Late Jurassic Oceanic Crust and Upper Cretaceous Caribbean Plateau Picritic Basalts Exposed in the Duarte Igneous Complex, Hispaniola

Abstract

Four distinct rock units have been recognized near El Aguacate, in the Janico–Juncalito–La Vega area of the Duarte complex (Dominican Republic): (1) serpentinites crosscut by numerous diabasic dikes, (2) basalts interbedded with Late Jurassic ribbon cherts, (3) picrites and ankaramites relatively enriched in incompatible trace elements, and (4) amphibolites and gneissic amphibolites chemically similar to Oceanic Plateau Basalts. Similar Ar‐Ar ages of late magmatic amphibole from a picrite, and hornblende from an amphibolite ($$86.1\pm 1.3$$ Ma and $$86.7\pm 1.6$$ Ma, respectively), suggest that the Duarte picrites are contemporaneous with the Deep Sea Drilling Program Leg 15 and Ocean Drilling Program Leg 126 basalts drilled from the Caribbean oceanic plateau. These basalts are associated with sediments containing Late Cretaceous faunas. Sr, Nd, and Pb data show that enriched picrites and amphibolites are isotopically similar to mafic lavas from previously described Caribbean plateau and Galápagos hotspot basalts. Major element, trace element, and lead isotopic features of Late Jurassic basalts and diabases are consistent with those of normal oceanic crust basalt. However, these basalts differ from typical N‐MORB because they have lower ϵNd ratios that plot within the range of Ocean Island Basalts. These rocks appear to represent remnants of the Caribbean Jurassic oceanic crust formed from an oceanic ridge possibly close to a hotspot. Later, they were tectonically juxtaposed with Late Cretaceous slices of the Caribbean‐Colombian plateau.