International Geology Review, Vol. 48, 2006, p. 791–827.
Copyright © 2006 by V. H. Winston & Son, Inc. All rights reserved.
Meso-Cenozoic Caribbean Paleogeography:
Implications for the Historical Biogeography of the Region
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT1
Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Obispo no. 61, Plaza de Armas, La Habana 10100, Cuba
Abstract
Since the latest Triassic, the Caribbean started to form as a system of rift valleys within westcentral Pangea, later evolving into a mediterranean sea where distinct volcanic and non-volcanic
islands evolved. Since its very early formation, this sea has been playing an important role
controlling the historical patterns of ocean water circulation, moderating the world climate, and
determining the possibilities of biotic exchange of the surrounding terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The formation of a Mesozoic marine seaway between western Tethys and the eastern Pacific,
across west-central Pangea, has been postulated for the Early Jurassic (Hettangian–Pliensbachian)
according to biogeographic considerations, but supporting stratigraphic data are lacking. Probably
since the Bathonian but certainly since the Oxfordian, the stratigraphic record indicates that this
connection was fully functional and the Circum-Tropical marine current was active. Overland
dispersal between western Laurasia (North America) and western Gondwana (South America) was
interrupted in the Callovian when the continents were separated by a marine gap. Later, a connecting land bridge may have been present during the latest Campanian/Maastrichtian (~75–65 Ma),
and since the Plio-Pleistocene (2.5–2.3 Ma). Evidence for a precursor bridge late in the Middle
Miocene is currently ambiguous. Since the formation of the first volcanic archipelago within the
Caribbean realm at about the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition, volcanic islands, shallow banks, and
ridges have been present in the paleogeographic evolution of the area. However, these lands were
generally ephemeral, and lasted just a few million years. Only after the Middle Eocene (<40 Ma)
were permanent lands present within the Caribbean realm, providing substrates for the formation
and development of the present terrestrial biota.
It is this independence of biological from geological data that makes the comparison of the
two so interesting because it is hard to imagine
how congruence between the two could be the
result of anything but a causal history in
which geology acts as the independent variable providing opportunities for change in the
dependent biological world.
— Donn E. Rosen (1985, p. 637)
Introduction
THE CARIBBEAN since its very early formation as a
system of latest Triassic–Jurassic rift valleys within
west-central Pangea, up to its present mediterranean position between North, Central, and South
America and the Bahamas, has been playing an
important role controlling the historical patterns of
ocean circulation, moderating world climate, and
1Email:
[email protected]
0020-6814/06/892/791-37 $25.00
determining the biotic exchange of surrounding
terrestrial and marine ecosystems (Iturralde-Vinent,
2003a).
The constantly changing geographic scenario of
the Caribbean region provided either barriers or
highways for faunal exchange and evolution of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Consequently, in
order to understand the historical biogeography one
must take into account the paleogeographic history.
The fact is that much of the geologic, tectonic, and
even paleogeographic literature of the Caribbean
was written without the needs of biogeography in
mind. Accordingly, biologists hoping to integrate
geological information into their work, are usually
facing the problem of having to uncritically accept
some paleogeographic maps that were not designated to be used for biogeographic purpose (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999).
In previous papers (Iturralde-Vinent, 1982,
2003a, 2003b; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,
1999; MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent, 2000, 2005),
general problems of the paleogeographic evolution
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MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
of the Caribbean were evaluated. The main goal was
to identify the historical occurrence of land in the
Caribbean and its surroundings in order to evaluate
the modern biogeographic hypothesis regarding the
origin of the past and present-day Antillean terrestrial biotas. Furthermore, utilizing almost the same
set of data, Iturralde-Vinent (2003a) generally surveyed the historical evolution of the Caribbean as a
marine seaway. The historical biogeography of some
marine animals was also investigated in the light of
new paleontological findings (González Ferrer and
Iturralde-Vinent, 2004; Myczyñski and IturraldeVinent, 2005; Gasparini and Iturralde-Vinent, in
press; Schweitzer et al., in press). The present paper
is another step in the same direction, where the
previous results are compiled and updated with
additional information from some recent literature
(Lawver et al., 1999; Mann, 1999; Damborenea,
2000; Aberham, 2001; Bartolini et al., 2003;
Prothero et al., 2003; Iturralde-Vinent and Lidiak,
2006; etc.), as well as from new paleontological and
stratigraphical information for the Mesozoic and
Cenozoic obtained during field work in Argentina,
Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico,
and Cuba (De la Fuente and Iturralde-Vinent, 2001;
Fernández and Iturralde-Vinent, 2000; Gasparini
and Iturralde-Vinent, 2001, in press; IturraldeVinent, 2001; 2003a, 2003b, 2003c; 2005;
MacPhee et al., 2003; Myczyñski and IturraldeVinent, 2005, Schweitzer et al., in press).
Thus, the purpose of this paper is to present a
series of paleogeographic maps and to discuss some
of their biogeographic implications for the origin of
Caribbean terrestrial and marine biota. The paleogeographic reconstructions were designed for two
purposes: (1) the search for land, land bridge, and
landspan in the Caribbean; and (2) the evolution of
the Caribbean as a marine pathway. These issues
will be analyzed within selected time intervals from
Latest Triassic to Recent. Moreover, the time intervals depicted in each map were chosen with absolute prejudice, to coincide with some important
biogeographic events, so the paleogeographic maps
can be used to evaluate how the geographic history
may have influenced the biological events.
