Una introducción a la metalogenia de Cuba bajo la perspectiva de la tectónica de placas

Six main metallogenic epochs can be distinguished in the geological constitution of the island of Cuba. A first stage from Jurassic to Early Cretaceous times, included a rift episode involving materials from the Bahama and Yucatán continental paleomargin. Base metals sedex deposits (Pb-Zn-Cu) and Mn, associated with gold and silve r, are to be found in the detrital and carbonated series associated to this process. An arc (or arcs) of volcanic islands developed during the Aptian (Neocomian?)-Campanian stage. Three metallotects are to be found associated to the formation and development of this arc: a) the uppermost part of the suprasubduction zone mantle section, where bodies of ophiolitic chromitites occur, b) the back-arc volcanosedimentary submarine series, with volcanogenic deposits of massive sulfides (Kuroko and Cyprus type), Mn oxide exhalative mineralizations and zeolite deposits, and, c) the intrusive series and rocks in the axial zone of the arc, with iron and polymetallic skarn deposits, porphyry copper deposits and Au-Ag epithermal deposits. The first collisional process, between the Yucatán paleomargin and the Cretaceous volcanic arc, as well as the beginning of the collision between the Caribbean plate and the North-American plate, took place during the late Campanian-Danian stage. Orogenic gold mineralizations and, probably, tumgsten deposits date from this period. A volcanic arc, trending E-W, developed in eastern Cuba from Late Danian to Middle Eocene times. Major volcanogenic Mn deposits in Cuba are located within the Paleogene volcanic island arc in eastern Cuba. This volcanic activity also originated some major volcanogenic sulfide deposits, skarn and porphyry copper deposits, as well as zeolite deposits. Known metallotects in this geodynamic environment include: a) the volcanic and volcanosedimentary series located along the axial arc-back arc boundary, with volcanogenic sulfide deposits (Kuroko type) and Mn oxide volcanogenic deposits, and b) granitic intrusives related to the axial arc volcanic, with skarn and porphyry copper deposits. In western and central Cuba, in turn, piggy-back sedimentary basins associated to the collisional process between the Caribbean plate and the North-American plate developed during Danian-Middle Eocene times. Major orogenic gold mineralizations are associated with this process. A series of post-volcanic basins developed during the Middle Eocene-Late Eocene stages in eastern Cuba, some of which are associated to Mn resedimented mineralizations. Meanwhile, the development of sedimentary basins with olistostromes, associated to the collisional process, continued in central and western Cuba. Cuba finally joined the North-American plate at the end of this episode. Orogenic gold mineralizations may also occur in association with these processes. A shelf environment was established in Cuba from Late Eocene to Quatern a ry times. At that point, extensive Fe-Ni-Co laterite crusts (one of the largest examples of this type of deposit worldwide), bauxite crusts, gossan deposits (Fe, Au, Ag), resedimented Mn deposits, and marine and fluvial placer deposits, rich in noble metals, originated

Subduction Zones of the Caribbean : the sedimentary, magmatic, metamorphic and ore-deposit records UNESCO/iugs igcp Project 546 Subduction Zones of the Caribbean

The International Union of Geosciences (IUGS) and UNESCO IGCP project 546 Subduction Zones of the Caribbean (http://www.ugr.es/~agcasco/igcp546/) was launched in 2007 and scheduled to be completed by the end of the current year 2011. It was set up with the aim of gathering researchers interested in the geological evolution of the Caribbean realm. The development of this region is largely controlled by a number of subduction zones that formed along its margins from the break-up of Pangea during the Jurassic until Present. The current setting is characterized by a very complex plate-tectonic configuration dominated by subduction zones, large-scale strike-slip faults, volcanic arcs and collision belts (Figure 1). The project was built upon previous developments of IGCP project 433 Caribbean Plate Tectonics (2000-2005), of which the Special Volume 4 (Issue 1-2) of Geologica Acta Caribbean Plate Tectonics. Stratigraphic, Magmatic, Metamorphic and Tectonic Events (Iturralde Vinent and Lidiak, 2006) deserves mentioning

