Caribbean Geology An Introduction Edited by Stephen K. Donovan and Trevor A. Jackson Copyright ©1994 The Authors Published by The University of the West Indies Publishers' Association (UWIPA) P.O. Box 42, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica W.I. Cover design by Annika C. Lewinson ISBN 976-41-0033-3 Printed in Jamaica Contents Introduction............................................................................................................................ 1 STEPHEN K. DONOVAN and TREVOR A. JACKSON Chapter 1: Geologic Provinces of the Caribbean Region ................................................................. 3 GRENVILLE DRAPER, TREVOR A. JACKSON and STEPHEN K. DONOVAN Chapter 2: Evolution of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.........................................................13 JAMES L. PINDELL Chapter 3: The Caribbean Sea Floor...........................................................................................41 THOMAS W. DONNELLY Chapter 4: Cuba .....................................................................................................................65 GRENVILLE DRAPER and J. ANTONIO B ARROS Chapter 5: The Cayman Islands.................................................................................................87 BRIAN JONES Chapter 6: Jamaica ……………………………………………………………………………………. .1ll EDWARD ROBINSON Chapter 7: Hispaniola .......................................................................................................... ..129 GRENVILLE DRAPER, PAUL MANN and JOHN F. LEWIS Chapter 8: Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands ........................................................................ ..151 DAVID K. LARUE Chapter 9: The Lesser Antilles ............................................................................................ ..167 GEOFFREY WADGE Chapter 10: Barbados and the Lesser Antilles Forearc..................................................................179 ROBERT C. SPEED Chapter 11: Tobago...............................................................................................................193 TREVOR A. JACKSON and STEPHEN K. DONOVAN Chapter 12: Trinidad …………………………………………………………………………………...209 STEPHEN K. DONOVAN Chapter 13: Northern South America........................................................................................229 STEPHEN K. DONOVAN Chapter 14: The Netherlands and Venezuelan Antilles .................................................................249 TREVOR A. JACKSON and EDWARD ROBINSON Chapter 15: Northern Central America......................................................................................265 BURKE BURKART Index ..................................................................................................................................285 iii Caribbean Geology: An Introduction © 1994 The Authors U.W.I. Publishers' Association, Kingston Introduction STEPHEN K. DONOVAN and TREVOR A. JACKSON Department of Geology, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica THE LITERATURE of the geology of the Caribbean region ous reviewers who have given their time and energies in is widely dispersed through a number of primary sources. helping us to assess the various contributions to this volume. Apart from numerous research papers in international and In alphabetical order, we acknowledge the contributions of regional scientific journals, there are also the transactions I.E. Case (U.S. Geological Survey), T.W. Donnelly (State that have arisen from the various Caribbean, Latin American University of New York at Binghamton), J.F. Dewey (Uni- and Central American Geological Conferences (for refer- versity of Oxford), G. Draper (Florida International Univer - ences, see Draper and Dengo), plus various smaller, often sity), N.T. Edgar (U.S. Geological Survey), G.S. Home more specialized meetings, particularly in Jamaica and (Wesleyan University, Connecticut), V. Hunter (Laso Inc., Trinidad. To this burgeoning list can be added various Florida), B. Jones (University of Alberta), R.D. Liska review volumes, newsletters and unpublished reports. (Houston, Texas), P. Mann (University of Texas at Austin), Various general works have been published which re- J.D. Mather (Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, view this enormous literature, the most recent examples London), F. Nagle (University of Miami), R.K. Pickerill being edited by Nairn and Stehli (now almost 20 years old) (University of New Brunswick, Fredericton), M.J. Roobol and Dengo and Case1. These volumes are generally excel- (Directorate General of Mineral Resources, Saudi Arabia), lent, but are intended mainly as specialist references and are E. Robinson (U.W.L, Mona), K. Rodrigues (Trinidad and generally too expensive, and often