Ozeanische Kruste im Nicoya-Komplex von Costa Rica (Mittelamerika)

Henningsen, Dierk; Weyl, Richard

doi:10.1007/bf01825715

Cited by 23 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The first chemical analyses of magmatites of the Nicoya Complex were made by Dengo (1962a) and Weyl (1969), concluding oceanic tholeiites. Henningsen & Weyl (1967) previously suggested that the Nicoya Complex is probably obducted oceanic crust. Seely et al (1974), GalliOlivier (1979), and Seely (1979) interpreted the Nicoya Complex as an accretionary prism characterized by thrust faults along a convergent and shortened plate margin.…”

Section: Nicoyamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This lithologic assemblage was called Nicoya Complex by geologists of Union Oil Co. of California (first described in a internal draft in 1958 and then published in 1962), and included several sedimentary and igneous rocks their relationships were not completely established at that time. Dengo (1960Dengo ( , 1962a and then Lloyd (1963) and Weyl (1965) established for the first time the oceanic crust origin of these lithologies, and interpreted them to represent a deep origin of the nowadays uplifted slice of the Pacific Ocean (Henningsen & Weyl, 1967;Pichler & Weyl, 1973). The first chemical analyses of magmatites of the Nicoya Complex were made by Dengo (1962a) and Weyl (1969), concluding oceanic tholeiites.…”

Section: Nicoyamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dengo (1962a, b) and other colleges of the oil company firstly interpreted the basement as an assemblage of different rocks with intricate structural relations, deserving the category of "complex", years before that this term was adopted as part of the formal stratigraphic nomenclature and as a name for the Franciscan Complex of North America (Galli-Oliver, 1979). Henningsen & Weyl (1967) suggested that the Nicoya Complex probably represents obducted oceanic crust and Seely et al (1974) interpreted it as an accretionary prism.…”

Section: Recognized As An Ophiolite Suite In the Framework Of The Plamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Endeavor research into evolving paradigms around Ophiolites: The case of the oceanic igneous complexes of Costa Rica

Alvarado

Denyer

Gazel

2008

Rev. Geol. Amér. Central

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aBtract: More than one century of studies were done on the radiolarite-igneous ("ophiolitic") complexes in Costa Rica that range from Jurassic to Eocene. These studies can be grouped in four main stages of knowledge: 1) from 1904 to 1957 were recognized the cherts, and the mafic and ultramafic igneous complexes, the first regional maps were done, and the first time were recognized ellipsoidal basalts, now widely known as pillow lavas. 2) From 1958 to 1978, the complexes were seen under the concept of the association of ophiolites (serpentine, gabbro, diabase, basalts, and related rocks), and interpreted the radiolarites as deep-sea sediments. This stage is characterized by the seminal work of Gabriel Dengo and by the first geochemical analyses in the framework of the plate tectonics. 3) From 1979 to 1994, a huge amount of geochemical data, paleontological and K/Ar ages were published and it was the stage of more controversial papers. Their interpretation varied for the same locality (i.e. Nicoya Peninsula) from a relative simple stratigraphic model to a very complex nappe slices, and from a simple tectonic evolution (in situ and formed by a mid-oceanic ridge volcanism) to a multistage evolution (terrains, and mid-oceanic ridge, aseismic ridge, intraplate and island arc volcanism). The situation was similar in the other Costa Rican oceanic complexes. 4) From 1995 to present, the panorama and mutual agreement between the different groups was clearer. This stage is characterized by joint collaboration, the use of modern laboratory techniques as Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes, major, trace and complete rare earth elements, 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating, and volcanological criteria, together with detailed field mapping. The main new result of these studies was that the radiolarites (164-84 Ma) in the Nicoya Peninsula were significatively older than the basic igneous rocks (140-84 Ma), indicating a complex magmatic event intruding and erupting into the thick sedimentary sequence. For other areas, like Santa Elena Peninsula, Tortugal, Herradura and Quepos, the picture on these oceanic complexes are more or less clear. In the case of Osa-Golfito-Burica area, more studies are necessary. In general, the detailed field mapping is a powerful tool in combination with the modern techniques. The similarity in age, petrology, geochemistry and tectonic Looking into the geotectonic panorama of the Caribbean and its geological significance, the Nicoya Complex sensus latus has occupied a special place in Caribbean geology since its original description by Dengo (1962a). In the 1970's and early 1980's the Nicoya Complex was the focus of extensive research; corresponding with a historical moment in which the ophiolites studies took relevance into the geosciences carpet (e.g. Coleman, 1977). These first studies constituted an effort to understand a very complex picture but with traditional tools, leading to misinterpretation and confusion. Today, the endeavor of more than four decades of research have produced a pile of work, which were done using di...