During this research I have honored the paradigm of Rosen (1985), quoted above, concerning the
necessary independent evaluation of the geologic
and biologic data. Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee
(1999), MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent (2000,
2005), and Iturralde-Vinent (2003a, 2003c, 2005)
found that in more than one example there are
conflicting biological, paleontological, and paleogeographic data that were not resolved. The very
existence of conflicting biological and geological
interpretations demonstrates that the present level
of scientific information for the Caribbean is still
inadequate, but also suggest that a multidisciplinary
approach is needed to resolve these problems. No
isolated science or method has all the answers.2
Paleogeographic Maps, Method, and Data
The paleogeographical maps presented in this
paper have utilized the same general principles
explained earlier (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,
1999), and include maps for the Jurassic, Cretaceous, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and (for Cuba)
the Pliocene–late Pleistocene interval. The Triassic–Jurassic maps are of two categories: world maps
(Fig. 1) and Caribbean maps (Fig. 2). The plate tectonic framework of these maps is from Lawver et al.
(1999) and Marton and Buffler (1999), with minor
modifications regarding the position of the Andean
and Piñon-Dagua (including Siquisique) terranes.
The coastlines were first redrawn from Smith et al.
(1994), but consequently updated in the areas of the
Eastern Pacific, Central Atlantic, the Gulf of
Mexico, and the Caribbean and its surroundings
(sensu Gradstein et al., 1990; Riccardi, 1991; Salvador, 1991; Pindell and Tabbutt, 1995; Randazzo
and Jones, 1997; Iturralde-Vinent, 1998; Cordani et
al., 2000). The data for the reconstruction of the
paleoenvironments are summarized in Figures 3 and
4, and are from Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee
(1999), and Iturralde-Vinent (2003a, 2003c).
The paleogeographic maps for the Early and
latest Cretaceous and Lower Eocene (Fig. 5) were
constructed taking into account the allochthonous
model for the origin of the Caribbean plate, the data
compiled by Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999),
some recent literature (Mann, 1999, IturraldeVinent and Lidiak, 2006), and field work in the
Greater Antilles by the author. The latest Eocene
and younger maps (Figs. 6–8) are updated from Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999) to accomodate
new field data and recent literature (van Gestel et
al., 1998, 1999; Mann, 1999; Iturralde-Vinent,
2 In
this paper, the geochronology is after Gradstein et al.
(2004). Ma is adopted as an abbreviation for millions of years,
and the tectonic term “terrane” is applied to identify allochthonous crustal elements (oceanic or continental in origin),
which typically occur along plate boundaries.
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
2001; MacPhee et al. 2003) and inclusion of more
detailed information for Central America (Coates
and Obando, 1996; Denyer and Kussmaul, 2002).
Furthermore, the most important paleogeographic
events are summarized in Figures 9 (marine environments) and 10 (land environments).
Caribbean Paleogeography and
Some Biogeographic Implications
This section evaluates the paleogeographic
scenarios of the Caribbean realm and its surroundings from the latest Triassic to Recent, including
some notes about paleoclimatology and paleoceanography, and their bearing on the biogeography of
terrestrial and marine biotas. For the purpose of this
analysis, the evolution of the Caribbean will be
divided into three stages: (1) latest Triassic and
Jurassic (origin of the Caribbean); (2) Cretaceous to
Late Eocene (vanishing islands and land bridge in
the Caribbean), and (3) Latest Eocene to Recent
(formation of the present-day Caribbean).
Latest Triassic and Jurassic:
Origin of the Caribbean
At about the end of Triassic, the earth’s preMesozoic continental crust was clustered as a single
supercontinent, Pangea, a huge sialic mass that had
been assembled during the late Paleozoic. The
Tethys Ocean extended eastward to Panthalassa, the
precursor of the Pacific Ocean, which surrounded
Pangea (Bullard et al., 1965). The break-up of
Pangea started under such conditions as depicted in
Figure 1A. The approximate westward flow of the
Circum-Tropical marine current started probably in
the Bathonian, but certainly since the Oxfordian,
and is suggested by physical paleoceanography
(Parrish, 1992; Frakes et al., 1992), and the suspected migratory routes of marine invertebrates
(Berggren and Hollister, 1974; Imlay, 1984; Boomer
and Ballent, 1996; Damborenea, 2000) and marine
vertebrates (Gasparini and Iturralde-Vinent, in
press).
Latest Triassic–Early Jurassic. During the latest
Triassic–Early Jurassic (Fig. 1A), Pangea represented a major barrier for the dispersion of marine
biota, as it blocked equatorial dispersion. The nonpelagic marine biota was forced to surround Pangea
in order to migrate along the continental shelf, but
this possibility was controled by climatic zones
(Parrish, 1992). Land biota, on the other hand,
would disperse across Pangea; however, climatic
793
zones, mountain ranges, and the occurrence of a
developing network of rift basins and valleys (similar to present-day East African rift valleys) would
probably create some restrictions and/or preferred
pathways for the dispersal. A major branch of these
rift basins extended along the present continental
margin of North America into the Gulf of Mexico
and the Mexican terranes, representing the early
suture between Gondwana and Laurasia (Figs. 1,
2A, and 2B; Bullard et al., 1965; Klitgord et al.,
1988; Gradstein et al., 1990; Pindell and Tabbutt,
1995). Therefore, the latest Triassic–Jurassic rift
basins should not be thought of as the Caribbean
basin or the Gulf of Mexico per se, but as precursors
located within west-central Pangea (IturraldeVinent and MacPhee, 1999, Iturralde-Vinent,
2003c).
Intracontinental extension persisted into the
Early Jurassic, widening the rift systems with large
aquatic basins—mostly as lakes and rivers (Fig. 1).
The strata filling these rift basins are usually
described as redbeds, including paleosols, alluvial,
and lake sediments (Salvador, 1987, 1991; Poag and
Valentine, 1988; Gradstein et al., 1990; Milani and
Tomas Filho, 2000).
During the Jurassic, the rift system located
within the present coastal areas of North America
aborted, and the break-up of Pangea shifted to a new
rift system represented today by the Atlantic midocean ridge and its extinct Caribbean branch.
