The Siquisique basalts and gabbros, Los Algodones, Venezuela: late Cretaceous oceanic plateau formed within the proto-Caribbean plate?

Basalts and gabbros, exposed near Siquisique, Venezuela have previously been interpreted as Jurassic mid-ocean ridge basalts, on the basis of an ammonite found in nearby, but not obviously intercalated, sediments (Bartok, 1985). This, combined with their current tectonic position, well within the continent, and because they accreted before the Cretaceous ‘Great Arc’ of the Caribbean, has led to the Siquisique igneous rocks being widely regarded as Jurassic ‘normal’ mid-ocean ridge basalts and gabbros formed as North and South America rifted apart. We present new geochemical and chronological data which shows that the Siquisique igneous rocks are 95-90Ma and have a chemistry which is more consistent with derivation from a deep mantle plume, than a mid-ocean ridge. It is clear that these basalts represent part of the original ocean floor of the Caribbean, which formed before the tectonic emplacement of the present-day Caribbean from the Pacific. Chemically similar basalts and gabbros at El Copey on Araya Peninsula and Sans Souci in northern Trinidad also accreted to the continental margin of South America before the ‘Great Arc’ of the Caribbean and may well be part of the same intra-Caribbean ‘plume event’. These exposures all indicate that the oceanic crust of the proto-Caribbean, was likely to have consisted (at least in part) of thickened oceanic crust formed by melting of a hot-mantle plume. Although the Siquisique rocks formed at a similar time to the Caribbean-Colombian oceanic plateau they were not derived from the same mantle plume. This supports previous suggestions (Kerr & Tarney, 2005; Snow et al. 2005) that the period around ~90Ma (like that around 120Ma) was marked by a significant upsurge in global plume-related magmatic activity. This activity is likely to have contributed significantly to the major worldwide oceanic anoxia event (OAE2) around the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary (93.4Ma)(Kerr, 1998; Snow et al. 2005). Significantly, this discovery requires a revision of our current understanding of Caribbean plate tectonic evolution. References Bartok, P.E., et al. 1985. The Siquisique Ophiolites, Northern Lara State, Venezuela - a discussion on their Middle Jurassic Ammonites and Tectonic Implications. GSA Bulletin 96, 1050-1055. Kerr, A.C., 1998. Oceanic plateau formation: A cause of mass extinction and black shale deposition around the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary. J Geol Soc London 155, 619-626. Kerr, A.C., Tarney, J., 2005. Tectonic evolution of the Caribbean and northwestern South America: The case for accretion of two Late Cretaceous oceanic plateaus. Geology 33, 269-272. Snow, L.G. et al. 2005. Trace element abundances in the Rock Canyon Anticline, Pueblo, Colorado, marine sedimentary section and their relationship to Caribbean plateau construction and oxygen anoxic event 2. Paleoceanography 20, doi. 10.1029/2004PA001093.