Elsevier

Lithos

Volume 262, 1 October 2016, Pages 298-319
Lithos

Subduction of fore-arc crust beneath an intra-oceanic arc: The high-P Cuaba mafic gneisess and amphibolites of the Rio San Juan Complex, Dominican Republic

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2016.07.024Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The Cuaba subcomplex includes diverse arc-like mafic protoliths.

  • It contains fragments of its supra-subduction zone mantle.

  • It represents part of the subducted fore-arc of the Caribbean island-arc.

Abstract

The Rio San Juan metamorphic complex (RSJC) exposes a segment of a high-P accretionary prism, built during Late Cretaceous subduction below the intra-oceanic Caribbean island-arc. In this paper we present new detailed maps, tectonostratigraphy, large-scale structure, mineral chemistry, in situ trace element composition of clinopyroxene (Cpx), and bulk rock geochemical data for representative garnet-free peridotites and mafic metaigneous rocks of the Cuaba and Helechal tectonometamorphic units of the southern RSJC. The Cuaba subcomplex is composed of upper foliated amphibolites and lower garnet amphibolites, retrograded (coronitic) eclogites, and heterogeneous metagabbros metamorphosed to upper amphibolite and eclogite-facies conditions. The lenticular bodies of associated peridotites are Cpx-poor harzburgites. The underlying Helechal subcomplex is composed of Cpx-poor harzburgites, Cpx-rich harzbugites, lherzolites and rare dunites.

The presented data allow us to argue that the Cuaba subcomplex: (a) represents tectonically deformed and metamorphosed crust of the Caribbean island-arc, (b) contains fragments of its supra-subduction zone mantle, and (c) includes different geochemical groups of mafic protoliths generated by varying melting degrees of diverse mantle sources. These geochemical groups include mid-Ti tholeiites (N-MORB), normal IAT and calc-alkaline rocks, low-Ti IAT, metacumulates of boninitic affinity, and HREE-depleted IAT, that collectively record a multi-stage magmatic evolution for the Caribbean island-arc, prior to the Late Cretaceous high-P metamorphism. Further, these mafic protoliths present comparable geochemical features to mafic igneous rocks of the Puerca Gorda Schists, Cacheal and Puerto Plata complexes, all of them related to the Caribbean island-arc. These relations suggest that the southern RSJC complex represents part of the subducted fore-arc of the Caribbean island-arc, which experienced initial subduction, underplating below the arc, and final exhumation in the Caribbean subduction-accretionary prism. The absence of a thick section of mafic–ultramafic cumulates also suggests delamination and/or thermomechanical erosion at the base of the Caribbean arc section during an advanced arc stage.

Introduction

Intra-oceanic island-arc formation can be studied through lower crustal and upper mantle xenoliths or from obducted sections of arc lithosphere. Middle to lower intra-oceanic arc crustal sections are well exposed in the Talkeetna of south-central Alaska and Kohistan of Pakistan Himalaya (Bard, 1983, Burg et al., 1998, DeBari and Coleman, 1989, Kelemen et al., 2003, Greene et al., 2006, Garrido et al., 2006, Dhuime et al., 2007, DeBari and Greene, 2011, Burg, 2011). In both regions, a tectonically dissected but relatively complete arc section of Mesozoic age outcrop, from lower residual mantle peridotites to upper volcanic rocks and sediments, through pyroxenites, lower crustal garnet-bearing metagabbroic rocks (mafic garnet granulites), gabbronorites and associated intrusions of diorite, tonalite and granite. The P–T conditions of metamorphic equilibria at the Moho recorded in both sections are of 850–1000 °C and 1–1.2 GPa (DeBari and Coleman, 1989, Kelemen et al., 2003, Yoshino and Okudaira, 2004, Hacker et al., 2008), indicating an arc crustal thickness of ~ 30 km. A high-P/high-T metamorphism attaining pressures ≥ 1.8 GPa has also been described at the base of the Kohistan section (Jijal complex), which is probably related to the later Indian–Asian collision (Ringuette et al., 1999, Anczkiewicz and Vance, 2000).