Terrestrial sediments in these new basins generally
predate the deposition of evaporitic strata in the
areas that later evolved into marine basins (Evans,
1978). This process is evident from the North to
Central Atlantic, where marine inundation and salt
deposition extended southward since Hettangian
time (Poag and Valentine, 1988; Gradstein et al.,
1990). Within the Florida-Bahamas block, which
later played the role of gatekeeper between the
Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, seismic
sections are interpreted as representing the two rift
basin systems. One rift basin is epicontinental and
filled with clastic sediments (Sheridan et al., 1988:
their Fig. 7). The only well in the Bahamas intersecting this section was the Great Isaac, which
recovered redbeds of Late Jurassic (probably Callovian) age above basement rocks (Meyerhoff and
Hatten, 1974; Jacobs, 1977). Another rift basin is
located in the transition between the continental and
oceanic crust; its sedimentary filling is interpreted
as strata of Late Jurassic and younger limestones,
dolomites, and evaporites (Sheridan et al., 1988:
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MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
FIG. 1. Jurassic world paleogeographic maps after Iturralde-Vinent (2003c). This scenario suggests that dispersion
of marine animals across central Pangea was only possible along the rift valley system during sea-level highstands. Since
the Oxfordian, the Caribbean opened as a marine corridor (white arrows) and interrupted latitudinal migratory routes of
terrestrial animals.
FIG. 2. Latest Triassic–Late Jurassic west-central Pangea paleogeographic maps after Iturralde-Vinent (2003c). These maps represent the initial stages of the in situ opening
of the early Caribbean Seaway. Note the isolation of the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean and the existence of the Florida-Yucatan emergent ridge until the latest Jurassic.
Evaporites in the Gulf formed independently from those of the Florida-Bahamas block.
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
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MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
FIG. 3. Present-day location map of the continents, blocks, and tectonostratigraphic terranes that were active during
the early opening of the Caribbean (latest Triassic–Late Jurassic) after Iturralde-Vinent (2003c). Patterns represent
diferent tectonic units. Numbers on the map show the general location of the columnar sections in Figure 4.
their Fig. 7). This interpretation is confirmed by
stratigraphic sections in the southern margin of the
Bahamas platform that crop out in north-central
Cuba, where Oxfordian? through Early Cretaceous
dolomite, limestone, anhidrite, gypsite and halite
occur (Punta Alegre, Cayo Coco, and Perros Formations; Meyerhoff and Hatten, 1968, 1974; IturraldeVinent, 1994, 1998). These salt deposits usually
have been correlated with the Gulf of Mexico’s
Werner-Louan salts (Meyerhoff and Hatten, 1974),
but this interpretation is challenged because they
belong to different basins separated by a basement
high (the Florida-Yucatan ridge; Figs. 2B and 2C).
Iturralde-Vinent (2003c) proposed that the Bahamian—North Cuba evaporites are indeed an extension of the evaporite systems developed during the
opening of the Atlantic Ocean, which is younger
southward (Evans, 1978; Gradstein et al., 1990). On
the African side of the Atlantic, between the Demarara Plateau and the Cape Verde Islands, the older
marine rocks are of Early Cretaceous age (Hayes, et
al., 1972; Jones et al., 1995).
Therefore, the presence of marine environments,
even those of short duration, within the latest Triassic and Lower Jurassic sections of the south Central
Atlantic, Florida-Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico,
northern South America, or the Caribbean realm
cannot be conclusively demonstrated (IturraldeVinent, 2003c). Only in Mexico are some marine
intercalations of Sinemurian–early Pliensbachian
age in the Triassic throughout Lower Jurassic terrestrial deposits of the Huayacocotla Formation present
(Figs. 3 and 4; López Ramos, 1975); however, these
marine incursions seem to be due to transgressions
from the Pacific Ocean (Salvador, 1987, 1991).
Some of the old continental margin sections of the
Caribbean may have been dragged into subduction
zones and lost, but this does not seem to be the case
for Florida-Bahamas (Sheridan et al., 1988), nor
for the southwestern terranes of Cuba (Pinos,
Escambray, and Guaniguanico; Fig. 3), because
they yield Jurassic and probably older rocks (Fig. 4;
Millán and Somin, 1981; Somin and Millán, 1981;
Pszczólkowski, 1999; Iturralde-Vinent, 1994;
Pindell, 1994).
The stratigraphic data previously mentioned
(Iturralde-Vinent, 2003c; Figs. 3 and 4) conflict
with the biogeographic thesis which holds that since
the Hettangian or Pliensbachian, the “Hispanic
Corridor” (Smith, 1983) was active as a marine route
for exchange between west Tethyan and eastern
Pacific biotas (Gasparini, 1978, 1992; Westermann,
1981, 1992; Hillebrandt, 1981; Imlay, 1984; Bartok
et al., 1985; Sandoval and Westermann, 1986;
FIG. 4. Latest Triassic–Jurassic environmental columnar section of west-central Pangea modified after Iturralde-Vinent (2003c) to provide a new chronology.
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
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MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
Hillebrandt et al., 1992; Gasparini and Fernández,
1996; Damborenea, 2000; Aberham, 2001). This
paleontological evidence leads to the proposition
that some brief marine connections took place
during sea-level highs, allowing some shallow
marine biota to migrate across Pangea (Damborenea, 2000). The sea-level curve is slightly supportive for this point of view, because since the latest
Triassic until the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian), the
relative position of the sea level was generally low.
However, a series of high stands may have produced
partial inundation of the lower part of the relief
along the latest Triassic–Middle Jurassic rift basin
systems located within North America, in lesser
degree along the suture of the developing North
Atlantic Ocean (Figs. 1, 2, and 4). Although pure
marine sediments of this age have not been reported
in these rift basins, they contain lagoonal deposits
and local evaporites yielding fish remains including
Elasmobranchia of probably marine origin (van
Houten, 1962; Smith and Robison, 1988; Poag and
Valentine, 1988). This evidence opens the possibility that some short-time marine incursions, although
not properly documented in these basins, may have
taken place. Thus, the documented migration of the
Tethyan marine biota probably reflected short-term
influxes of taxa from Tethys to the Eastern Pacific
and vice versa, and probably took place as a result
of periodic flooding of west-central Pangea during
sea-level high stands (Parrish, 1992). In any event,
this paleogeographic scenario cannot be termed a
“corridor,” because it was actually a “filter” for
the dispersion of the marine biota (Gasparini and
Iturralde-Vinent, in press).
