17th Symposium on the Geology of Latin America

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IGCP Project 433 Caribbean Plate Tectonics

17^th Symposium on the Geology of Latin America (17th LAK)

Institute for Geology and Paleontology, University of Stuttgart, October 11 to 13, 2000

Manuel A. Iturralde-Vinent

A symposium on the Geology of Latin American countries, which dedicated several sessions to the geology and plate tectonics of the Caribbean area, was held at the Institute for Geology and Paleontology of the University of Stuttgart, Germany, from October 11 and 13 of this year. The symposium was attended by nearly 300 scientists from countries in South America, Central America, North America, Europe and also from Cuba. There were presentations on the geology, paleontology, plate tectonics, seismicity and other geohazards, hydrogeology, and environmental issues concerning Mexico, Central America, Bahamas, Greater Antilles and South America, among them nearly 12 oral and 13 posters dealing with different aspects of the geology, paleontology and plate tectonics of the Caribbean. A round table discussion took place to discuss important issues concerning the origin and evolution of the Caribbean Plate. A visit was organized to the Paleontological Museum in Stuttgart, which has an elegantly designed exhibit of unique fossils showing excellent preservation with a highest quality of preparation. We all enjoyed the stay in Stuttgart, as the weather was cooperative, with both sunny and cloudy skies, and just one short morning shower. There were two parties, an ice-breaker at the University, with free wine, beer and food, and a great celebration at the Natural History Museum, with well-tuned real Mexican Mariachis, and a Tango dance with an excellent performance by Hartmut Seyfried, the organizer. The next LAK (LateinamerikanischesKolloquium) will be held in two years in the historical mining center of Freiberg in eastern Germany. Let's keep in touch.

This meeting, characterized by a high level of organization and strict attachment to the schedule, was a great opportunity to share opinions and to discuss hot issues of the Caribbean geology in general, and Central American and Greater Antilles geology in particular. Also it was a great possibility to meet with South and Central American geologists who, for different reasons, usually do not attend the Caribbean Geological Conferences (CGC) celebrated within the area. It is the hope that in the future this situation will change for good, and more geologists from the countries surrounding the Caribbean Sea will attend the forthcoming meetings of the IGCP Project 433 and the CGC.

This conference highlighted once again the very different interpretations that still exist regarding fundamental issues concerning the origin and evolution of the Caribbean area. Let's comment briefly on some of these issues:

1. The Galapagos hotspot and the original position of the Caribbean Plate.

There are two fundamental positions regarding the role of the Galapagos hotspot in the geology of the Caribbean. One holds that the Galapagos hotspot has nothing to do with the Protocaribbean crust or the Caribbean Plate (M. Meschede, J. Pindell), because it was always positioned west of both of them, and, consequently, was not the source of the so-called Caribbean plateau basalts. The other interpretation holds that the Galapagos hotspot actually produced the Caribbean plateau basalts and the ridges within the Nazca and Cocos plates (K. Hoernle). This divergence in opinion results from the general plate-kinematic framework chosen, so this is a problem that has to be focused on during future meetings of the IGCP-433.

Another problem addressed during the conference was the initial position of the Caribbean Plate (CARIB) with respect to the NOAM, SOAM and FARALLON plates. In this point there was a concurrence of opinions, because, regardless of the tectonic model chosen to explain the evolution of CARIB, authors agreed that the original location of CARIB was very near the Equator, a position that satisfies paleomagnetic results from Central America (W. Frisch, M. Meschede).

2. The alleged Albian-Campanian arc in Central America

One subject that did not find agreement during the meeting was the existence of an active Albian-Campanian island arc in Central America, and its evidence in the Nicoya Complex. According to a paper by Calvo and Bolt (1994), there is an arc-derived volcaniclastic calcalkaline section in Costa Rica, but several other attendees at the meeting (K. Hoernle, A. Astorga) stated that their geochemical and geological investigations in the Nicoya Complex do not confirm this.

A new plate-tectonic reconstruction by J. Pindell and L. Kennan presented during the symposium allows the existence of this arc, but others do not agree. An Albian-Campanian island arc as part of present-day southern Central America is a major issue concerning the geology of the Caribbean plate, because it will control the rate of relative eastward movement of CARIB, something that must have a strong bearing on the palinspastic reconstruction of the circum-Caribbean fold-belts. Therefore, this is a hot question to befaced in future IGCP-433 meetings.

