Geology of Cuba (AAPG Studies in Geology 58)

361 Pages·2009·49.43 MB·English

by  Georges Pardo

Pardo,G.,2009,Overview,inG.Pardo,ThegeologyofCuba:AAPG
Overview StudiesinGeologySeries,no.58,p.1–47.
INTRODUCTION the Instituto Cubano del Petroleo (ICP) and Cuba-
petroleo(CUPET).Aftertherevolution,Cubajoined
The geology of Cuba has been a challenge to ge- the Committee for Mutual Economic Assistance
ologists because of features such as the presence of (COMECON),formedbytheformerSovietUnionand
well-preserved Jurassic ammonites, the rich Tertiary associatedcountries,andreceivedconsiderableassis-
foraminiferalfaunas(includingremarkablePaleogene tancefromSoviet,Polish,Bulgarian,Czechoslovakian,
orbitoids),thegiganticUpperCretaceousrudistids,the andRomanianearthscientistsandtechnicians.Ex-
spectacularlimestoneMogotesofPinardelRio,theex- plorationanddrillingbecametheresponsibilityofthe
tensiveoutcropsofultrabasicigneousrocks,thechro- InstitutoCubanodeRecursosMinerales(ICRM),and
miteandmanganesedeposits,andtheextraordinary later of the Empressade Perforacion y Extraccion de
structuralcomplexity.Inadditiontothesefeatures,the Petroleo(EPEP).Theseagencieswereunderthecon-
numerouspetroleumseeps,manyofthemcomingout troloftheMinisteriodeIndustriasBasica(MINBAS).
ofbasicigneousrock,haveattractedmuchattention. Alargenumberofdeepwells(3000–5000m[10,000–
It is interesting to read early papers by reputable 16,400 ft] deep) were drilled in central and western
geologists such as E. DeGoyler (1918), J. W. Lewis Cuba,manyofthem(PozosParametricos)onlyfor
(1932),orR.H.Palmer(1945),andtorealizehowlittle stratigraphicandstructuralinformation.
wasknownorunderstoodaboutthegeologyofthe Non-Sovietandnon-COMECONforeignworkbe-
southernportionoftheNorthAmericancontinent gan again in 1988,resultinginanincreaseinexplo-
intheearlypartofthe20thcentury. rationanddevelopmentactivity(mostlyseismicsur-
MuchearlyunderstandingofthegeologyofCuba veying and drilling). So far, major international oil
resultedfromaseriesofstudiesconductedbetween1936 companies and United States-based companies have
and1946bytheUniversityofUtrecht,Holland,under notparticipated.
thedirectionofL.M.R.Rutten.Someresultantpublica- There has been an ongoing program of mapping
tionsareRutten(1936),MacGillavry(1937),Thiadens the entire island conducted under the direction of
(1937a,b),Vermut(1937),vanWessen(1943),Keijzer the Cuban Academy of Science, Institute of Geol-
(1945),Hermes(1945),andDeVletter(1946).These ogy andPaleontology,with,formerly,theassistance
authorsoutlinedthecomponentsofaclassicgeosyn- of the former Soviet Union’s Academy of Science.
cline. Between the late 1930s and late 1950s,Cuban Thisprogramhasyieldedseveralpublications,most-
geologistsandpaleontologists,suchasP.R.Ortegay ly in Spanish, but some in English. It also resulted
Ros,J.Broderman,P.Bermudez,andJ.F.Albear,pub- ina1:500,000geologicmapin1985(Cuba,1985a),
lishedseveralarticlesabouttheisland’sgeology. an excellent 1:250,000 geologic map in 1988 (Push-
Thesearchforoilhascontributedsignificantlyto charovskyetal.,1988),agood1:500,000tectonicmap
the present understanding of the island’s geology. in1989(Pushcharovskyetal.,1989),anda1:500,000
Priortothe1959revolution,hydrocarbonexploration nonmetallic mineral and combustible deposits and
wasmostlyundertakenbyinternationaloilcompanies indicationmapin1988(Cuba,1988).
such as Atlantic Refining, Esso Standard, Gulf Oil, Unfortunately,theCubanAcademyofScienceand
ShellOil,andtheCaliforniaOilCompany. the Cuban government agencies responsible for pe-
Latein1959,theoilcompanyfileswerecopiedand troleumexplorationandproductiondonotappearto
confiscated.In1960,theoilcompanieswereexpropri- worktogether;mattersrelatedtopetroleumarecon-
ated,andthesearchforoilbecametheresponsibilityof sideredconfidential.
Copyrightn2009byTheAmericanAssociationofPetroleumGeologists.
DOI:10.1306/13141059St583328
1
2 / Pardo
FIGURE 1. Cuba: old provinces.
FIGURE 2. Cuba: new (1976)provinces.
Overview / 3
FIGURE 3. Regional setting.
In 1967, Khudoley (at that time with the former seminatinginformationthatwaspreviouslyrestricted
SovietUnion’sAcademyofSciences)published,through toCubaandeasternEuropeanCountries.