The metallogenic evolution of the Greater Antilles

The Greater Antilles host some of the world's most important deposits of bauxite and lateritic nickel as well as significant resources of gold and silver, copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt and chromium. Beginning in Jurassic time, sedimentary exhalative base metal deposits accumulated in marine sedimentary rift basins as North and South America drifted apart. With the onset of intraoceanic subduction during the Early Cretaceous, a primitive (tholeiitic) island arc formed above a southwesterly-dipping subduction zone. Podiform chromite deposits formed in the mantle portion of the supra-subduction zone, directly above subducted Proto-Caribbean oceanic lithosphere. Within the nascent island arc, bimodal-mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits formed in a fore-arc setting; mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits formed later in mature back-arc basins. The Pueblo Viejo gold district, with five million ounces in production and twenty million ounces in mineable reserves, formed at 108-112Ma, in an apical rift or back-arc setting. By Late Cretaceous time, calc-alkaline volcanism was well established along the entire length of the Greater Antilles. Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits including shallow submarine deposits characteristic of the primitive island arc gave way to porphyry copper and epithermal precious metal deposits typical of the mature island arc. Oblique collision of the Greater Antilles with North America began in the Late Cretaceous in Cuba and migrated eastward. Orogenic gold and tungsten deposits that formed during the collision event are preserved in ophiolites and in metamorphic core complexes. Since the Eocene, regional tectonism has been dominated by strike-slip motion as the North American continent moved westward relative to the Caribbean Plate. Large nickel-cobalt laterite deposits were formed when serpentinites were exposed to weathering and erosion during the mid-Tertiary. Bauxite deposits were derived from the weathering of volcanic ash within a carbonate platform of Eocene to Miocene age

Metamorphism on Chromite Ores from the Dobromirtsi Ultramafic Massif, Rhodope Mountains (SE Bulgaria)

Podiform chromitite bodies occur in highly serpentinized peridotites at Dobromirtsi Ultramafic Massif (Rhodope Mountains, southeastern Bulgaria). The ultramafic body is believed to represent a fragment of Palaeozoic ophiolite mantle. The ophiolite sequence is associated with greenschist - lower-temperature amphibolite facies metamorphosed rocks (biotitic gneisses hosting amphibolite). This association suggests that peridotites, chromitites and metamorphic rocks underwent a common metamorphic evolution. Chromitites at Dobromirtsi have been strongly altered. Their degree of alteration depends on the chromite/silicate ratio and to a lesser extent, on the size of chromitite bodies. Alteration is recorded in individual chromite grains in the form of optical and chemical zoning. Core to rim chemical trends are expressed by MgO- and Al2O3- impoverishment, mainly compensated by FeO and/or Fe2O3 increases. Such chemical variations correspond with three main alteration events. The first one was associated with ocean-floor metamorphism and was characterized by a lizardite replacement of olivine and the absence of chromite alteration. The second event took place during greenchist facies metamorphism. During this event, MgO- and SiO2-rich fluids (derived from low temperatura serpentinization of olivine and pyroxenes) reacted with chromite to form chlorite; as a consequence, chromite became altered to a FeO- and Cr2O3-rich, Al2O3-poor chromite. The third event, mainly developed during lower temperature amphibolite facies metamorphism, caused the replacement of the primary and previously altered chromite by Fe2O3-rich chromite (ferritchromite)

Las cromititas ofiolíticas del yacimiento Mercedita (Cuba). Un ejemplo de cromitas ricas en Al en la zona de transición manto-corteza