On the basis of mineral, whole rock and isotope compositions, a genetic link between the lowermost ultramafic part and the overlying gabbronoritic and volcanic mafic part has been proposed in the Talkeetna arc crustal section (DeBari and Coleman, 1989, DeBari and Sleep, 1991, Kelemen et al., 2003, 2006; Greene et al., 2006). Following this interpretation, the ultramafic–mafic sequence results from the crystallization of primitive arc magma in the lower crust and upper mantle. This is supported by the experimental work of Müntener et al. (2001), which successfully reproduced high-Mg# pyroxenites (Mg#  88) and low-Mg# liquids (Mg#  53) from the crystallization of high-Mg# magmas at hydrous (> 3% H2O) and P–T conditions typical of the lower arc crust. Greene et al., 2006 implement crystal fractionation models that reproduce the most primitive Talkeetna arc basalts and predict that 20–30% of the arc crust should be composed of pyroxenite, which contrasts sharply with the < 0.5 km-thick pyroxenite layer found between underlying residual mantle peridotites and overlying gabbronorites. Thus, missing primitive cumulates may have been viscously removed from the base of the Talkeetna arc section via density inestabilities (delamination) between more dense pyroxenites and underlying mantle (e.g., Behn and Kelemen et al., 2006).

A thick ultramafic layer of cumulates is also absent in the Kohistan arc crustal section, which has been interpreted as a consequence of delamination of dense, unstable lower crust and/or convective thermomechanical erosion of the sub-arc lithosphere (Garrido et al., 2006, Garrido et al., 2007, Dhuime et al., 2007). However, petrological observations, major and trace element and Srsingle bondNdsingle bondPb isotopic data from Kohistan, as well as REE numerical modeling, rule out a cumulate origin for the basal ultramafic sequence and suggest an alternatively origin by melt-rock reaction at the expense of the sub-arc oceanic mantle (Burg et al., 1998, Garrido et al., 2006, Garrido et al., 2007). The compositional variations observed between the ultramafic section and the overlying plutonic crust also discards a simple crystal fractionation model from a single parental magma (Dhuime et al., 2007). These variations indicate different mantle sources for the ultramafic and mafic rocks, which can be best explained by a multi-stage tectono-magmatic history for the ~ 30 Ma evolution of the Kohistan arc.

A multi-stage tectono-magmatic evolution has also been proposed to explain the characteristics of the mantle and crustal sections of the Puerto Plata ophiolitic complex (PPC), which forms part of the Caribbean subduction-accretionary prism in northern Dominican Republic of Hispaniola (Escuder-Viruete et al., 2014, Escuder-Viruete et al., 2016). In the crustal section, the older LREE-depleted tholeiitic melts are successively replaced by younger boninitic and island-arc tholeiitic (IAT) melts, which are similar in composition to the IAT of the overlying Los Caños Formation and contemporaneous Aptian–lower Albian basalts and basaltic andesites of the Los Ranchos Formation (Fm) and Cacheal complex. This temporal change in the mantle sources places important constraints on the magmatic and tectonic processes associated with the initiation and evolution of the Lower Cretaceous intra-oceanic Caribbean island-arc (Escuder-Viruete et al., 2006, Escuder-Viruete et al., 2010, Escuder-Viruete et al., 2014, Marchesi et al., 2006, Marchesi et al., 2016).

