Paleogeografía del Paleógeno de Cuba oriental

Abstract

The changes in the tectono-sedimentary regimen between the volcanic arc stage and the platformlike stage in eastern Cuba are studied. During the Palaeocene and Lower Eocene volcano-sedimentary deposits predominated in the territory, derived from volcanic centres in the present Sierra Maestra. Transgressive carbonate sedimentation in the Middle Eocene succeeded the extinction of the volcanic activity. In the Upper Eocene a new tectono-sedimentary regimen started. Terrigenous and carbonate-terrigenous deposits played the fundamental role, and a regression started, which continued into the Middle Oligocene. At that time two islands, separated by a mediterranean channel, developed between the Golfo de Guacanayabo and the Bahía de Nipe. During the Upper Oligocene a new marine transgression started, which reached its maximum development in the Lower Miocene. The change from a volcanic arc regimen to the platform-like stage was marked by a great relief inversion. The Nipe-Guacanayabo fault need not have been a sinistral transcurrent fault; if it is, then it did not have a great displacement in the Palaeogene. The territory of eastern Cuba during the Palaeogene can be divided into a northern more stable part, and a southern unstable part. The characteristics are related to a progressive continentalization from Cretaceous to Palaeogene, and from north to south.