The Quebradillas Limestone (Miocene-Pliocene), northern Puerto Rico, and tectonics of the northeastern Caribbean margin

Moussa, Mounir T.; Seiglie, George A.; Meyerhoff, A. A.; Taner, Irfan

doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1987)99<427:tqlmnp>2.0.co;2

Cited by 32 publications

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“…2A). The Quebradillas deposition is more extensive in the western part of the platform and includes onland areas of northwest Puerto Rico (Moussa et al, 1987) (Fig. 2A).…”

Section: Regional Tectonic and Geologic Setting Of The Puerto Rico Trmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Neotectonics and subsidence of the northern Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands margin in response to the oblique subduction of high-standing ridges

Grindlay¹,

Mann²,

Dolan³

et al. 2005

Active Tectonics and Seismic Hazards of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Offshore Areas

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High-resolution single-channel seismic refl ection profi les, bathymetry and sidescan sonar imagery from the Puerto Rico trench document the present-day and postcollisional effects of the obliquely subducting southeastern extension of the Bahama Province and the Main Ridge fracture zone on the northern Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands margin. In contrast to an orthogonal system, where it is unlikely that two high-standing ridges will impact the same section of margin, along the Puerto Rico trench convergence is highly oblique and the deformational effects of the two ridges are superimposed and often diffi cult to isolate. A middle-upper Miocene margin-wide unconformity in the Oligocene-lower Pliocene shallow-water carbonate platform of the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and eastern Hispaniola provides an excellent horizontal reference frame for the timing and impact of the high-standing ridges on the margin. During the past 10 m.y., trenchward tilting (4-6°) of the carbonate platform including the margin-wide erosional surface to >5000 m water depths provides evidence that the margin has experienced signifi cant subsidence. In this paper we present a model of accelerated subduction erosion and diachronous margin subsidence triggered by the ridges sweeping from east to west beneath the Puerto Rico forearc. Evidence for ongoing and past subduction erosion include zones of enhanced seismicity, oversteepening and mass wasting of the forearc slope, and landward migration of the inner trench-slope break. We document over 3 km of Neogene subsidence presumed to be the result of rapid crustal thinning associated with the tunneling of the

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“…2A). The Quebradillas deposition is more extensive in the western part of the platform and includes onland areas of northwest Puerto Rico (Moussa et al, 1987) (Fig. 2A).…”

Section: Regional Tectonic and Geologic Setting Of The Puerto Rico Trmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The Quebradillas formation (upper Miocene-lower Pliocene) was deposited during a rapid marine transgression/regression sequence (Moussa et al, 1987). The formation was not deposited uniformly on the platform.…”

Section: Regional Tectonic and Geologic Setting Of The Puerto Rico Trmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neotectonics and subsidence of the northern Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands margin in response to the oblique subduction of high-standing ridges

Grindlay¹,

Mann²,

Dolan³

et al. 2005

Active Tectonics and Seismic Hazards of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Offshore Areas

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“…Each model will be evaluated in light of the new data pre- (Figure 3d). Because this arch affects rocks of the platform, the tectonic shortening event that created it is younger than the youngest folded unit of the platform, the Quebradillas Limestone of early Pliocene age [Moussa et al, 1987]. The northern flank of this arch is defined by the shallower dipping and less deformed carbonate platform compared with the steeper and more complex deformed southern margin (Figures 5a-5d).…”

Section: Comparison Of Observations With Previously Proposed Tectonicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure and tectonics of the upper Cenozoic Puerto Rico‐Virgin Islands carbonate platform as determined from seismic reflection studies

Gestel¹,

Mann²,

Dolan³

et al. 1998

J. Geophys. Res.

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Abstract. The Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands carbonate platform was deposited over an area of 18,000 km 2 from early Oligocene to Holocene on top of an inactive and subsiding Cretaceous-earliest Oligocene island arc. Regional single-channel and multichannel seismic reflection lines presented in this study provide the first information on the regional stratigraphy and structure of this platform that has previously been known mainly from onshore stratigraphic sections of a relatively small (2250 km 2) portion of the platform exposed by late Neogene tectonic uplift along the north

