PHANEROZOIC TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN PLATE BOUNDARY IN CUBA

In the Cuban territory crops out Phanerozoic rocks that contain stratigraphic sections of both the Bahamas and Yucatan borderlands of the North American continental margin. These sections can be subdivided into three tectonic stages as follow: 1. The Jurassic to latest Cretaceous passive margin stage, represented by siliciclastic and carbonate rocks sections that characterize the formation and early evolution of the Caribbean sea and its northern continental margin. This was a stage of extensional stress and evolution from intracontinental to open marine facies. 2. The Paleocene to latest Eocene collisional margin stage, represented by foreland sediments with large amount of allochthonous materials (ophiolite and volcanic arc elements). During these stage took place strong compressional deformations. 3. The latest Eocene to Recent stage, characterized by less deformed sedimentary sections, mostly along the trend of wrench faults. In general represent post-collisional tectonics associated with transpresional and transtensional stress.

This is a Contribution to IGCP Project 433: "Caribbean Plate Tectonics"