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Section: Nicoyamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Nicoyamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recognized As An Ophiolite Suite In the Framework Of The Plamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Endeavor research into evolving paradigms around Ophiolites: The case of the oceanic igneous complexes of Costa Rica

Alvarado

Denyer

Gazel

2008

Rev. Geol. Amér. Central

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“…Dengo (1962a) was the first to describe the "ophiolites" of the Nicoya Complex and to relate them to oceanic crust. Subsequently the Nicoya Complex has become a topic of various studies (Weyl, 1966(Weyl, , 1969Henningsen and Weyl, 1967;Galli, 1977Galli, , 1979Schmidt-Effing, 1979;Kuijpers, 1980;Tournon, 1980, 1982;Gursky et al, 1982), and several hypotheses have been proposed to explain it: (1) an accretionary process (Galli and Schmidt-Effing, 1977;Galli, 1979); (2) a continuous sedimentation from Latest Jurassic through Cretaceous and Paleocene-Eocene time with intermittent volcanic activity above an aseismic ridge (Schmidt-Effing, 1979); (3) a polyphase mechanism involving obduction of an oceanic crust assemblage during late Santonian time (Esperanza unit) onto an older oceanic crust assemblage (Matapalo unit) (Kuijpers, 1980).…”

Section: Regional Geology and Previous Work On The Nicoya Complex Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Tectonic Cross-Section of the Costa Rican Pacific Littoral as a Key to the Structure of the Landward Slope of the Middle America Trench off Guatemala

Azéma¹,

Bourgois²,

Baumgartner³

et al. 1985

Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project

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Pre-upper Senonian basement of Costa Rica crops out in the Santa Elena and Nicoya peninsulas. From south to north and from base to top the basement includes the Esperanza, Matapalo, and Santa Elena units. The Esperanza unit is Albian-Santonian in age and consists mainly of pillow basalt and massive basalt flows. The Matapalo unit includes Callovian-Cenomanian radiolarite and exhibits a massive basalt flow, pillow basalt, and dolerite basement. The Santa Elena unit contains ultramafic and mafic rocks in which harzburgite is the major component. The most important tectonic features of the Nicoya Complex are the large Santa Elena and Matapalo nappes. Nappe emplacement was from north to south during late Santonian time. The sedimentary cover of the Nicoya Complex comprises (1) the Campanian El Viejo Formation, which consists of shallow-water sediments to the north on Santa Elena Peninsula and the Campanian-Maestrichtian Sabana Grande Formation of deep-water origin to the south on Nicoya Peninsula; (2) Paleocene sediments, which indicate deposition in a deep-water environment and which comprise the Rivas, Las Palmas, and Samara formations; and (3) post-upper Eocene(?) sediments, which consist of the shallow-water Barra Honda and Montezuma formations. Two unconformities are the major geologic features of the upper Senonian-Tertiary sequence of Costa Rica. The lower one is at the base of the Sabana Grande Formation and marks a major change in the geologic conditions (basalt is scarce in the Campanian-Tertiary series); the upper unconformity at the base of the Barra Honda and Montezuma formations is not as pronounced as the lower one. During post-Campanian time, normal faulting occurred in two stages separated by a phase of strong erosion.The geology of the landward slope of the adjacent Middle America Trench is outlined in this chapter through interpretation of multifold seismic reflection records taken off the west coast of Costa Rica and from the DSDP Legs 67 and 84 transects off Guatemala. The western Caribbean Plate boundary may have been under extensional stress for the last 75 m.y. The strong landward-dipping reflectors of the landward slope of the Middle America Trench off Guatemala could be equivalent to the on-land pre-Campanian overthrusts of Costa Rica. The available data are consistent with the convergent extensional margin concept.

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“…The Greater Antillean eugeosyncline throughout this time period was strongly volcanic and suffered erosion from uplift at the end of the Santonian. Late Cretaceous rocks of a deep-ocean environment have been reported from Costa Rica (Henningsen 1968;Henningsen and Weyl, 1967) and eastern Panama (Case, in press; Bandy and Casey, in press). Lloyd (1963) and Henningsen (1968) believe that volcanic islands lay to the west of Panama at this time.…”

Section: Late Turonian-coniacian-santonianmentioning

confidence: 99%