Paleogeography and paleotectonic evolution of Cuba and adjoining areas during the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous

Abstract

Paleogeografía y evolucion paleotectonica de Cuba y de los areas adyacentes en el Jurásico-Cretacio Temprano An outline of paleogeography and paleotectonic development of Cuba during the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous is presented within the framework of the evolution of the Caribbean area. During the Middle Jurassic to Oxfordian, the sediments of the San Cayetano Formation in Cuba and clastics of the Caracas and Juan Griego(?) groups in Venezuela were deposited on two different continental margins. The Caribbean oceanic crust began to form in the Middle Jurassic. The connection between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico through Cuba existed since Middle or Late Oxfordian time. The volcanic activity in the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola) has started most likely in the earliest Cretaceous and was related to the oceanic crust subduction.