin, Gebriider Borntraeger, 260 p.

J. E. Case Gabriel Dengo September, 1989

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