Age and Tectonic Setting of the Camagüey Volcanic‐Intrusive Arc, Cuba: Late Cretaceous Extension and Uplift in the Western Greater Antilles

Abstract

Abstract Ar/Ar ages determined on rocks and minerals from the Camaguey area in central Cuba provide age constraints on events that accompanied the northward migration of Cuba into the Caribbean region and its subsequent collision with the Bahamas Bank. Whole‐rock samples from the Camujiro and Piragua Formations, part of the Camaguey volcanic sequence, yielded Ar/Ar ages of 74–72 Ma, distinctly younger than the 100–80‐Ma ages indicated by fossils in interlayered sedimentary rocks. Syenite and granodiorite in the Camaguey batholith, which cut these volcanic rocks, yield generally similar Ar/Ar ages of 75–72 Ma for hornblende, biotite, and feldspar. These ages are interpreted to reflect relatively rapid uplift and cooling of most of the volcanic‐intrusive arc. Additional constraints on the timing of this uplift are provided by Ar/Ar ages of 71–75 Ma for rhyolite‐rhyodacite domes of the La Sierra Formation and 52 Ma for andesitic basalt of La Mulata Formation, which appear to have been emplaced onto erosion s...