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Regional map of the Caribbean Sea area. (a) Topo‐bathymetric map of the Caribbean Sea area. Onshore regions are in gray. The Greater Antilles archipelago consists of the four largest islands in the Caribbean: Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. Locations of academic and industrial key wells in South Florida, Bahamas, and Cuba are indicated by the blue dots with the following numbers: (1) Tina 1 and 2; (2) Cayo Coco 1 and 2; (3) Collazo 1; (4) Doubloon‐Saxon; (5) Cayo Fragoso; (6) Cay Sal; (7) Marquesas 826; (8) ODP 535; (9) ODP 540; (10) Pine key; (11) Andros Island; (12) Williams; (13) Great Issac. (b) Main tectonic plates in the Caribbean region (numbers are in cm/y) and detailed view of the tectonic context of the Northern Boundary of the Caribbean Plate (on the right side). DR: Dominican Republic; SOFZ: Septentrional Oriente FZ; EPGFZ: Enriquillo Plantain Garden FZ.
Source publication
The Eastern Cuban block has experienced a complex tectonic history characterized by plate interactions, resulting in a diverse array of geological features observable in the offshore sedimentary record. We investigate the tectonic evolution of offshore Eastern Cuba, specifically in the Old Bahamas Channel and its surrounding areas, by integrating m...
Citations
... Transects D and E show the variations in crustal thickness from the Cayman Trough pull-apart basin, across the tip of southeastern Cuba and the Windward Passage, across the GAC-BCP suture zone described from marine seismic reflection lines by Oliviera da Sá et al. (2024), and to the Columbus basin and Great Inagua Island on the BCP. Transect E extends to the eastern Nicaraguan Rise and Colombian basin and continues 390 km further to the southwest than transect D. ...
The 2–10‐km‐thick, mainly carbonate cap of the 14,000 km² Bahamas carbonate platform (BCP) has impeded imaging of its underlying crustal structure. The deeper structure of the BCP records both its Mesozoic rift and hotspot history and its later deformation related to its Paleogene collision with the Great Arc of the Caribbean (GAC). We use regional gravity data to model the crustal structure, type, and deformational processes of the BCP by: (a) integrating publicly available seismic data; (b) inverting the Moho along 2D regional gravity transects across the collisional zone; (c) modeling flexural uplift of a forebulge that reflects the attempted subduction of the BCP beneath the GAC; and (d) using downhole temperatures and radiogenic heat production in 1D basin models to differentiate crustal types related to the Mesozoic rift history. We interpret three crustal domains underlying the BCP: (a) 27–12‐km‐thick, rifted, and thinned continental crust of the northern Bahamas between the Blake Plateau and Exuma Sound; (b) 24–12‐km‐thick, volcanically‐thickened oceanic crust related to the Triassic‐Jurassic Bahamas hotspot in the central Bahamas southeast of Long Island; and (c) 20–12‐km‐thick, thickened oceanic crust north of Hispaniola. We propose that these crustal types reflect northwest‐southeastward, Triassic‐Jurassic rifting of the Bahamas region during the breakup of Pangea and accompanying magmatic activity related to the Triassic‐Jurassic Bahamas hotspot and early oceanic spreading. Growth of the BCP during the Cretaceous in this area was followed by Late Cretaceous‐Paleogene subduction‐related flexure and terminal Paleogene collision between the GAC and the BCP.
A widespread area of seafloor depressions ‐ circular, arcuate to elongated‐shaped ‐ has been found along the Northern Haitian coast, at water depths between 600 and 2,000 m. Characterized by wavelengths spanning several hundred meters and heights of tens of meters, these depressions are linked with a series of narrow ridges boasting varied morphologies. Our analysis integrating multichannel seismic reflection, high‐resolution bathymetry data, and sedimentological and geochemical evaluations of surface sediment cores indicates that present‐day seafloor morphology results from the interaction of slope bottom currents with the seafloor. The analyzed sediment cores exhibit hemipelagites, silty and sandy contourites, fine‐grained turbidites and reworked sand layers, implying sedimentation in a contourite drift system. This is further corroborated by seismic reflection data depicting wavy reflectors and aggradational stacking features typical of contourite drifts. Seafloor depressions are likely erosional features formed on the top of a contourite drift formed by the interaction of bottom currents with an irregular seafloor morphology. The seafloor equilibrium was initially disturbed by mass‐wasting events. Subsequently, the quasi‐steady flow of along‐slope bottom currents influenced sedimentary distribution and controlled the morphology of the seafloor depressions‐constant re‐shaping through erosion on their flanks. The resulting rough seafloor could have facilitated the destabilization of bottom currents and the development of erosive eddies responsible for the current morphology of the seafloor depressions. This study highlights the interplay between sedimentary processes (accumulation and compaction) and bottom currents, showing how their combined effects influence slope sedimentation and seafloor geomorphology, forming unique erosional features.