The Mercedita deposit is located in the ophiolitic Massif of Moa-Baracoa (NE of Cuba) and is considered the most important podiform chromite deposit of America. Chromitite bodies, enclosed in hazbu rgite and residual dunites (mantle-crust transition zone). The chromite ore bodies are concordant with the main structures shown by the enclosing peridotites and also display pull-apart fractures. Chromite lenses enclose and substitute grabbro bodies (sills), that are concordant with the orientation of the host chromitite. Intergranular minerals are olivine, serpentine, and chlorite. Chromite has abundant, distributed solid inclusions of olivine and Na-rich pargasite (up 4 wt % Na2O), and minor laurite and millerite. Toward the contact with the included gabbro sills, abundant clinopy r oxene, plagioclase and rutile occur as inclusions in the chromite. The ores from Mercedita deposit are composed by refractary - grade chromite (Al-rich chromite), where A l 2 O 3 ranges between 25 and 33wt.%. The TiO2 values are relative ly high compared to the most common ophiolitic chromite, TiO2 content varies from 0.05 to 0.52 wt. %. Chromitites of the Mercedita deposit are poor in platinum-group elements (PGE), with total PGE ranging between 55.8 and 165.9 ppb and an average value of 90 ppb. From textural and geochemical data we propose a genetic model from the reaction of a back arc basin basalt, formed by melt-rock reactions, percolated through subhorizontal, porous dunitic channels and mixed with oxidized melts in suprasubduction zone mantle. Mixing of these two melts generated a hybrid melt whose bulk composition fell within the chromite liquidus field in the P-T- fO2 space (Hill and Roeder, 1974). Percolation of the hybrid melt through the dunitic channels promoted dissolution of preexisting silicate minerals and chromite crystallization

Ophiolite-Related Ultramafic Rocks (Serpentinites) in the Caribbean Region: A Review of their Occurrence, Composition, Origin, Emplacement and Ni-Laterite Soil Formation

Ultramafic rocks, mainly serpentinized peridotites of mantle origin, are mostly associated with the ophiolites of Mesozoic age that occur in belts along three of the margins of the Caribbean plate. The most extensive exposures are in Cuba. The ultramafic-mafic association (ophiolites) were formed and emplaced in several different tectonic environments. Mineralogical studies of the ultramafic rocks and the chemistry of the associated mafic rocks indicate that most of the ultramafic-mafic associations in both the northern and southern margins of the plate were formed in arc-related environments. There is little mantle peridotite exposed in the ophiolitic associations of the west coast of Central America, in the south Caribbean in Curacao and in the Andean belts in Colombia. In these occurrences the chemistry and age of the mafic rocks indicates that this association is mainly part of the 89 Ma Caribbean plateau province. The age of the mantle peridotites and associated ophiolites is probably mainly late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous. Emplacement of the ophiolites possibly began in the Early Cretaceous in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, but most emplacement took place in the Late Cretaceous to Eocene (e.g. Cuba). Along the northern South America plate margin, in the Caribbean mountain belt, emplacement was by major thrusting and probably was not completed until the Oligocene or even the early Miocene. Caribbean mantle peridotites, before serpentinization, were mainly harzburgites, but dunites and lherzolites are also present. In detail, the mineralogical and chemical composition varies even within one ultramafic body, reflecting melting processes and peridotite/melt interaction in the upper mantle. At least for the northern Caribbean, uplift (postemplacement tectonics) exposed the ultramafic massifs as a land surface to effective laterization in the beginning of the Miocene. Tectonic factors, determining the uplift, exposing the peridotites to weathering varied. In the northern Caribbean, in Guatemala, Jamaica, and Hispaniola, uplift occurred as a result of transpresional movement along pre-existing major faults. In Cuba, uplift occurred on a regional scale, determined by isostatic adjustment. In the south Caribbean, uplift of the Cordillera de la Costa and Serrania del Interior exposing the peridotites, also appears to be related to strike-slip movement along the El Pilar fault system. In the Caribbean, Ni-laterite deposits are currently being mined in the central Dominican Republic, eastern Cuba, northern Venezuela and northwest Colombia. Although apparently formed over ultramafic rocks of similar composition and under similar climatic conditions, the composition of the lateritic soils varies. Factors that probably determined these differences in laterite composition are geomorphology, topography, drainage and tectonics. According to the mineralogy of principal ore-bearing phases, Dominican Ni-laterite deposits are classified as the hydrous silicate-type. The main Ni-bearing minerals are hydrated Mg-Ni silicates (serpentine and “garnierite”) occurring deeper in the profile (saprolite horizon). In contrast, in the deposits of eastern Cuba, the Ni and Co occurs mainly in the limonite zone composed of Fe hydroxides and oxides as the dominant mineralogy in the upper part of the profile, and are classified as the oxide-type

Rocas volcánicas de las series Inferior y Media del Grupo El Cobre en la Sierra Maestra (Cuba Oriental): volcanismo generado en un arco de islas tholeiítico