AAPG,his concepts and interpretationof Cubange- Until recently, very little has been published in
ology. In 1971, Khudoley and Meyerhoff presented English describing Cuban geology. This is unfortu-
theirconflictingconceptsina jointarticle ina Geo- nate because a better understanding of Cuban geol-
logicalSocietyofAmericamemoir.Contactsbetween ogy might lead others to become aware of processes
Cuban, American, and international earth scientists not recognized elsewhere. The interpretations pre-
havenowrevived.AnexampleisInternationalUnion sentedherearebasedonmodelsderivedfromareas
ofGeologicalSciences–UnitedNationsEducational, suchastheAlpsorthePacific.Thisreportpresentsas
Scientific, and Cultural Organization International much factual material as possible in addition to an
GeologicalCorrelationProgramme(IGCP)Project364 interpretationofthedata.Cubais,geographicallyand
andongoingProject433onCaribbeangeology. geologically,apartoftheCaribbean.English-language
ManuelIturralde-Vinent,fromHavana’sMuseoNa- reviewsofCaribbeangeologysuchasthosefoundin
cional de Historia Natural, has made significant con- Nairn and Stehli (1975) and Dengo and Case (1990)
tributionstotheunderstandingoftheisland’sgeolo- areusefulforunderstandingCubangeology.
gy;notonlyhasheauthoredpapersonseveralaspects Recently,Pindelletal.(2006,p.304)suggestedthat
ofCubangeology,buthehaswrittenandcooperated much of the Caribbean geology is well understood,
on projects by a number of international organiza- andthatnewevaluations,‘‘mayalsopartlyreflectthe
tions (Iturralde-Vinent, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1975a, b, involvementofneworyoungerworkerswhowerenot
1981,1985,1988,1996,1998;Iturralde-Vinentandde activelyinvolvedinmuchoftheolderwork.’’Unfortu-
laTorre,1990;Iturralde-Vinentetal.,2006),thusdis- nately,Cubangeologyhasbeenaninadequatelyknown
4 / Pardo
FIGURE 4. Cuba generalized geologicmap.
partofCaribbeangeology.Ihopethisbookhelpsim- mationoftheisland.Thesecondsection,Data,ison
proveknowledgeofCubangeologyandwillstimulate theaccompanyingCD-ROMinthebackofthispub-
furtherworkbybothyoungerandolderworkers. licationandprovidesadetaileddescriptionofCuban
The work doneby Gulf Oil Corporation (Gulf)in stratigraphy,geophysics,andstructures.
theearly1950shasneverbeenpublishedinitsentirety. Becausehydrocarbonshavebeenasignificantdriver
Thispublicationanattempttopresentitintheframe- formuchofthestudyofCubangeology,Chapter6in
workofCubangeologicalstudiesdonesinceandnew thispublicationentitledHydrocarbons,givesahistor-
general geological concepts. It must be stressed that icaloverviewofworkonpetroleumoccurrences.
theonlywaytoproperlydescribethisworkisbyde-
finingandusingtheoriginalstratigraphicnomencla-
ture.Unfortunately,many of the namesusedhave POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS
foundtheirwayintotheofficialCubannomencla-
ture,commonlywithadifferentmeaningthanthe Before1976,Cubawassubdividedintosevenprov-
originalintent.Therefore,inthisbook,whenaname inces(Figure1).In1976,theislandwassubdividedinto
used by Gulf is used in its original meaning, an as- 14provincesplusadistrictforthecityofLaHabana
terisk follows (Santa Teresa*), thus differentiating it (Figure 2). The change postdates the acquisition of
fromanyotherusage.Thisinnowaysuggestschanges muchofthepreciseinformationinthispublication.
tothepresentnomenclature. To avoid errors converting from the old to the new
Thisbookisdividedintotwosections.Thefirstsec- provinces, the pre-1976 provincial nomenclature is
tion,Overview,isprintedhereinandpresentsabroad usedhere.
descriptionofCuba’sgeologyandprovidesaninter- ItshouldbenotedthattheIsladePinosisnowIsla
pretationofthe geologicaleventsleadingtothefor- de la Juventud. The province of Matanzas has been
Overview / 5
FIGURE 5. Cubageneralized structure.
FIGURE 6. Cubageneralized cross sections.
6 / Pardo
FIGURE 7. Cuba’s geologicprovinces.
extendedtothesouthcoastandincludespartofthe andSanctiSpiritusprovinces.The‘‘Camaguey’’prov-
old Las Villas (Santa Clara) province. The remaining inceremains,buttheboundarieshavebeenchanged;
part of the old Las Villas province has been approx- itswesternportionhasbeennamed‘‘CiegodeAvila,’’
imately subdivided into the Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, anditseasternparthasbeennamed‘‘LasTunas.’’The
FIGURE 8. Lithologic symbolsusedin sections.
