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Facies and provenance of basin-margin deposits in the Los Palacios Basin (Capdevila Formation, Cuba)

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Abstract

The Paleogene tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Cuban island is dominated by block tectonics with rotations and strike-slip motion along the northern boundary of the Caribbean plate. The Capdevila Formation, which is the oldest basin fill of the Los Palacios strike-slip basin, preserves this final stage of the Cuban orogeny in western Cuba during the Early Eocene. Petrographic investigations of Capdevila Formation sedimentary records were performed at two localities near to Pinar del Rio (PR) and near to San Diégo de los Baños (SDB) close to the basin-bounding Pinar Fault zone. The studied marine hybrid arenites are interpreted as deposits of tectonically active regions causing the mixture of terrigenous and marine detritus and a differentiated development of the source areas and the basin margin. Bioclastic components (foraminifera and red algae) originate from shallow-marine carbonate platforms, being exemplarily formed at the SDB site and incompletely developed at the PR site, which is shown on the basis of foraminiferal assemblages. Among the terrigenous siliciclastic constituents, lithogenic fragments, in particular mafic to intermediate volcanic rock detritus prevail, accompanied by frequent plagioclase grains. Higher quartz portions as well as metamorphic rock clasts, which lack at the SDB site, muscovite flakes and plutonic rock fragments, characterize the lithogenic spectrum of the PR arenites. Framework composition of point-counted arenites reveal magmatic arc provenance for both successions indicating the presence of Cretaceous volcanic arc rocks on top of the northerly situated Guaniguanico Mountains, from where lithogenic detritus derived. Those findings support the idea that the North American Passive margin was overthrown by the Cretaceous volcanic arc rocks during the Cuban orogeny and affirm earlier published assumptions.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Prof. Jorge Cobiella-Reguera, Robert Ramìrez Hernàndez, and Ana Ibis Despaigne Diaz from the University of Pinar del Rio for their introduction into the Geology of Cuba, their company during field work campaigns, and helpful discussions. Thanks to Dr. Helga Kemnitz from the GFZ Potsdam for helpful advice during microscopy work. Financial support by the DFG (project number: Me 915/23) is greatly appreciated. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

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  1. Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Seestrasse 15, 18119, Rostock, Germany

    Juliane Brust

  2. Department of Geology, University of Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Str. 17a, 17487, Greifswald, Germany

    Heiko Hüneke, Martin Meschede & Max Sommer

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  1. Juliane Brust
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Correspondence to Juliane Brust.

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Brust, J., Hüneke, H., Meschede, M. et al. Facies and provenance of basin-margin deposits in the Los Palacios Basin (Capdevila Formation, Cuba). Facies 57, 73–92 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-010-0233-1

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