A set of 11 samples of igneous rocks from the lower and middle Cobre Group of the Sierra Maestra (SE Cuba) were analyzed. These rocks are volcanic and hypoabyssal bodies with porp hyritic texture and predominantly plagioclase phenocrystals. Their composition ranges from basalt to dacite and shows a tholeiitic trend with low K contents. The REE concentrations are low and, when normalized to chondrite, show a flat pattern with no relative enrichment in either LREE or HREE. In addition, these rocks present a slight enrichment in LILE and a strong Nb negative anomaly, typical of island arc tholeiites. Because of their geochemistry, the rocks of the Sierra Maestra are comparable to those of the Ke rmadec arc in the SW Pacific. Finally, the low REE content, the flat REE pattern, as well as the low uncompatible element contents, are similar to the IAT Series present in the Caribbean Volcanic Arcs. All these new data on the Pa l e ogene volcanism suggest that the tectonic models proposed for the origin of the Sierra Maestra Arc should be revised

Cromititas podiformes en la Faja Ofiolítica Mayarí-Baracoa (Cuba)

The Mayarí-Baracoa Belt occupies the easternmost part of the east-west-trending Cuban ophiolitic belt. It comprises t wo large, chromite-rich massifs: Mayarí-Cristal and Moa-Baracoa. Chromite deposits can be grouped into tree mining districts according to the chemistry of chromite ore: the Moa-Baracoa district (Al-rich chromite), the Sagua de Tánamo district (Al- and Cr-rich chromite) and the Mayarí district (Cr-rich chromite). Al-rich, Ti-rich chromites occur in the mantle crust transition (associated with harzbu rgites, dunites, plagioclase-bearing peridotites, gabbro sills and gabbro dikes), while Cr-rich, Ti-poor chromites occur in the deeper portions of the ophiolitic sequence (associated with harzbu rgites and dunites). The melts in equilibrium with the Al-rich chromites are close to the composition of the back-arc basin basalts (BABB), whereas the melts in equilibrium with the Cr-rich chromites are similar that of the boninite andesite. Chromite from Mayarí-Baracoa Ophiolite Belt formed when cal-alkaline melts (C), formed by melt-rock reactions, percolated through subhorizontal, porous dunitic channels and mixed with oxidized melts (H) in suprasubduction zone mantle. Mixing of these two melts generated a hybrid melt whose bulk composition fell within the chromite liquidus field in the P-T- fO2 space (Hill and Roeder, 1974). Percolation of the hybrid melt through the dunitic channels promoted dissolution of preexisting silicate minerals and chromite crystallization. Al-rich chromite from Moa-Baracoa should be formed in the distal parts of percolation channels at high fO2 , whereas Cr-rich chromite from Mayarí formed toward the proximal parts of the percolation channels under more reducing conditions

El placer lateral de playa Mejías (noreste de Cuba Oriental): un ejemplo de interacción de procesos aluviales y marinos en la concentración de minerales de elementos preciosos

The playa Mejías lateral placer is the most important placer in Cuba. Its mineralogical composition (magnetite, chromite, rutile, ilmenite, orthopyroxene) reveals that the ophiolites of the Mayarí-Baracoa Belt are the main source area. However, other sources are demonstrated for by the presence of 4 different morphological types of zircon crystals, and minerals related to listvaenitic mineralizations (calcosilicates, carbonates). Also, precious metals have been recognized . Previous to their fluvial transport, electrum grains were depleted in gold in the lateritic environment, producing silve r-rich rims to the electrum grains. The gold particles were transported by rivers as fine-sized particles of electrum with various compositions, and as Au-amalgam. During their fluvial transport, the smaller gold grains coalesced to form larger grains, and a final generation of highly pure gold cemented the subgrains. Then, the particles were deposited in a beach lateral placer, where the grains were leached by sea water, giving rise to corrosion textures. The particles of EGP minerals found are grains of osmium-rich laurite replaced by laurite veins associated with symplectitic intergrowths of a third laurite generation (having intermediate compositions between the above laurite generation) and iridioarsenite, as a consequence of serpentinization at the source. Leaching by sea water produces a depletion in osmium in the particles