Located in the northeastern side of northern Hispaniola, the Rio San Juan metamorphic complex (RSJC; Fig. 1) contains several major structural units/nappes, whose Mesozoic mafic igneous protoliths also derive from arc-like magmas (Escuder-Viruete, 2010, Escuder-Viruete et al., 2011a, Gazel et al., 2011, Gazel et al., 2012). In structural ascending order, these units are: Helechal, Cuaba, Morrito and Rio Boba metagabbro suite (Draper and Nagle, 1991, Abbott and Draper, 2007, Escuder-Viruete, 2010, Saumur et al., 2010). Although the P–T metamorphic evolution of each unit and their links to the structural evolution have been established and in time constrained (Abbott and Draper, 2007, Abbott and Draper, 2013, Krebs et al., 2008, Krebs et al., 2011, Escuder-Viruete et al., 2013a, Escuder-Viruete et al., 2013b), the origin and significance of their protoliths is very little known. These data can shed light on the controversial origin and emplacement of the meter-size lenses of garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks included in the Cuaba subcomplex, which record ultra-high-P conditions in the mantle (Abbott et al., 2005, Abbott et al., 2006, Abbott et al., 2007, Abbott and Draper, 2007, Abbott and Draper, 2010, Abbott and Draper, 2013, De Hoog, 2012, Gazel et al., 2011, Gazel et al., 2012, Hattori et al., 2010a, Hattori et al., 2010b).

This paper present new detailed maps, tectonostratigraphy, large-scale structure, mineral chemistry, in situ trace element composition of clinopyroxene, and bulk rock geochemical data for representative ultramafic and mafic rocks of the Cuaba and Helechal subcomplexes, excluding the exotic garnet peridotite lenses. These data allow us to argue that the southern RSJC: (a) represents tectonically deformed and metamorphosed crust of the Caribbean intra-oceanic island-arc, (b) contains fragments of its supra-subduction zone (SSZ) mantle, and (c) includes different geochemical groups of arc-like mafic protoliths generated by varying partial melting degrees of diverse mantle sources. As Kohistan arc, the RSJC therefore records a multi-stage magmatic evolution for the Caribbean island-arc, prior to the Late Cretaceous high-P metamorphism. Further, the mafic protoliths present comparable geochemical features to mafic igneous rocks of the Puerca Gorda Schists, Cacheal and Puerto Plata complexes, which are all structurally located overlying the Jagua Clara mélange suture, as well as the Los Ranchos Fm. These relations suggest that the southern RSJC complex represents part of the subducted fore-arc of the Caribbean island-arc. This complex could experience initial subduction during early oblique arc–continent collision, underplating below the Caribbean island-arc, and final exhumation in the Caribbean subduction-accretionary prism. The absence of thick ultramafic cumulates also suggests delamination and/or thermomechanical erosion at the base of the Caribbean arc section during the advanced arc stage.

Section snippets

Main structural subdivision

The Greater Antilles orogenic belt results from the Mesozoic to Cenozoic oblique convergence and collision of the upper Caribbean and lower North American plates (Draper et al., 1994, García-Casco et al., 2008, Stanek et al., 2009, Pindell and Kennan, 2009). Northern Hispaniola contains several igneous and metamorphic inliers that collectively represent a segment of the subduction-to-collision accretionary prism of the orogenic belt (Fig. 1; Escuder-Viruete et al., 2011b, Escuder-Viruete et

The Cuaba and Helechal subcomplexes: field relations and petrography

Our mapping at the 1:50,000 scale covered the southernmost part of the RSJC and complemented the work of Draper and Nagle (1991). In this area, the Cuaba subcomplex is a 45 km long and < 8 km wide, lenticular slab, mainly composed of mafic metaigneous rocks and minor ultramafic lenses (Fig. 2 and Appendix A). Cross-section show that the unit is folded by WNW–ESE trending, D3 subvertical antiforms and synforms, which fold on a regional scale the S2 foliation in the different units, the tectonic

Major elements

Sample locations are shown in Fig. 2, which correspond to mafic metaigneous rocks of the Jobito and Guaconejo assemblages, as well as representative garnet-free peridotites of the Cuaba and Helechal subcomplexes. Some selected peridotite samples of the Gaspar Hernández and Jagua Clara mélange subcomplexes are also included for comparisons. Major element compositions of minerals were obtained by EMPA. Representative analytical data, instrumental details and analytical conditions are given in