Another possibility, contrary to the biogeographic hypothesis, may be that the marine biota did
not disperse across west-central Pangea during the
latest Triassic–Middle Jurassic times, but around
the supercontinent, following the southern seaway or
the Viking corridor, or by both routes (Fig. 1). Such
dispersion may have been theoretically possible
when polar water was not so cold, during the warm
climatic period that expanded since Permian and
until mid-Jurassic time (Frakes et al., 1992). However, the fossil record does not support such a possibility (Westermann, 1992; Boomer and Ballent,
1996; Damborenea, 2000; Aberham, 2001).
Middle Jurassic. A widening Pangean rift system
developed due to extensional stress and development of intracontinental siliciclastic basins. However, the Middle Jurassic separation between
Laurasia and Gondwana was in progress along the
mid Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and the intra-Caribbean rift system (Bullard et al., 1965; Klitgord et al.,
1988; Gradstein et al., 1990; Bartok, 1993; Pindell
and Tabbutt, 1995; Milani and Tomas Filho, 2000).
The Jurassic paleogeographic evolution of the
Gulf of Mexico has been documented by several
authors, but there is no clear agreement. According
to Stephan et al. (1989) and Smith et al. (1994), the
Gulf was a marine tongue of the Pacific that occupied the Mexican terranes and the western Gulf of
Mexico by the Sinemurian, and later in the Bathonian expanded as far as Florida. This interpretation
contradicts concrete seismic and stratigraphic data
which suggest that the Gulf of Mexico was not a
marine basin until the late Bathonian-Callovian
(Figs. 3 and 4; Meyerhoff and Hatten, 1974; López
Ramos, 1975; Sheridan et al., 1988; Salvador, 1991;
Buffler and Thomas, 1994; Pindell, 1994; Marton
and Buffler, 1994, 1999). By Callovian time, the
Gulf had developed an oceanic crust and hypersaline environments that covered larger areas (Figs.
1 and 2; Salvador, 1987, 1991, Winker and Buffler,
1988; Sawyer et al., 1991). This basin was separated
from the early Caribbean by a long peninsular
projection of the North American continent (a land
span, sensu Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999)
which embraced the Maya Block (Yucatan),
the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, and Florida. This
Florida-Yucatan emerged ridge (Figs. 1 and 2) must
have had a peculiar land biota that has not yet been
properly investigated due to limited outcrops
(López-Ramos, 1975; Viniegra-O., 1981). In the
Guaniguanico terrane, Oxfordian fossils of terrestrial origin have been found, including plants, pterosaurs (Colbert, 1969; Gasparini et al., 2004), and
dinosaurs (De la Torre y Callejas, 1949; Gasparini
and Iturralde-Vinent, in press), probably representing part of the Florida–Yucatan ridge biota.
With regard to the Caribbean area, Middle Jurassic marine rocks of Bajocian-Bathonian age have
been reported from the Guaniguanico terrane of
western Cuba and in the Siquisique basalts of Venezuela (Fig. 2B; Bartok et al., 1985; Bartok, 1993).
Inasmuch as the Siquisique basalts are allochthonous (Fig. 1; Aleman and Ramos, 2000), they are
not a sure indication of the occurrence of marine
environments within the Caribbean. In the Guaniguanico terrane (Fig. 3), the Lower–Middle and
Upper Jurassic San Cayetano Formation is generally
interpreted as having been deposited in a continental coastal plain, with intermingled terrestrial, alluvial, lagoonal and shallow marine beds (Haczewski,
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
1976). However, Lower Jurassic strata have never
been identified with confidence in the San Cayetano
Formation (Pszczólkowski, 1978, 1999), and those
of Middle Jurassic age are represented by: (1)
?Lower–Middle Jurassic black shales with the
coastal plant Piazopteris branneri (Areces-Malléa,
1990), 2) Bajocian? marine sandstone with mollusks
including Trigonia (Vaughonia) (Krömmelbein,
1956; Pszczólkowski, 1978), and (3) Bajocian–
Bathonian marine shales with palinomorphs and
dinoflagelates (Dueñas Jiménez and Linares, 2001).
Jurassic siliciclastic and carbonate rocks with various degrees of metamorphism have also been
reported from the Pinos and Escambray terranes in
Cuba (Figs. 3 and 4), but the scarce marine fossils
found in these pre-Oxfordian sections are so poorly
preserved that precise age assignment remains
problematic (Millán, 1981; Millán and Somin, 1981,
Millán and Myczyñski, 1979; Somin and Millán,
1981).
Another problem related to the southwestern
Cuban terranes (Fig. 3; Pinos, Guaniguanico, and
Escambray) is their original position, which has
been largely debated in recent years. Several
sources of independent data yield the conclusion
that these terranes were formed in the Caribbean
borderland of the Maya Block (Fig. 2B; for a discussion see Iturralde-Vinent, 1994, 1996, 1998;
Bralower and Iturralde-Vinent, 1997; Hudson et al.,
1999; Pszczólkowski, 1999; Pszczólkowski and
Myczyñski, 2003; Pessagno et al., 1999; Schaffhauser et al., 2003; Pindell et al., 2006).
