Geochemistry and early Palaeogene SHRIMP zircon ages for island arc granitoids of the Sierra Maestra, southeastern Cuba

Abstract

The Palaeogene volcanic arc successions of the Sierra Maestra, southeastern Cuba, were intruded by calc-alkaline, low- to medium-K tonalites and trondhjemites during the final stages of subduction and subsequent collision of the Caribbean oceanic plate with the North American continental plate. U–Pb SHRIMP zircon dating of five granitoids yielded 206Pb/ 238U emplacement ages between 60.5±2.2 and 48.3±0.5 Ma. The granitoids are the result of subduction-related magmatism and have geochemical characteristics similar to those of magmas from intra-oceanic island-arcs such as the Izu Bonin–Mariana arc and the New Britain island arc, Lesser Antilles. Major and trace element patterns suggest evolution of these rocks from a single magmatic source. Geochemical features characterize these rocks as typical subduction-related granitoids as found worldwide in intra-oceanic arcs, and they probably formed through fractional crystallization of mantle-derived low- to medium-K basalt.