Chemical changes due to alteration and metamorphism

Bulk rock compositions of major and trace elements were obtained by ICP-MS analysis with LiBO2 fusion. The results for selected samples of each geochemical group are reported in Appendix F, as well as details of analytical accuracy and reproducibility. The analyzed rocks of the La Cuaba and Helechal subcomplexes have been variably deformed and metamorphosed to greenschists, amphibolite and eclogite facies conditions. As certain major (e.g., Si, Na, K, Ca) and trace (e.g., Cs, Rb, Ba, Sr)

Origin of the highly depleted signature in the Cuaba subcomplex peridotites

The garnet-free peridotites of the Cuaba subcomplex are Cpx-poor harzburgites characterized by: (1) a low modal amount (or absence) of primary clinopyroxene; (2) high values of Cr# in spinel, forsterite end-member in olivine and Mg# in ortho and clinopyroxene; (3) low contents of Al2O3 and TiO2 in spinel, ortho and clinopyroxene; (4) low MREE and HREE abundances in clinopyroxene; (5) low Al2O3, TiO2 and CaO contents in whole-rock compositions; and (6) low contents in incompatible trace elements

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Gren Draper and Peter Baumgartner for their comments on the geology of Dominican Republic and the Caribbean paleogeography. We also thank Angela Suárez-Rodríguez (IGME) and Jacques Monthel (BRGM) for their involvement in mapping and sampling the Guayabito area. The Servicio Geológico Nacional of the Dominican Government is thanked for collaboration, particularly to Santiago Muñoz. Richard Abbott and Gren Draper provided very careful and constructive reviews. The

References (89)

  • J. Escuder-Viruete et al.

    Structural development of a high-pressure collisional accretionary wedge: the Samaná complex, northern Hispaniola

    Journal of Structural Geology

    (2011)
  • J. Escuder-Viruete et al.

    Tectonometamorphic evolution of the Samaná complex, northern Hispaniola: implications for the burial and exhumation of high-pressure rocks in a collisional accretionary wedge

    Lithos

    (2011)
  • J. Escuder-Viruete et al.

    From intra-oceanic subduction to arc accretion and arc–continent collision: insights from the structural evolution of the Rio San Juan metamorphic complex, northern Hispaniola

    Journal of Structural Geology

    (2013)
  • J. Escuder-Viruete et al.

    Timing of deformational events in the Rio San Juan complex: implications for the tectonic controls on the exhumation of high-P rocks in the northern Caribbean subduction-accretionary prism

    Lithos

    (2013)
  • J. Escuder-Viruete et al.

    Magmatic relationships between depleted mantle harzburgites, boninitic cumulate gabbros and subduction-related tholeiitic basalts in the Puerto Plata ophiolitic complex, Dominican Republic: implications for the birthof the Caribbean island-arc

    Lithos

    (2014)
  • E. Gazel et al.

    Garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks from the Dominican Republic: fossil mantle plume fragments in an ultra-high pressure oceanic complex?

    Lithos

    (2011)
  • E. Gazel et al.

    Reply to Comment on “Garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks from the Dominican Republic: fossil mantle plume fragments in an ultra-high-pressure oceanic complex?” by Jan C.M. De Hoog

    Lithos

    (2012)
  • S.R. Hart et al.

    In search of a bulk-Earth composition

    Chemical Geology

    (1986)
  • A.R. Hastie et al.

    Geochemical components in a Cretaceous island arc: the Th/La–(Ce/Ce*)Nd diagram and implications for subduction initiation in the inter-American region

    Lithos

    (2013)
  • K.H. Hattori et al.

    Corundum-bearing garnet peridotite from northern Dominican Republic: a metamorphic product of an arc cumulate in the Caribbean subduction zone

    Lithos

    (2010)
  • K.H. Hattori et al.