Overview / 7
FIGURE 9. Sedimentary terranesgeneralized geologicmap.
old Oriente Province has been approximately sub- REGIONAL SETTING
divided into Holguin, Granma, Santiago de Cuba,
and Guantanamo provinces. Pinar del Rio and La Cuba is the largest of the Caribbean islands and
Habanahaveremainedessentiallyunchangedexcept hasanarclikeshape,concavetothesouth(Figure3).
thattheboundarybetweenthetwohasmovedsome ThisshapehastemptedsomeauthorstocallCubaan
30km(18mi)westward. ‘‘island arc.’’ The truth is much more complex. The
FIGURE 10. EasternCuba: sedimentary terranes generalized geologicmap.
8 / Pardo
FIGURE 11. North-central terrane sections. SeeFigure 8for definitions oflithologic symbols.
broadanddeepStraitsofFloridaseparateCubafrom Overmostofitslength,thenortherncoastofCuba
Florida,andthenarrow,andrelativelyshallow,Nich- isthedividinglinebetweenstableconditions(atleast
olasandOldBahamaschannelsseparateCubafrom sincetheMiddleJurassic)tothenorthandwestand
the Bahamas. To the northwest, Cuba adjoins the very complex ones to the south. Figure 4 shows a
Gulf of Mexico and is separated from the Yucatan generalizedgeologicmapofCuba.Althoughitisgeo-
PlatformbythenarrowbutdeepYucatanChannel.To logically deformed, the part of the northern coast of
the south, the Yucatan Basin appears to be enclosed Cuba extending from eastern Matanzas to western
between Cuba to the north and the Cayman Ridge, Oriente belongs to the Florida-Bahamas carbonate-
which is the westward continuation of the Sierra bankprovince.Tothesouth,inpartunderanupper
MadreinthesouthernOrienteprovince.Cuba,the Eocene or younger cover, is a relatively narrow belt,
CaymanBasin,andtheCaymanRidgeappeartocon- 45–160km(28–99mi)wide,ofintenselyfoldedand
stitute a physiographic province between the stable faulted Middle Jurassic to middle Eocene rocks con-
marginoftheNorthAmericancratonandthehighly sisting,fromnorthtosouth,of:
mobile Caribbean Basin. This province is separated
from the Chortis-Nicaraguan rise block, including (cid:1) the north-central sedimentary terranes, charac-
JamaicaandHispaniola,bytheeast–westpull-apart terized by very thick platform carbonates and
basinoftheCaymantrough,whosespreadingcenter evaporitesonthenorthandarelativelythinsec-
hasbeenrecordingtheeastwardmigrationoftheCa- tionofplatformtopelagiccarbonatesandcherts
ribbeanplatesincethelateEocene. onthesouth
Overview / 9
FIGURE 12. WesternCuba: southwestern terrane generalized geologic map.
(cid:1) the ophiolitic basic igneous-volcanic (called came into contact and became structurally mixed,
igneous-volcanic because of being a mixture of butitisgenerallyacceptedtodaythattheophiolite-
intrusive and volcanic rocks with a general pre- volcanic sequence is totally allochthonous. Figure 5
dominanceofvolcanicrocks)terranes,withultra- showsamapofCuba’smajorstructuralfeaturesand
basicintrusiverocks,manytypesandgreatthick- terrane distribution, and Figure 6 shows, in cross sec-
nesses of basic, basaltic to andesitic volcanic tion, the structural relations between the various
rocks,volcanic-derivedsediments,andgranodio- terranes.
riticintrusives Nearly all major structural features formed after
(cid:1) thesouthwesternsedimentaryterranes,withpri- theearlyMaastrichtianandpriortothelateEocene.
marily thin stratigraphic sections of platform to Quiet, continuous uplift has predominated in Cuba
pelagic carbonates and cherts but locally with sincethelateEocene.Theislandrosealmostentirely
great thicknesses of older, continental-derived abovesealevelduringtheMioceneand,exceptinthe
sandstones and shales showing various degrees EscambrayandtheSierraMaestra,Cubatodayhasa
ofmetamorphism generally low elevation, although many areas have
ruggedtopography.Cubahashadnovolcanismsince
Themoststrikingfeatureaboutthegeologyofthe themiddleEoceneand,withtheexceptionofsouth-
island is the great disparity between the ophiolite- ernOriente,hasbeenseismicallyinactive inhistor-
volcanic sequence of the basic igneous-volcanic ter- icaltimes.
ranes and the sedimentary sequences of the north- Despiteitsgenerallowelevation,Cubaisanexam-
centralandsouthwesternsedimentaryterranes.Except ple of a Cretaceous–Paleogene Alpine orogenic fea-
forafewnotablecases,essentiallynorelationshipex- ture in which thrust sheets moved northward over
ists between these sedimentary andigneousterranes. the craton. The ophiolites and volcanics are essen-
Therehasbeenmuchargumentabouthowtheterranes tiallyunmetamorphosed,whichisuncommonforan