Morphology, structure, and tectonic evolution of the Mona canyon (northern Mona passage) from multibeam bathymetry, side-scan sonar, and seismic reflection profiles

Abstract

[1] The submarine Mona Canyon is a rift between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola of the Greater Antilles. An integrated marine geophysical data set, including multibeam bathymetry, side-scan sonar imagery, single channel and multichannel seismic reflection profiles is used to evaluate the morphology, structure, and tectonic evolution of the Mona Canyon. A structural restoration of the central Mona canyon indicates that extension in the rift initiated in the Middle Oligocene, approximately 30 Ma. A minimum total extension of 6.1 km and a minimum longitudinal strain of 11.4% across the central Mona canyon are calculated. The overall extension is proposed to have occurred over two phases. Phase I occurred from the Middle Oligocene to Late Miocene, and was a slow (0.09 mm/yr) stage of at least 1.7 km of opening. Phase II was most likely controlled by the impact of the subducted southeast portion of the Bahamas platform beneath the northeastern Caribbean plate margin. Phase II was a more rapid (0.4 mm/yr) stage of extension of at least 4.4 km that occurred from the Late Pliocene to the Recent as the SE Bahamas collision warped the middle and upper slope of the northern Puerto Rico margin along its advancing path and slowed the eastward movement of Hispaniola relative to Puerto Rico. The upper reaches of the Mona canyon form the trailing edge of the Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands block as it pulls away from a pinned Hispaniola. The Mona reentrant marks the trailing edge of a northern Hispaniola forearc sliver that forms due to increased coupling between the subducting North America plate and the overriding plate.