    Reply to comment on “Corundum-bearing garnet peridotites from the northern Dominican Republic: a metamorphic product of an arc cumulate in the Caribbean subduction zone.” by Richard N. Abbott and Grenville Draper

    Lithos

    (2010)
  • E.M. Klein

    Geochemistry of the igneous oceanic crust

  • M. Krebs et al.

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

    Lithos

    (2008)
  • C. Marchesi et al.

    Geochemical record of subduction initiation in the sub-arc mantle: insights from the Loma Caribe peridotite (Dominican Republic)

    Lithos

    (2016)
  • P. Pagé et al.

    Geochemical variations in a depleted forearc mantle: the Thetford Mines ophiolite complex

    Chemical Geology. Lithos

    (2009)
  • J.A. Pearce

    Geochemical fingerprinting of oceanic basalts with applications to ophiolite classification and the search for Archean oceanic crust

    Lithos

    (2008)
  • S. Saka et al.

    The effects of partial melting, melt–mantle interaction and fractionation on ophiolite generation: constraints from the late Cretaceous Pozantı-Karsantı ophiolite, southern Turkey

    Lithos

    (2014)
  • A. Tamura et al.

    Harzburgite–dunite–orthopyroxenite suite as a record of supra-subduction zone setting for the Oman ophiolite mantle

    Lithos

    (2006)
  • I. Uysal et al.

    Coexistence of abyssal and ultra-depleted SSZ type mantle peridotites in a Neo-Tethyan ophiolite in SW Turkey: constraints from mineral composition, whole-rock geochemistry (major-trace-REEsingle bondPGE), and Resingle bondOs isotope systematics

    Lithos

    (2012)
  • R.K. Workman et al.

    Major and trace element composition of the depleted MORB mantle (DMM)

    Earth and Planetary Science Letters

    (2005)
  • R.N. Abbott et al.

    Petrogenesis of UHP eclogite from the Cuaba Gneiss, Rio San Juan Complex, Dominican Republic

    International Geology Review

    (2007)
  • R.N. Abbott et al.

    The case for UHP conditions in the Cuaba Terrane, Rio San Juan metamorphic complex, Dominican Republic

    Geologica Acta

    (2013)
  • R.N. Abbott et al.

    UHP magma paragenesis, garnet peridotite and garnet clinopyroxenite: an example from the Dominican Republic

    International Geology Review

    (2005)
  • R.N. Abbott et al.

    P–T path for ultrahigh-pressure garnet ultramafic rocks of the Cuaba Gneiss, Rio San Juan Complex, Dominican Republic

    International Geology Review

    (2006)
  • R.N. Abbott et al.

    UHP magma paragenesis revisited, olivine clinopyroxenite and garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks from the Cuaba Gneiss, Rio San Juan Complex, Dominican Republic

    International Geology Review

    (2007)
  • R. Anczkiewicz et al.

    Isotopic constraints on the evolution of metamorphic conditions in the Jijal–Patan complex and the Kamila Belt of the Kohistan arc, Pakistan Himalaya

    Geological Society Special Publication, London

    (2000)
  • A.M. Bandini et al.

    Aalenian to Cenomanian Radiolaria of the Bermeja Complex (Puerto Rico) and Pacific origin of radiolarites on the Caribbean Plate

    Swiss Journal Geoscience

    (2011)
  • J.H. Bédard

    Petrogenesis of boninites from the Betts Cove Ophiolite, Newfoundland, Canada: identification of subducted source components

    Journal of Petrology

    (1999)
  • J.H. Bédard

    Partitioning coefficients between olivine and silicate melts

    Lithos

    (2005)
  • M.D. Behn et al.

    Stability of arc lower crust:insights from the Talkeetna arc section, south central Alaska, and the seismic structure of modern arcs

    Journal Geophysical Research. Solid Earth

    (2006)
  • T.J. Berly et al.

