ANTILLEAN-CARIBBEAN REGION 



675 



of pumice in the upper Eocene. In Camaguey and Oriente there are a few 

 Late Tertiary or Pleistocene flows. Elsewhere the Tertiary is free of vol- 

 canic material. 



Tectonic History. The Jurassic and Cretaceous tectonic history of 

 Cuba has been interpreted variously by different writers, but this is most 

 probably due to the fact that until recently the facies relationship of the 

 several formations has not been entertained. Unconformities and several 

 pre-Tertiary deformations have been postulated. According to Wassail 

 ( 1957 ) the main deformation occurred near the close of Cretaceous time 

 when the southern clastic-volcanic sequence was thrust northward over 

 the carbonate facies and even over the southern margin of the evaporite 

 sequence. Later normal faulting parallel with the facies zones resulted in 

 the dropping of blocks of the thrust sheet into graben. The upfaulted 

 blocks of the thrust sheet were eroded away but the downfaulted masses 

 were preserved, and appear to be out of place in the northern facies 

 unless thrusting of great magnitude is postulated. The age of the graben 

 faulting is not given by Wassail, and it is not known how it fits in the 

 Tertiary chronology of Butterlin, given below. 



The serpentine is believed to be tabular, associated with layered gabbro, 

 and carried northward in the thrusting. Others have proposed that the 

 basic plutons were intruded at about the same time as the acidic plutons. 

 Butterlin (1956) suggests that the intrusions occurred near the close of 

 Early Cretaceous time, but evidently Wassail considers the acidic plutons 

 much later than the basic. 



Early Eocene time saw much flooding and probably the development 

 of deep water in the west. Close to the mountains conglomerates, sand- 

 stones, and shales accumulated, but at a distance marls. 



Orogeny then occurred at the close of the early Eocene, probably con- 

 tinuing into mid-Eocene (Butterlin, 1956). The effects are most con- 



Fig. 42.4. Cross sections of the Greater and Lesser Antilles. The upper two sections are in Cuba, 

 after Thayer and Guild, 1947. The third and fourth sections are across Antigua and St. Bartholo- 

 mew islands, after Christman, 1950. The fifth section is across Tobago, after Maxwell, 1948. The 

 schists, volcanics, and intrusive rocks are regarded by him as Cretaceous. Lowest section is a 

 hypothetical interpretation by Senn (1940), across the arc of the Lesser Antilles showing the 

 conditions of sedimentation during the Oligocene epoch. The north to south thrusting in Camaguey 

 is now doubted. 



Woterlo,d Tuff ■Serpentine 



FT TMRU3TIN6 IN ORIENTE PROVI NC E , C U 3A 



THRUSTING IN CAMAOUEY CHROMITE DISTRICT, CUBA 



Sw Tuffs Mainly ondesite por 



jbreccia 5 ^<~>c 

 crgg/om. 



Middle Oligocene hl 



Tuffs, braccios, en,* Is fintiquo /j 



CRAO HILL CHRISTIAN VALLEY ST L LIKE 5 ©UARRY 



' LMiiii 1 ANTIGUA 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW 



Parlotuv/er r~m 



Main Ridae fm 



Tobago vo/conic 





North Coast Schist Group 

 TOBAGO ° 



1 L/ltramaf/c roc/i 

 2 



Volcanic arc 



Plutonic ore 

 ■ith reef limestones 

 Volcanic dust- 



_.. Intermediate basin 

 Caribbean Sea f j^\ with tuff deposit/on Atlantic Ocean \Borbaios 



50 Km 



GENERALIZED SECTION ACROSS LESSER ANTILLES 

 IN OLIGOCENE Tine 