Within Florida and the Bahamas, the occurrence
of Middle Jurassic marine sediments is not well
documented (Fig. 4; Meyerhoff and Hatten, 1974;
Randazzo and Jones, 1997), so again the possible
existence of a marine pathway across the FloridaBahamas area is problematic because of the lack of
stratigraphic control. Middle Jurassic marine rocks
are not reported from the area of the Demarara
Plateau–Cape Verde Islands (Hayes, et al., 1972;
Jones et al., 1995). Within northern South America,
some Lower to Middle Jurassic, partially marine
sections have been reported (Tinacoa and Macoita
Formations), but the age assignment remains controversial (González de Juana et al., 1980; Maze, 1984;
Macsotay and Peraza, 1997).
Under the circumstances, the hypothesis that
during Middle Jurassic time the Caribbean was a
fully functional marine seaway or “corridor” and the
Circum-Tropical marine current was active (Gradstein et al., 1990) remains problematic. The occur-
799
rence of marine sediments of this age in the
southwestern terranes of Cuban can be explained as
a reaction to the crustal extension between South
America and the Maya Block (Lawver et al., 1999),
producing a marine basin that opened into the
Pacific. The possibility that this early Caribbean
intercontinental embayment communicated with the
Central Atlantic since the Bajocian can be accepted
now only as a working hypothesis (Figs. 1 and 2), but
requires further confirmation in the stratigraphic
record of the circum-Caribbean region.
Late Jurassic. During the Late Jurassic, the gap
between North America and Gondwana widened,
and true marine basins with ocean crust were developing both within the Caribbean and the Gulf of
Mexico (Figs. 1 and 2D; Iturralde-Vinent, 2003c).
The Gulf of Mexico was an independent marine
tongue of the Pacific Ocean until the latest Jurassic
(Kimmeridgian–Tithonian), when finally communication between the Caribbean and the Atlantic was
developed (Salvador, 1991; Marton and Buffler,
1999). The Caribbean Seaway (now a true corridor
for marine biota) opened wide, allowing pelagic
marine biota exchange between western Tethys and
the eastern Pacific realms (Figs. 1 and 2; Gasparini
and Iturralde-Vinent, in press). The Circum-Tropical marine current flowed across the Caribbean seaway (Berggren and Hollister, 1974; Parrish, 1992).
The evolution of the Gulf of Mexico in the Late
Jurassic is fairly well understood (Salvador, 1991;
Buffler and Thomas, 1994; Pindell, 1994; Marton
and Buffler, 1999). Until Callovian it was a
restricted saline basin, but in the Oxfordian, a
generalized marine transgression from the Pacific
covered wide areas with shallow carbonate and
shale deposits of the Smackover, Zuloaga, and
related formations (Salvador, 1991; Marton and
Buffler, 1999). About Kimmeridgian–Tithonian
time, the southwestern Gulf was drowned by shallow
marine environments, and the Gulf of Mexico
became a new corridor for the marine biota (added
to the Caribbean seaway) fully connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean. This event probably produced a subdivision of the Circum-Tropical marine
current into two branches (Berggren and Hollister,
1974). The opening of the Gulf of Mexico as a new
seaway into the Caribbean triggered some changes
in the composition of the marine biota of North
America (Westermann, 1992; Kriwet, 2001).
Another implication of this event was the isolation
within the Maya Block of the terrestrial biota that
eventually inhabited the Florida-Yucatan emerged
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MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
ridge (Figs. 1 and 4). The widening gap between
North America and Gondwana limited the possibility of direct overland dispersal, between the land
biotas of these continental areas. Probably since the
Bajocian, but surely since the Oxfordian, such a
possibility came to a close (Figs. 1 and 2; IturraldeVinent and MacPhee, 1999).
Within the Caribbean, Upper Jurassic marine
rocks are well developed (Figs. 1, 2, and 4). In the
Cuban southwestern terranes (Guaniguanico and
Escambray) the Callovian–Oxfordian was a time of
transition between siliciclastic and carbonate
marine deposition (Pszczólkowski, 1978; 1999;
Somin and Millán, 1981). The mid-late Oxfordian
age Jagua Formation of western Cuba yields a rich
fossil assemblage that includes terrestrial (plants,
pterosaurs, and dinosaurs), coastal (plants, reptiles,
fish, invertebrates), and open marine species
(reptiles, fish, and invertebrates) (De la Torre y
Callejas, 1949; Colbert, 1969; Pszczólkowski, 1978;
Iturralde-Vinent and Norell, 1996; Fernández and
Iturralde-Vinent, 2000; De la Fuente and IturraldeVinent, 2001; Gasparini and Iturralde-Vinent,
2001; in press; Kriwet, 2001). By the end of
the Jurassic, this off-Yucatan continental margin
(Guaniguanico terrane) developed into deeper
marine environments (Pszczólkowski, 1978, 1999;
Pszczólkowski and Myczyñski, 2003; SánchezBarreda, 1990; Schaffhauser, et al., 2003) and
reached its maximum width probably in the Upper
Cretaceous (Pindell, 1994).
In the Bahamas, Upper Jurassic marine rocks
have been intersected by exploratory wells and crop
out in northern Cuba (Khudoley and Meyerhoff,
1971; Meyerhoff and Hatten, 1968, 1974; Sheridan
et al., 1988). These sections represent a passive
margin domain, with restricted shallow carbonate
and evaporitic facies within the Bahamas, and
southward, development of continental slope deposits with deep-water limestone since the Kimmeridgian (Meyerhoff and Hatten, 1968, 1974; IturraldeVinent, 1994, 1998). During the Late Jurassic,
major Atlantic-Caribbean marine water circulation
may have taken place eastward of the Bahamas; the
Strait of Florida opened as a deep marine channel
only by Early Cretaceous (Fig. 2C and 2D; Buffler
and Hurst, 1995).
