Early island-arc intrusive activity, Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic

Abstract

Reconnaissance studies of early island-arc intrusions in the Cordillera Central of the Dominican Republic demonstrate that these rocks are mainly hornblende tonalite with lesser amounts of hornblende diorite, quartz diorite, granodiorite and quartz monzonite. Two plutons (El Bao, Medina) are petrographically and chemically homogeneous, whereas two others (El Rio and Loma de Cabrera) are compositionally heterogeneous. Samples from these intrusions range in SiO2 from 49 to 70% with most rocks in the 59 to 62% range. K2O ranges from 0.24 to 3% and averages 1.2%. Cu, Zn, Co, Ni, V and possibly Cr decrease with increasing SiO2. Rb/Sr values for the intrusions are low but variable. Present-day 87Sr/86Sr values range from 0.7031 to 0.7045 for the El Bao and Loma de Cabrera batholiths and 0.7033 to 0.7091 for the Medina stock. These data do not generate isochrons. The Cordillera Central tonalite intrusions are the most abundant plutonic rock type in the Greater Antilles, although small, younger granodiorite and quartz monzonite stocks are present. The Cordillera Central intrusions are lower in SiO2, K2O, Rb, and Sr than the average composition of the Sierra Nevada batholith, but they are similar to the tonalites and trondjhemites from the western margin of the Sierra Nevada batholith. The low Rb/Sr ratios and low initital Sr87/Sr86 ratios for the Cordillera Central intrusions combined with the high liquidus temperatures required for the generation of tonalite magmas strongly favor a subcrustal source for these magmas in an island-arc setting.