The Upper Jurassic-Upper Cretaceous magmatic sequence of the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21701/bolgeomin.118.2.005Keywords:
Caribbean island-arc, Dominican Republic, magmatic sequence, mantle sources, subductionAbstract
the Cordillera Central domain, located southern of the Hispaniola Fault Zone, an Upper Jurassic-Upper Cretaceous magmatic sequence is recognized, which includes eight lithostratigraphic-geochemical units formed by a great variety of plutonic, volcanic, volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks. The three lowermost units have an ophiolitic character, since it is considered oceanic lithosphere with its typical pseudostratigraphy though incomplete: upper mantle rocks are represented by the Loma Caribe serpentinized peridotite; gabbros, dolerites and volcanic MORB-rocks by the oceanic volcano-plutonic assemblage of the Loma La Monja; and the pelagic sediments by the El Aguacate Chert, lacking the crustal terms of layered cumulate gabbros and part of the dyke-complex. Over this Late Jurassic proto- Caribbean oceanic sustrate, an event of Caribbean oceanic plateau formation during the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) is superposed and represented by the picrites and high-Mg basalts of the Duarte Complex. The overlying volcanic and subvolcanic rocks of the Tireo Group are related to subduction processes under the oceanic plateau in the Late Cretaceous. Subduction-zone formation in the Albian gave rise a typical island arc tholeiitic magmas, that compositionally shift to an association of adakites, high-Mg andesites and Nb-enriched basalts in the Turonian-Santonian interval. The tholeiitic, transitional and alkaline basalts of the Peña Blanca, Pelona-Pico Duarte and Magua Fms, represent new plume-related intraplate magmatism in the Late Campanian-Maastrichtian. The Caribbean island arc inactivity is recorded in this area with the subsequent carbonate sedimentation of the Bois de Lawrence Fm during the Maastrichtian.
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