In the northern continental margin of South
America, the paleogeographic scenario was different. Uppermost Triassic–Jurassic strata are generally represented by redbeds with paleosols, and
alluvial and lake deposits, which yield fossils of
terrestrial plants as well as those of fresh water
invertebrates (Fig. 4; González de Juana et al.,
1980; Maze, 1984). Some Upper Jurassic marine
beds occur within the terrestrial sections, mostly
represented by intercalations of limestone, clasticcarbonate rocks, and shales, which are more
common and thicker toward the continental edge.
These marine rocks contain Late Jurassic fish
(Lepidotus and Elasmobranchia), mid-Late Jurassic
corals (Aplophyllia), and Kimmeridgian through
Lower Cretaceous ammonites (González de Juana et
al., 1980; Maze, 1984; Macsotay and Peraza, 1997;
see Figs. 9 and 10 for a summary of the main Jurassic paleogeographic events previously described).
Cretaceous to Late Eocene: Vanishing islands
and land bridge in the Caribbean
The paleogeography of this time interval is illustrated by three maps for the Early Cretaceous (~125
Ma), Latest Cretaceous (~70 Ma), and basal Early
Eocene (~55 Ma) (Fig. 5). These maps have been
designed to represent intervals of “land maxima,” or
in other words, the periods of maximum land exposure and interconectiveness. As a tectonic framework for these maps, the allochthonous Caribbean
plate model (Pindell 1994; Pindell et al., 2006), the
position of the continental terranes (Lawver et al.,
1999), and the location of the volcanic arc terranes
combining Lawver et al. (1999), Pindell et al.
(2006), and Iturralde-Vinent (1998) were chosen.
Regarding the occurrence of land, shallow seas,
and deep-marine environs within these tectonic
terranes, they have been depicted utilizing the database and method described by Iturralde-Vinent and
MacPhee (1999), with new data obtained from field
work and some recent literature.
Cretaceous. During the Cretaceous, the paleogeographic scenario of the Caribbean and Gulf of
Mexico underwent a series of important modifications (Figs. 5A, 5B, 9, and 10). In general, the Gulf
of Mexico had achieved its present structural
dimensions, inasmuch as little crustal expansion
took place after the Berriasian, when the Maya
Block reached its present-day position relative to
North America (Marton and Buffler, 1999). The
main paleogeographic changes in the Gulf of Mexico
had to do with the position of the coastline and the
marine sedimentary facies (McFarland and Menes,
1991). Moreover, due to the existence of a wide
interior sea in North America, periodically the Gulf
of Mexico served as a gateway between the North
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
American epicontinental sea and the Caribbean
(Fig. 5B).
With the exception of the Barremian, when it was
partially exposed, the Maya Block generally evolved
as an isolated shallow carbonate platform (ViniegraO., 1981). Another large platform evolved above the
Yucatan-Bahamas Block, partially exposed in the
Barremian. This platform subdivided into smaller
units after the Aptian and up to the Present (Fig. 5B;
Khudoley and Meyerhoff, 1971; Salvador, 1991;
Buffler and Hurst, 1995; Randazzo, 1997). The
northern South American margin became a siliciclastic coastal plain eventually inundated by epicontinental marine environments, and the coastline
generally extended far into the continent (Figs. 5A,
5B; Pindell and Tabbutt, 1995; Cordani et al.,
2000). The North Atlantic was already a wide
oceanic basin, but communication with the South
Atlantic was limited until the Aptian-Albian, when
a marine seaway between Africa and South America
definitely opened (Bullard et al., 1965; Berggrem
and Hollister, 1974, Jones et al., 1995; Riccardi,
1991).
Regarding the Caribbean, the maximum separation between the Maya Block and South America
was reached during the latest Cretaceous (Lawver et
al., 1999; Pindell et al., 2006), and the paleogeographic realm underwent continuous modification of
both marine and terrestrial landscapes. These
changing scenarios were due to the onset and evolution of volcanic and nonvolcanic islands, non-volcanic ridges, rises, basins, and trenches. Two main
volcanic archipelagos were active, one well within
the Pacific Ocean (now the basement of Central
America), and another generally located in the oceanic gap between North and South America (now the
basement of the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles,
and Aves Ridge) (Figs. 5A and 5B). For reference,
they will be called the Central American volcanic
arc system and the Antillean volcanic arc system,
respectively.
Cretaceous marine fossil invertebrates strongly
suggest wide interrelationships of the western
Tethys, North and Central Atlantic, Caribbean, and
eastern Pacific biotas, implying the existence of
marine currents connecting these water basins
(Scott, 1984; Sohl and Kollmann, 1985; Rojas et al.,
1995; Buitrón-Sánchez and Gómez-Espinosa, 2003;
Pszczólkowski and Myczyñski, 2003). And as was
discussed by Iturralde-Vinent (1982, 2003a) and
Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999), during this
time interval no “permanent” landmasses existed in
801
the Caribbean that lasted until the present, a feature
that unfortunately is never evident when paleogeographic maps are inspected.3 The fact is that, when
the Cretaceous to Late Eocene stratigraphic record
of the Caribbean is investigated for either the
present-day subaereal or submarine areas, very few
indications of land occurrence are found, and none
of those indications implies long-lasting or continuous emergence since the Mesozoic into the Cenozoic
(Fig. 5; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999; Iturralde-Vinent, 2003a, MacPhee and IturraldeVinent, 2005; Myczyñski and Iturralde-Vinent,
2005). This point of view was challenged by Hedges
(2001), but addressed by MacPhee and IturraldeVinent (2005).
An intercontinental land bridge has been proposed to account for the late Campanian–Paleocene
exchange of land tetrapods between North and South
America (Fig. 5B; Gayet et al., 1992; IturraldeVinent and MacPhee, 1999), based on paleontologic
ground (Lucas and Alvarado, 1994; Gayet, 2001).
