The dynamics of intra-oceanic subduction zones: A direct comparison between fossil petrological evidence (Rio San Juan Complex, Dominican Republic) and numerical simulation

Krebs, M.; Maresch, Walter V.; Schertl, Hans‐Peter; Münker, Carsten; Baumann, A.; Draper, Grenville; Idleman, B. D.; Trapp, Endres

doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2007.09.003

Cited by 128 publications

(126 citation statements)

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“…The present paper acknowledges the Los Ranchos and Water Island formations of Hispaniola and the Virgin Islands, respectively (Kesler et al 2005;Jolly et al 2008) as postdating the onset of west-dipping subduction, largely because the new Aptian -Albian ages for these units post-date the commonly perceived c. 120-125 Ma onset of HP-LT metamorphism/ cooling in rocks of the circum-Caribbean suture zone (e.g. Pindell et al 2005;Garcia-Casco et al 2006;Krebs et al 2008). However, two additional arc units, the Lower Devil's Racecourse of Jamaica and the Los Pasos of Cuba, date to the Hauterivian (130-135 Ma) and have been highlighted as integral elements of the Caribbean arc (Hastie et al 2009;Stanek et al 2009).…”

Section: Note Added In Proofmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Pindell et al (2005) compiled data to show that HP/LT metamorphic ages in the Caribbean Arc span the period of active Caribbean Arc subduction, from the onset of SW-dipping subduction to collision. In Cuba and in Hispaniola, cooling ages on HP/LT mineral suites begin at about 118 Ma and continue up to about 70 Ma in Cuba (García-Casco 2008b;Stanek 2009) and younger in Hispaniola (Krebs et al 2008), defining the period of subduction from initiation to collision with 'Caribeana', a sediment pile deposited along southern Yucatán, and the Bahamas. The Cuban ages in particular are within the errors of the 40 Ar-39 Ar cooling ages for the two groups of El Tambor HP/LT rocks (northern and southern), a fact that we expect is significant, possibly placing both El Tambor HP/LT units along the same Caribbean Arc trench, although originally separated by many hundreds of kilometres along strike.…”

Section: Maastrichtian -Palaeogene Expansion Of the Caribbean Plate Imentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and northern South America in the mantle reference frame: an update

Pindell

Kennan²

2009

556

629

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We present an updated synthesis of the widely accepted 'single-arc Pacific-origin' and 'Yucatán-rotation' models for Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico evolution, respectively. Fourteen palaeogeographic maps through time integrate new concepts and alterations to earlier models. Pre-Aptian maps are presented in a North American reference frame. Aptian and younger maps are presented in an Indo-Atlantic hot spot reference frame which demonstrates the surprising simplicity of Caribbean-American interaction. We use the Müller et al. (Geology 21: 275-278, 1993) reference frame because the motions of the Americas are smoothest in this reference frame, and because it does not differ significantly, at least since c. 90 Ma, from more recent 'moving hot spot' reference frames. The Caribbean oceanic lithosphere has moved little relative to the hot spots in the Cenozoic, but moved north at c. 50 km/Ma during the Cretaceous, while the American plates have drifted west much further and faster and thus are responsible for most CaribbeanAmerican relative motion history. New or revised features of this model, generally driven by new data sets, include: (1) refined reconstruction of western Pangaea; (2) refined rotational motions of the Yucatán Block during the evolution of the Gulf of Mexico; (3) an origin for the Caribbean Arc that invokes Aptian conversion to a SW-dipping subduction zone of a trans-American plate boundary from Chortís to Ecuador that was part sinistral transform (northern Caribbean) and part pre-existing arc (eastern, southern Caribbean); (4) acknowledgement that the Caribbean basalt plateau may pertain to the palaeo-Galapagos hot spot, the occurrence of which was partly controlled by a Proto-Caribbean slab gap beneath the Caribbean Plate; (5) Campanian initiation of subduction at the Panama-Costa Rica Arc, although a sinistral transform boundary probably pre-dated subduction initiation here; (6) inception of a north-vergent crustal inversion zone along northern South America to account for Cenozoic convergence between the Americas ahead of the Caribbean Plate; (7) a fan-like, asymmetric rift opening model for the Grenada Basin, where the Margarita and Tobago footwall crustal slivers were exhumed from beneath the southeast Aves Ridge hanging wall; (8) an origin for the Early Cretaceous HP/LT metamorphism in the El Tambor units along the Motagua Fault Zone that relates to subduction of Farallon crust along western Mexico (and then translated along the trans-American plate boundary prior to onset of SW-dipping subduction beneath the Caribbean Arc) rather than to collision of Chortis with Southern Mexico; (9) Middle Miocene tectonic escape of Panamanian crustal slivers, followed by Late Miocene and Recent eastward movement of the 'Panama Block' that is faster than that of the Caribbean Plate, allowed by the inception of east-west trans-Costa Rica shear zones. The updated model integrates new concepts and global plate motion models in an internally consistent way, and can be used to test and guide more local ...

