Exotic vs local Caribbean origin for the arc-related Mabujina Amphibolite Complex (Cuba): implications for segmentation of the Caribbean arc during the Cretaceous

• Published in: International geology review 2024-01, Vol.66 (1), p.254-277
• Main Authors: Hu, Haoyu, Rojas-Agramonte, Yamirka, Carrasquilla, Sandra, Lázaro, Concepción, Vinent, Iturralde, Garcia-Casco, Antonio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amphibolite facies; Amphibolites; Caribbean; Compression; Cretaceous; Geochemistry; Geochronology; Greenschist facies; Igneous rocks; intra-oceanic arc; Island arcs; Magma; oblique subduction; Provenance; Sedimentary facies; Segmentation; Sequencing; Sr nd isotopes; Subduction; Subduction (geology); Tectonics; Whole-rock geochemistry
• ISSN: 0020-6814; 1938-2839
• DOI: 10.1080/00206814.2023.2225080

The Mabujina Complex exposed in south-central Cuba consists of an elongated body of metamorphosed volcanic and subvolcanic mafic rocks and tonalitic gneisses. The complex is largely composed of greenschist facies rocks (Porvenir Formation) directly below the Cretaceous volcanic arc section and of a deeper sequence of deformed amphibolite facies rocks (Mabujina Amphibolite Complex). The origin of the protolith of the Mabujina Complex has been the subject of intense debate in the past. While some authors consider the Mabujina Complex to represent the deepest and oldest (Early Cretaceous) exposed section (root) of the Cretaceous Caribbean volcanic arc others suggested an exotic (non-Caribbean related) Early Cretaceous volcanic arc section. The later proposal implies the tectonic emplacement underneath the Caribbean arc of a segment of the Pacific-related Early Cretaceous Mexican Guerrero volcanic arc terrane. A new set of whole-rock geochemical analyses presented in this study shows that the protoliths of the Mabujina Amphibolite Complex constitute an island-arc sequence with a) less abundant island-arc tholeiitic mafic rocks similar to the Early Cretaceous tholeiitic island arc of the Caribbean and b) dominant transitional to calc-alkaline mafic and felsic igneous rocks that resemble the Early to Late Cretaceous magmatism of the Caribbean arc. The high initial Nd ratios of the rocks from the Mabujina Amphibolite Complex are indistinguishable from the tholeiitic to calc-alkaline sequences from the Caribbean arc, reflecting a depleted MORB mantle source with limited subduction-related component input. The present data, together with published geochemical and geochronological data of the protoliths, allow identifying a Caribbean origin for the Mabujina Complex instead of an exotic provenance in the Guerrero Arc of western Mexico. However, even if the interpretation of the geochemical data favours a Caribbean origin, the Mabujina Amphibolite Complex cannot represent the root of the volcanic arc. Here, we propose that the Mabujina Amphibolite Complex is a fragment of the Early to Mid-Cretaceous Caribbean arc that was tectonically emplaced below this same arc as a likely consequence of arc segmentation and strike-slip trans-compression triggered by oblique subduction during the mid-Cretaceous.