According to Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999),
during the latest Campanian–Maastrichtian
“substantial subaereal exposure existed along the
partially extinct Cretaceous volcanic arc and adjacent continental margins, as indicated by evidence
of deformation, angular unconformity, hiatuses,
deep-seated erosion, mountain-building, and terrestrial sedimentation (including conglomerate and
paleosol development)” (Khudoley and Meyerhoff,
1971; Mattson 1984; Maurrasse 1990; IturraldeVinent, 1994). One problem for this land bridge is
the observation by Gayet (2001) that the exchange
of land vertebrates was particularly active during
the Maastrichtian and Paleocene, a time when
“… transgressive late Maastrichtian marine sediments are recorded in the [Antillean] Cretaceous
volcanic arc as well as North and South America”
(Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999). In recent
years, some stratigraphic sections previously dated
as latest Maastrichtian in western and central Cuba
(Cacarajícara, Peñalver, and related units) have
been redefined as Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary
in age, and the previously underlying siliciclastic
sections (implying land occurrence within the
Antillean volcanic arc system) extended in age up to
the end of the Cretaceous (Tada et al., 2003).
3To avoid this kind of confusion, Figures 9 and 10 summarize
the presence of land environments in another way.
802
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
FIG. 5. Paleogeographic maps of the Caribbean during (A) Early Cretaceous, (B) latest Cretaceous, and (C) Early
Eocene; after Iturralde-Vinent (2004). This paleogeographic scenario illustrates the formation of the Caribbean plate in
the Pacific realm and its posterior insertion within the inter-American gap replacing the older proto-Caribbean crust.
Volcanic arc systems occupied the leading and trailing edges of the plate. These volcanic arcs supported non-permanent
islands that were drowned and new ones exposed repeatedly, while the arc migrated laterally. In these conditions, subsistence of terrestrial biota is not expected within the Caribbean. A suspected land bridge or stepping stones scenario
allowed biotic exchange between the continents near the end of the Cretaceous.
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
803
FIG. 5. Continued (see facing page).
In the Dominican Republic, on the other hand,
an extensive survey of the uppermost Cretaceous–
Paleocene? Don Juan conglomerates has confirmed
that the section is a complex of terrestrial red beds,
laterally merging into shallow-marine rocks (Bourdon, 1985; Lewis et al., 2002; Iturralde-Vinent,
unpubl. observations, 2003). Therefore, the latest
Cretaceous land bridge may have been operational
sometime between 75 and 65 Ma, represented by a
system of islands and shallows, existing when extensive uplift took place along the old Antillean Cretaceous volcanic arc system (Fig. 5B). Under this
scenario, the tetrapod exchange between North and
South America across the Antillean volcanic arc
system may have taken place during some sea-level
drop, probably utilizing a combination of island
stepping stones and sweepstakes dispersal mechanisms, while this arc collided with the Maya Block
and South America near the end of the Cretaceous
(Iturralde-Vinent et al., 2006; Pindell et al., 2006).
The possibility of other ephemeral land bridges
or stepping-stone islands along the Antillean volcanic archipelago during the Aptian–Albian and
Santonian–Campanian was also evaluated by Itur-
ralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999), but they concluded that there is insufficient evidence to propose
actual land connections between North and South
America during these periods. Within the aforementioned time intervals, many indications of local
uplift are known within the volcanic archipelago
(Maurrasse, 1990; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,
1999); therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility
of terrestrial faunal exchange between closely
located islands, due to the operation of the sweepstakes or stepping-stone scenarios (McKenna,
1973); however, these mechanisms have not been
documented in the Caribbean realm, other than
those discussed in this paper. In this regard, Horne
(1994) reported a mid-Cretaceous Ornithopod
dinosaur femur from central Honduras (part of the
Chortis Block), suggesting that northern Central
American terranes were physically connected to
North America at about 85–95 Ma. This is correct,
but the geographic feature does not represent a land
bridge, but a landspan (continent-to-island connection). In fact, neither stratigraphic nor paleontologic
data suggest that those north Central American
lands extended to South America (Gayet, 2001)
804
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
across the Central American or Antillean volcanic
arc systems (Fig. 5; Denyer and Kussmaul, 2002;
Iturralde-Vinent, 2005).
Hedges (2001) presented a diferent hypothesis,
suggesting that “… the proto-Antillean island arc
more or less connected North and South America
during the late Cretaceous (~100 to 70 Ma).” But
there is no fossil record supporting this 30 million
year long–lasting connection between North and
South America across either the Antillean or the
Central American volcanic arc systems (Lucas and
Alvarado, 1994; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,
1999; Gayet, 2001, Iturralde-Vinent, 2005). The
problem is that Hedges understood an “island arc”
as an emergent ridge, but such an implication is not
necessary true, as was discussed in detail by Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999). A volcanic
island arc is a geologic unit with a dynamic relief of
basins and highs, that may or not be temporally
uplifted (as a submarine ridge, a chain of islands and
shallows, or an emerged ridge).
The impact of a large extraterrestrial bolide with
the earth at the Yucatan Peninsula at 65 Ma certainly played an important role in the biogeographic
evolution of the Caribbean region (Crother and
Guyer, 1996). Although an extensive literature is
dedicated to the analysis of the global consequences
of this event, the following is a brief summary to
evaluate the local effects according to the latest
knowledge acquired by a Cuban-Japanese research
team (Tada et al., 2003, and references within). In
the western Caribbean basin, the earthquake triggered by the impact at Chicxulub induced extensive
collapse along the edge of the carbonate platforms of
Yucatan, Florida, the Bahamas, and the Cuban segment of the Antillean volcanic arc system. Platform
margins were strongly transformed, and the local
islands and continental seashores were engulfed by
large tsunami waves produced by the collapse of the
platforms. Huge amounts of sediments were delivered to the sea in a few hours, particularly in the
western part of the Caribbean (Tada et al., 2003). As
a consequence, one can hypothesize that any lowland within the Caribbean and its margins must
have been strongly transformed and deprived of
major life forms. The shallow seas were probably
deeply eroded and buried by thick layers of clastic
sediment, the benthic and nectonic biota being
eliminated. In the deep basins located in the northwestern Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico, the
benthic, nectonic, and planktonic sea life also may
have been terminated or severely damaged. This is
another reason to adopt the postulate that no Cretaceous terrestrial life form in the Caribbean realm
survived into the Tertiary, much less into the Present
(Iturralde-Vinent, 1982; Iturralde-Vinent and
MacPhee, 1999). If, eventually, some pre–latest
Eocene Caribbean terrestrial taxon proves to be
present today on some island as postulated utilizing
molecular clocks (Hedges et al., 1992; Hedges,
2001; Dávalos, 2004), this occurrence may have
been due to the operation of the “Noah’s arc” mechanism of dispersion described by McKenna (1973)
for other regions, but yet awaiting concrete demonstration in the Caribbean as discussed by IturraldeVinent and MacPhee (1999) and MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent (2000, 2005).