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“…It is assumed that these carbonates are contiguous with the tilted carbonate sequences that extend offshore on the northern and southern insular slopes of the islands (Moussa et al, 1987;van Gestel et al, 1998). The tilted platforms of opposing dip are interpreted to be limbs of a roughly eastwest-trending, 120-km-wide arch that resulted from a northsouth-shortening event (Phase 2 described in section II) from post Eocene to late Neogene (Dillon et al, 1996;van Gestel et al, 1998).…”

Section: Mayagüez Basinmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Underlying the Holocene sediments is a thick (up to 1500m) Oligocene-early Pliocene age sequence of shallow-water limestone that lies unconformably over Cretaceous-Eocene volcanics (Moussa et al, 1987). It is assumed that these carbonates are contiguous with the tilted carbonate sequences that extend offshore on the northern and southern insular slopes of the islands (Moussa et al, 1987;van Gestel et al, 1998).…”

Section: Mayagüez Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward an integrated understanding of Holocene fault activity in western Puerto Rico: Constraints from high-resolution seismic and sidescan sonar data

Grindlay¹,

Abrams²,

Greco³

et al. 2005

Active Tectonics and Seismic Hazards of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Offshore Areas

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It has been postulated that the western boundary of the Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands microplate lies within the Mona Passage and extends onland into southwestern PuertoRico. This region is seismically active, averaging one event of magnitude 2.0 or larger per day, and over 150 events of magnitude 3.0 or greater occurred during the past fi ve years. Moreover, there have been at least 13 historical events of intensity VI (MM) or greater in the past 500 years. We conducted a high-resolution seismic and sidescan sonar survey of the insular shelf of western and southern Puerto Rico during May 2000 in an effort to identify Holocene faults and to further assess the seismic hazard in the region. We focus on an ~175 km 2 part of the surveyed area offshore of western Puerto Rico, extending from Punta Higuero to Boquerón Bay. This area was targeted as a likely place to image recent faults, because multi-channel seismic profi les offshore western Puerto Rico show numerous WNW-trending normal and strike-slip faults that offset Oligocene-Pliocene age carbonate rocks and underlying Cretaceous basement rocks. Analyses of these data identify three zones of active deformation within the survey area: (1) the Cerro Goden fault zone; (2) the Punta Algarrobo/ Mayagüez fault zone that lies offshore the city of Mayagüez; and; (3) the Punta Guanajibo/Punta Arenas fault zone. Two of the offshore fault zones, the Cerro Goden and Punta Algarrobo, show strong correlation with fault zones onland, Cerro Goden and Cordillera, respectively. Many of the mapped faults offshore appear to reactivate older WNW-trending basement structures and show evidence of some component of right-lateral motion that is consistent with geodetic measurements. The offshore deformation zones are also associated with headlands and linear NW-SE magnetization lows (serpentinite dikes?) mapped offshore. Elongate outcrops of serpentinite in western Puerto Rico are colinear with the fault zones we have mapped offshore, Grindlay, N.R., Abrams, L.J., Del Greco, L., and Mann, P., 2005, Toward an integrated understanding of Holocene fault activity in western Puerto Rico: Constraints from high-resolution seismic and sidescan sonar data, in Mann, P.

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The Quebradillas Limestone (Miocene-Pliocene), northern Puerto Rico, and tectonics of the northeastern Caribbean margin

Cited by 32 publications

References 0 publications

Neotectonics and subsidence of the northern Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands margin in response to the oblique subduction of high-standing ridges

Neotectonics and subsidence of the northern Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands margin in response to the oblique subduction of high-standing ridges

Structure and tectonics of the upper Cenozoic Puerto Rico‐Virgin Islands carbonate platform as determined from seismic reflection studies

Toward an integrated understanding of Holocene fault activity in western Puerto Rico: Constraints from high-resolution seismic and sidescan sonar data

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