3. The original position of Pinos, Escambray and Guaniguanico terranes of Cuba

The Pinos, Escambray and Guaniguanico terranes of Cuba were the subject of several presentations during the symposium, and a matter of interesting in-room and out-of-session discussions. Today there seems to be general agreement that these terranes are allochthonous to the Cuban foldbelt, so the important point to deal with is their origin. J. Pindell, L. Kennan and K.-P. Stanek hold the position that these terranes may have been part of the southern margin of the Maya (Yucatan) Block, facing the Pacific Ocean, while M. Iturralde-Vinent (1998) prefers an intra-Caribbean location, representing part of the proto-Caribbean crust. Current research in Cuba and the Dominican Republic by K.-P. Stanek, W.V. Maresch and their students and colleagues is producing important results, including several P-T-path records of rocks in the Escambray and related units, which will provide new clues on this subject. Bearing on this matter, the discovery by A. Schaffhauser and colleagues of Lower Cretaceous pelagic limestones in Belize, similar to those found in the isochronous sections of the Guaniguanico terrane, suggests that some Guaniguanico elements (or non-metamorphosed Escambray units) were located off Belize at least in the Lower Cretaceous (see also Hutson et al., 1999).

This subject will be of major concern during the next IGCP-433 meeting (La Habana,March 19-23, 2001: www.ig.utexas.edu/CaribPlate/CaribPlate.).

4. The Pindell and Kennan Caribbean plate tectonic model

J. Pindell and L. Kennan presented a new unpublished version of the Pacific origin of the Caribbean plate style of model, as two distinct papers. This model was also a subject of concern during the first IGCP-433 meeting in Río de Janeiro (Symposium 17-6 at31 IGC, visit www.31igc for a post-event report). Many new important issues are reviewed in this new version, so it is much more comprehensive than previous ones. This is a new step forward into a better understanding of the Caribbean origin and evolution, and will require detailed scrutiny in further IGCP-433 meetings. This model will soon be available, along with others already on display, at the WebSite of the Project (www.ig.utexas.edu/CaribPlate/CaribPlate.). Subscribers of the carib@egroups.com will be informed.

Next IGCP-433 meeting

The next meeting of the IGCP Project "Caribbean Plate Tectonics, origin and evolution" will be held in Havana, March 19-23, 2001, as part of the 4^thCuban Geological and Mining Congress. This meeting will focus mainly on issues concerning the northern margin of the Caribbean, as well as the early evolution of the Caribbean. Presentations (oral and/or posters) on this subject are welcome, and the abstracts must be sent to fundora@geoastro.inf.cu and caribpt@mnhnc.inf.cu. A field-trip to Central Cuba will be taking place just after the Congress, March 24 to 27, in order to visit some areas of Camaguey, Central Cuba, which have never been the subject of field-trips in the past. The party will visit the northern plate boundary encompassing elements of the passive continental margin, ocean crust and sediments, Cretaceous volcanic arc, as well as foreland and piggyback basins. For a recent reference to the geology of the area see Iturralde-Vinent et al. (2000).

Auf Wiedersehen! Nos vemos en La Habana!.

References

Calvo, C., Bolz, A., 1994. The oldest calcalkaline island arc volcanism in Costa Rica. Marine tephra deposits from the Loma Chumico Formation (Albian to Campanian). In Seygfried and W. Hellmann (Ed.) Geology of an evolving island arc. Profil Band 7, Inst. Geol. And Paleont., Univ. Stuttgart, 235-264.

Hutson, F., Mann, P., Renne, P., 1999. 40Ar / 39Ar dating of single muscovite grains in Jurassic siliciclastic rocks (San Cayetano Formation): Constraints on the paleoposition of western Cuba. Geology, 26(1), 83-86.

Iturralde-Vinent, M.A., P.-K. Stanek, D. Wolf, H.U. Thieke, W. Muller, 2000. Geology of Camaguey, Central Cuba: Evolution of a collisional margin. Z. angew. Geologie, SH 1, 267-273

Programa y Res·menes Extendidos. XVII Simposio sobre la geología de Latinoamérica, 11 al 13 de octubre 2000, Stuttgart, Alemania, Profil Band 18:1-62. and CD with extended abstracts.

Last modified: 14 Nov 2001 13:22