Catastrophic Events Conference 3081.pdf THE CRETACEOUS-TERTIARY BUONDARY “COCKTAIL” IN WESTERN CUBA, GREATER AN- TILLES. C. Díaz Otero(1), M. Iturralde-Vinent(2) and D.García Delgado(1).1Instituto de Geología y Paleontología, Via Blanca y Linea de Ferrocarril, San Miguel de Padron, CP 11000 La Habana, Cuba (
[email protected]); 2Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Obispo #61, 10100 La Habana, Cuba (
[email protected]) Recently Bralower and Leckie (1998) described the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (KTB) in the Caribbean as characterized by a “cocktail”of fossils elements reworked from strata older than Paleocene. A similar distinctive mixture of reworked foraminifers was found in several formations of western Cuba, associate with shocked quarz, spherules and an enrichment of Ir. The fossiliferous composicion of both the Moncada calcarenites and the Peñalver formation in western Cuba, confirm the model of the “cocktail”, as reworked micro- and macrofossils of different ages within the Cretaceous are found in the samples. The Moncada calcarenites (Iturralde-Vinent, 1997), and the Peñalver Formation (Pszczolkowski, A.; 1986 and Iturralde-Vinent, 1992) were generally characterized as calcareous clastics strata probably related with the KTB impact. The Moncada calcarenites overlie black indiferentiated Cretaceoous limestones, and contein planktic foraminif- era and radiolaria of Aptian, Albian-Cenomanian, Santonian, Campanian and Maastrichtian in age. No Paleocene taxa were found (Table I). The Peñalver Formation overlies the Campanian-Maastrichtian Via Blanca Formation and include both bentic and planktic foraminifera, radiolaria, nannofossils, etc. The larger amount of reworked microfossils belong to the Campanian-Maastrichtian interval, probably eroded from the Via Blanca Formation; both also contain older Creta- ceous fossils of different ages.