too advanced or special- Tobago Oil Company Limited), R. Shagam (Rider College, ized, for student readers. This is particularly unfortunate for New Jersey), P.W. Skelton (The Open University), A.W. any undergraduate taking an advanced course in Caribbean Snoke (University of Wyoming at Laramie), R. Torrini, Jr. geology or, for that matter, any new graduate student start- (Woodward-Clyde Consultants), G. Wadge (University of ing research in the region. Caribbean Geology: An Intro- Reading) and G.K. Westbrook (University of Birmingham). duction has been produced to help fill the need for a cheap, T.A.J. also acted as a reviewer for two chapters. but comprehensive, text on Caribbean geology. The 15 Thanks, too, to Annika Lewinson and Annie Paul of the chapters have been written by the editors and a group of University of the West Indies Publishers' Association, who invited authors who are experts in particular aspects of the undertook the daunting task of typesetting this volume. Our geology of the region. While we have attempted to be as fellow authors endured entreaties by letter, fax, cable and comprehensive as possible, it is hoped that the text is pitched telephone, as well as patiently suffering delays at the Mona at a level that is both intelligible and informative to the end, but we trust that any feeling of persecution is forgotten student as well as the expert. now that the book is published. The Department of Geology We are pleased to acknowledge the financial support at UWI provided invaluable logistic support. that has made publication of this book possible. Printing was financed by a repayable grant from the Research and Publi- cations Fund of the University of the West Indies (UWI). REFERENCES Typesetting was supported by the Research and Publica- 1 tions Fund of Mona Campus, UWI. Dengo, G. & Case, J.E. (eds). 1990. The Geology of North We also make a particular point of thanking the numer - America, Volume H, The Caribbean Region. Geologi- 1 Introduction cal Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, 528 pp. America, Boulder, Colorado. 2Draper, G.& Dengo, G. 1990. History of geological inves- 3Nairn, A.E.M. & Stehli, F.G. (eds). 1976. The Ocean tigation in the Caribbean region: in Dengo, G. & Case, Basins and Margins. 3. The Gulf of Mexico and the J.E. (eds), The Geology of North America, Volume H, Caribbean. Plenum, New York, 706 pp. The Caribbean Region, 1-14. Geological Society of 2 Caribbean Geology: An Introduction ©1994 The Authors U.W.I. Publishers' Association, Kingston CHAPTER 1 Geologic Provinces of the Caribbean Region GRENVILLE DRAPER1, TREVOR A. JACKSON2 and STEPHEN K. DONOVAN2 1Department of Geology, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199, U.SA. 2Department of Geology, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica INTRODUCTION South American continent. The western boundary com- prises Central America and the Isthmus of Panama, and the THE CARIBBEAN is a geologically complex region that eastern limits are defined by the Lesser Antilles archipelago. displays a variety of plate boundary interactions including Within these boundaries there are several deeper water subduction in the Lesser Antilles and Central America, regions; the Yucatan Basin, the Cayman Trough, the Colom- transcurrent (strike-slip) motions on the northern and southern bian Basin, the Venezuelan Basin and the Grenada Basin. boundaries, and sea floor spreading in the Cayman These are separated by several more or less linear ridges and Trough. The central Caribbean is a lithospheric plate con- rises; by the Cayman Ridge, the Nicaraguan Rise, the Beata sisting mainly of an anomalously thick, oceanic plateau Ridge and the Aves Ridge, respectively. The physiographic situated between two major continental regions and therein units correspond in part to the different crustal provinces lies its geological importance. Classic studies of the Alps, that make up the Caribbean and in part to the active tectonic Himalayas and Appalachians have documented the effects elements that make up the present Caribbean Plate. of major continent-continent collisions. The Caribbean pro- vides the opportunity to study the nature of the geological evolution of island arcs, and the tectonic interaction between PRESENT PLATE CONFIGURATION anomalously thick oceanic crust and continental crust. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the physiog- The location and nature of plate boundaries in the Carib- raphy and geology of the Caribbean region. Although de- bean, as elsewhere, are determined by the location of earth- tailed analysis of tectonostratigraphic terranes has been quake hypocentres; by use of the sense of slip from first published previously11, in the present account we attempt to motion studies on seismogenic faults; from detailed outline the