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Section: Note Added In Proofmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Maastrichtian -Palaeogene Expansion Of the Caribbean Plate Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and northern South America in the mantle reference frame: an update

Pindell

Kennan²

2009

556

629

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“…2. The P-T and chemical history within an accretionary prism can be quite complex as the eclogite protoliths are churned to different levels below the mantle wedge and as fluids of different compositions flux through at different times (Krebs et al, 2008).…”

Section: A Strike Slip/convergent Tectonic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metamorphic reworking of a high pressure–low temperature mélange along the Motagua fault, Guatemala: A record of Neocomian and Maastrichtian transpressional tectonics

Brueckner

Lallemant

Sisson

et al. 2009

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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The Guatemala suture zone is a major east-west left-lateral strike slip boundary that separates the North American and Caribbean plates in Guatemala. The Motagua fault, the central active strand of the suture zone, underwent two major collisional events within a system otherwise dominated by strike-slip motion. The first event is recorded by high-pressure/low temperature (HP/LT) eclogites and related rocks that occur within serpentinites both north and south of the Motagua fault. Lawsonite eclogites south of the fault are not significantly retrograded and give 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of 125-116 Ma and Sm-Nd mineral isochrons of 144-132 Ma.Eclogites north of the fault give similar Sm-Nd isochron ages (131-126 Ma) but otherwise differ in that they are strongly overprinted by a lower pressure assemblage and, along with associated HP/LT rocks, give much younger 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of 88-55 Ma indicating a later amphibolite facies metamorphic event. We propose therefore that all serpentinite hosted eclogites along the Motagua fault formed at essentially the same time in different parts of a laterally extensive Lower Cretaceous forearc subduction system, but subsequently underwent different histories. The southern assemblages were thrust southwards (present coordinates) immediately after HP metamorphism whereas the northern association was retrograded during a later collision that thrust it northward at ca. 70 Ma. They were subsequently juxtaposed opposite each other by major strike slip motion. This model implies that the HP rocks on opposing sides of the Motagua fault evolved along a plate boundary that underwent both dip slip and strike slip motion throughout the Late Cretaceous as a result of oblique convergence. The juxtaposition of a convergent and strike slip system means that HP/LT rocks within serpentinites can be found at depth along much of the modern Guatemala suture zone and its eastward extension into the northern Caribbean. Both sets of assemblages were exhumed relatively recently by the uplift of mountain ranges on both sides of the fault caused by movement along a restraining bend. Recent exhumation explains the apparently lack of offset of surface outcrops along a major strike slip fault.

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“…Schwartz et al 2001;Federico et al 2007) or in the Northern Serpentinite Mélange from Cuba and Hispaniola islands (e.g. Gorczyk et al 2007;Krebs et al 2008).…”

Section: When and How The Relationships Between Metasedimentary Rocksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the Greater Antilles belt cropping out in the Cuba and Hispaniola islands (e.g. Schneider et al 2004;Gorczyk et al 2007;Krebs et al 2008). This belt is characterized by the presence of an ophiolitic mélange affected by HP/LT metamorphism metamorphic complexes originated during different subduction events and juxtaposed by the Tertiary strike-slip displacement along the MFZ.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deformation history of the eclogite‐ and jadeitite‐bearing mélange from North Motagua Fault Zone, Guatemala: insights in the processes of a fossil subduction channel

et al. 2009

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In Guatemala, along the northern side of the Motagua Valley, a mélange consisting of blocks of eclogite and jadeitite set in a metaserpentinitic and metasedimentary matrix crops out. The metasedimentary rocks display a complex deformation history that includes four tectonic phases, from D1 to D4. The D1 phase occurs only as a relic and is characterized by a mineral assemblage developed under pressure temperature (P-T) conditions of 1.00-1.25 GPa and 206-2638C. The D2 phase, characterized by isoclinal folds, schistosity and mineral/stretching lineation, developed at P-T conditions of 0.70-1.20 GPa and 279-4098C. The following D3 and D4 phases show deformations developed at shallower structural levels. Whereas the D1 phase can be interpreted as the result of underplating of slices of oceanic lithosphere during an intraoceanic subduction, the following phases have been acquired by the mélange during its progressive exhumation through different mechanisms. The deformations related to the D2 and D3 phases can be regarded as acquired by extrusion of the mélange within a subduction channel during a stage of oblique subduction. In addition, the structural evidences indicate that the coupling and mixing of different blocks occurred during the D2 phase, as a result of flow reverse and upward trajectory in the subduction channel. By contrast, the D4 phase can be interpreted as related to extension at shallow structural levels. In this framework, the exhumationrelated structures in the mélange indicate that this process, probably long-lived, developed through different mechanisms, active in the subduction channel through time.

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The dynamics of intra-oceanic subduction zones: A direct comparison between fossil petrological evidence (Rio San Juan Complex, Dominican Republic) and numerical simulation

Cited by 128 publications

References 80 publications

Tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and northern South America in the mantle reference frame: an update

Tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and northern South America in the mantle reference frame: an update

Metamorphic reworking of a high pressure–low temperature mélange along the Motagua fault, Guatemala: A record of Neocomian and Maastrichtian transpressional tectonics

Deformation history of the eclogite‐ and jadeitite‐bearing mélange from North Motagua Fault Zone, Guatemala: insights in the processes of a fossil subduction channel

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