    Supra-subduction zone pyroxenites from San Jorge and Santa Isabel (Solomon Islands)

    Journal of Petrology

    (2006)
  • O. Blein et al.

    Geochemistry of the Mabujina Complex, central Cuba: implications on the Cuban Cretaceous arc rocks

    Journal of Geology

    (2003)
  • D. Boutelier et al.

    Fore-arc deformation at the transition between collision and subduction: insights from 3-D thermomechanical laboratory experiment

    Tectonics

    (2012)
  • J.P. Burg

    The Asia–Kohistan–India collision: review and discussion

  • Cited by (16)

    • Fluid flow in the subduction channel: Tremolite veins and associated blackwalls in antigoritite (Villa Clara serpentinite mélange, Cuba)

      2023, Lithos
      Citation Excerpt :

      The Proto-Caribbean basin (related to the Central Atlantic) formed in between the Americas during Jurassic-late Cretaceous time and started westerly-directed subduction below the Pacific (Farallon plate) in the early Cretaceous, forming backarc, forearc and arc settings in the leading edge of the Caribbean plate (Boschman et al., 2014; Escuder-Viruete et al., 2011a, 2014; Hu et al., 2022; Lázaro et al., 2016; Lidiak and Anderson, 2015; Pindell et al., 2012; Pindell and Kennan, 2009; Rojas-Agramonte et al., 2011; Rui et al., 2022). High pressure complexes formed in the associated subduction zone, including serpentinite-matrix mélanges bearing tectonic blocks of mostly oceanic- and volcanic arc-derived blueschist and eclogite facies rocks (Blanco-Quintero et al., 2010, 2011a, 2011b; Escuder-Viruete et al., 2011a; Escuder-Viruete and Castillo-Carrión, 2016; Garcia-Casco et al., 2002, 2006, 2008b; Lázaro et al., 2009; Lázaro and Garcia-Casco, 2008; Somin and Millán, 1981) and coherent subducted passive margin sequences/terranes (Cruz-Gámez et al., 2016; Despaigne-Diaz et al., 2016, 2017; Escuder-Viruete et al., 2011b; Escuder-Viruete and Pérez-Estaún, 2013; Garcia-Casco et al., 2008a). Convergence largely consumed the Proto-Caribbean by latest Cretaceous-early Tertiary time, triggering collision of the Caribbean arc system with the North American margin, the tectonic emplacement of ophiolitic and volcanic arc units and subducted oceanic and passive margin terranes onto the margin and the formation of the Caribbean Cretaceous-Tertiary orogenic belt (Cruz-Orosa et al., 2012; Escuder-Viruete et al., 2016; Garcia-Casco et al., 2008a; Iturralde-Vinent et al., 2008; Saura et al., 2008; van Hinsbergen et al., 2009).

    • Early Cretaceous subduction initiation of the proto-Caribbean plate: geochronological and geochemical evidence from gabbros of the Moa-Baracoa ophiolitic massif, Eastern Cuba

      2022, Lithos
      Citation Excerpt :

      In the diagram of Mg# in clinopyroxene vs. An in plagioclase, the Moa-Baracoa gabbro dykes plot within the gap between mid-ocean ridge and arc gabbros (Fig. 5d). Another effective method to constrain the magmatic character of cumulate gabbros is to model the equilibrated liquid compositions by using trace element concentrations of clinopyroxene and their partition coefficients (Escuder-Viruete et al., 2014; Escuder-Viruete and Castillo-Carrión, 2016; Marchesi et al., 2006; Secchiari et al., 2018). Notably, cumulate clinopyroxene would interact with trapped differentiated melt, which would modify their trace element compositions, thus grains crystallized at a late stage are not suitable for modeling because their trace element concentrations do not accurately represent the chemical character of the primitive melts.

