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Article Dans Une Revue Geological Society of America Special Papers Année : 2005

Neotectonics of southern Puerto Rico and its offshore margin.

Résumé

Puerto Rico is located within a zone of tectonic transition between mainly east-west, North America–Caribbean strike-slip motion to the west in Hispaniola and east-northeast–oriented underthrusting to the east beneath the Lesser Antilles island arc. Various models and tectonic mechanisms have been proposed for the Neogene to present-day deformation of southern Puerto Rico, its island margin, and the Muertos trench by previous workers that include normal, thrust, and strike-slip faulting accompanied by large-scale rotations. In this study, we present the results of a regional study integrating onland mapping of striated fault surfaces in rocks ranging in age from Oligocene to possibly as young as earliest Pliocene, and offshore mapping of faults deforming the uppermost sediments beneath the seafloor. The tectonic geomorphology and distribution of late Quaternary marine terraces and beach ridges in south-central Puerto Rico suggest either stability or slow late Quaternary uplift along the south-central part of the coast. In contrast, the coastline of southwestern Puerto Rico exhibits no late Quaternary coastal sediments and a pattern of long-term drowning of coastal features. Fault striation studies of three formations composing the Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands carbonate platform of south-central Puerto Rico (Juana Diaz Formation basal clastic unit, Juana Diaz Formation upper carbonate unit, Ponce Formation) indicate two distinct extensional phases affecting the youngest formation (Ponce Formation of middle Miocene–early Pliocene age). The first event, a north-northeast–directed extensional event is accommodated by normal faults striking mainly to the west-northwest. A second, southeast-directed extensional event crosscut and reactivated faults formed during the fi rst event and produced at least one northeast-trending Quaternary rift bounded by northeast-striking normal faults (Ponce basin). Offshore seismic profi ling by previous workers and reported in this study support the presence of late Holocene seafl oor-rupturing, northeast-striking normal faults that accommodate southeast extension of the southern margin of Puerto Rico. The post–early Pliocene extension direction is roughly perpendicular to the east-northeast–trending sections of the stable or slowly uplifting coastline along much of southern Puerto Rico. In addition to northeast-striking normal faults, offshore profi les confi rm the presence of late Holocene, seafl oor-rupturing left lateral strike-slip faults along the offshore extension of the Great Southern Puerto Rico fault zone. Where the Great Southern Puerto Rico fault zone curves to the northeast, the fault becomes less strike-slip and more normal in character and produces greater extensional and tilting effects in the linked Whiting half-graben. A neotectonic model for southern Puerto Rico to explain both directions of extension known from fault striation studies and the present tectonic geomorphology of the preserved Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands carbonate platform in south-central Puerto Rico involves late Miocene–early Pliocene oblique collision of the Bahama Platform with Hispaniola to the northwest of Puerto Rico and ounterclockwise rotation and extension of the area of southern Puerto Rico. A later crosscutting extensional event during the post–early Pliocene involves left-lateral transtension of the southern margin of Puerto Rico with most strike-slip motion concentrated along the Great Southern Puerto Rico fault zone.
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Dates et versions

hal-00100360 , version 1 (26-09-2006)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-00100360 , version 1

Citer

P. Mann, Jean-Claude Hippolyte, N. Grindlay, L. Abrams. Neotectonics of southern Puerto Rico and its offshore margin.. Geological Society of America Special Papers, 2005, 385, pp.173-214. ⟨hal-00100360⟩
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