    • Metamorphic gradient modification in the Early Cretaceous Northern Andes subduction zone: A record from thermally overprinted high-pressure rocks

      2022, Geoscience Frontiers
      Citation Excerpt :

      The metamorphic record found in subduction-related complexes provides major insights into the long-term tectonic evolution of convergent margins from subduction initiation to the collision of different oceanic and/or continental terranes (Wakabayashi, 2004; García-Casco et al., 2008a, 2008b; Krebs et al., 2008; Escuder-Viruete et al., 2013). Several petrological studies have been carried out for more than a decade in different Cretaceous metamorphic complexes from the circum-Caribbean region and the Northern Andes (García-Casco et al., 2008a, 2008b; John et al., 2009, among others; Maresch et al., 2009; Blanco-Quintero et al., 2010; Bustamante et al., 2011, 2012; Krebs et al., 2011; Escuder-Viruete et al., 2013; Lázaro et al., 2013, 2016; Escuder-Viruete and Castillo-Carrión, 2016). These studies have been useful for tracking different features along subduction zones, including changes in the thermal regime from hot to cold settings as a consequence of subduction maturity (Krebs et al., 2008, 2011; Blanco-Quintero et al., 2011a), subduction erosion (Escuder-Viruete et al., 2013; Escuder-Viruete and Castillo-Carrión, 2016), and closure of former back-arc basins (Ruíz-Jiménez et al., 2012).

    • Northeast- or southwest-dipping subduction in the Cretaceous Caribbean gateway?

      2021, Lithos
      Citation Excerpt :

      Our results will help explain when northeast directed subduction tapping a MORB-like proto-Caribbean mantle changed to southwest directed subduction tapping mantle plume-derived asthenosphere beneath the Caribbean oceanic plateau and so can help resolve when the Caribbean plate began to move into the inter-American region. The extinct Cretaceous-Miocene Greater Antilles island arc system, located on the northern Caribbean plate boundary, extends from Cuba and Jamaica in the west to the Virgin Islands in the east (Fig. 1a) (Escuder Viruete et al., 2006, 2010; Escuder Viruete and Castillo Carrión, 2016; Hastie, 2009; Jolly et al., 1998a, 1998b; Jolly and Lidiak, 2006; Kerr et al., 2003; Lebron and Perfit, 1993, 1994; Lidiak and Anderson, 2015; Marchesi et al., 2007; Torró et al., 2016). The similar ages and compositions of igneous rocks throughout the Greater Antilles has persuaded many authors that the arc represents a geochemically evolving (e.g., Lidiak and Anderson, 2015), but singular, continuous volcanic island arc that formed on the Proto-Caribbean-Farallon plate boundary and was then tectonically emplaced into the inter-American region from the mid- or upper-Cretaceous (Boschman et al., 2014; Burke, 1988; Duncan and Hargraves, 1984; Hastie et al., 2009; Jolly et al., 2006, 2008; Jolly and Lidiak, 2006; Kerr et al., 1999, 2003; Kesler et al., 2005; Pindell et al., 2006, 2011).

    • Origin and geodynamic significance of the Siuna Serpentinite Mélange, Northeast Nicaragua: Insights from the large-scale structure, petrology and geochemistry of the ultramafic blocks

      2019, Lithos
      Citation Excerpt :

      These ultra-depleted compositional characteristics are often interpreted as the result of further melting in a second-stage that took place in a SSZ environment (e.g., Marchesi et al., 2016; Pearce et al., 2000; Uysal et al., 2012). Accordingly, MREE and HREE concentrations in Cpx are similar to those in the forearc peridotites (e.g., Parkinson et al., 2003), the Massif du Sud ultra-depleted SSZ peridotites (Marchesi et al., 2009) and the SSZ depleted harzburgites from the Rio San Juan complex and Santa Elena nappe (Escuder-Viruete et al., 2015; Escuder-Viruete and Castillo-Carrión, 2016). Clinopyroxene from undeformed and deformed pyroxenite cumulate exhibits an extended trace-element pattern similar to the Cpx-rich harzburgite (Fig. 7).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text