In his critical observations of the paleogeographic model developed by Iturralde-Vinent and
MacPhee (1999), Hedges (2001) concluded that the
geological history of the Caribbean “… region is not
known in enough detail to support such speculation.” Mainly because “… other authors have
claimed the opposite.” Then, Hedges (2001) suggested that at least Puerto Rico, but probably other
Antillean islands, have been emergent since the
Albian based largely on work by Donnelly (1992).
However, more detailed investigations compiled by
Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999, Tables 1–3
and Appendices) has allowed a new interpretation of
Donnelly’s (1992) data. Moreover, the present
author has visited all the localities referred to by
Donnelly (1992) and several more in Cuba, Jamaica,
Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, and obtained samples
that have been examined in order to verify age and
paleoenvironment. As early as the Neocomian or
early Aptian (~140 Ma) volcanic islands in the
Antillean volcanic arc system were emergent (Los
Ranchos and equivalent Formation of Dominican
Republic; Smiley, 2002), but these islands were
subsequently submerged in the Albian (~110 Ma;
Río Hatillo and equivalent formations in the Dominican Republic; Myczyñski and Iturralde-Vinent,
2005). Furthermore, marine strata of Albian,
Cenomanian, Turonian, Coniancian, Santonian,
Campanian, Maastrichtian, Paleocene, and Eocene
age are well developed across the Antillean volcanic
arc system in present-day Puerto Rico, Hispaniola,
Cuba, and Jamaica, arguing for widespread repeated
submergence (Maurrasse, 1990; Rojas et al., 1997;
Lidiak and Larue, 1998; Iturralde-Vinent and
MacPhee, 1999; Lewis et al., 2002; Myczyñski and
Iturralde-Vinent, 2005, Schweitzer et al., in press).
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
Therefore, the present Antillean islands are
newly formed post–Middle Eocene geographic entities (<40 Ma; Iturralde-Vinent, 1982; IturraldeVinent and MacPhee, 1999). These entities are
composed of allochthonous older geologic units,
amalgamated in the basement of the islands. Therefore, the paleogeography of those units greatly
differs in all aspects from the present-day islands
(Pindell et al., 2006). For example, Puerto Rico or
Hispaniola, as geographic entities, have no meaning
in the Cretaceous or Paleocene. Their basements
consist of a complex allochthonous assemblage of
Mesozoic rocks of deep oceanic and crustal origin
(Bermeja and Duarte complexes) and deformed
allochthonous Cretaceous to Middle Eocene igneous
and sedimentary rocks of island-arc and crustal origin (Dengo and Case, 1990; Donovan and Jackson,
1994; Mann, 1999; Bartolini et al., 2003; IturraldeVinent and Lidiak, 2006). The island’s basement, as
an assemblage of all these geologic units, is a
younger, post–Middle Eocene entity, with in situ
latest Eocene to Recent sedimentary rocks of marine
and terrestrial origin (Iturralde-Vinent and
MacPhee, 1999).
Early Tertiary. The Paleocene through Middle
Eocene paleogeographic history is represented
herein by a map for the basal Early Eocene (~ 55
Ma; Fig. 5C). During this time interval, Yucatan,
Florida, and the Bahamas evolved as shallow carbonate platforms facing deep-water environments.
Within the Caribbean, the evolution of two main
volcanic archipelagos took place, one facing the
Pacific Ocean (Central American volcanic arc
system); the other, in the Caribbean interior, moved
eastward on the leading edge of the Caribbean plate
(Antillean volcanic arc system; Fig. 5C). The precise
position of the Antillean volcanic arc system during
the Eocene has been distinctly depicted by different
authors (e.g., Bartolini et al., 2003; Iturralde-Vinent
and Lidiak, 2006), but the scenario presented in this
paper was selected to be sufficiently general so as
not to contradict substantially any allochthonous
model of the Caribbean plate.
Challenging this reconstruction, Hedges (2001)
stated that “The Bahamas platform has remained a
relatively stable carbonate block for most of the
Cenozoic. However, the compressional forces of the
collision with the proto-Antilles during early Cenozoic may have caused uplift along the margin of the
Bahamas platform. Because the platform already
was near sea level, any uplift would have exposed
dry land for colonization by terrestrial organisms.”
805
These conclusions are not correct for several reasons. First, the Bahamas platform, as it is today, has
little to do with the “Bahamas platform” during the
Mesozoic and Early Tertiary, when it was much
larger, with a different shape, and a distinct paleogeography (Fig. 5C). Second, it is not accurate to say
that the “proto-Antilles” (which may imply actual
islands) collided with the Bahamas platform,
because the collision was between the Antillean volcanic arc system (the leading edge of the Caribbean
plate) and the Bahamas borderland (the so called
Placetas, Camajuaní, Remedios, and Cayo Coco
belts of northern Cuba, sensu Meyerhoff and Hatten,
1974; Pushcharovsky, 1988). Third, this collision
has been documented by Bralower and IturraldeVinent (1997) and Iturralde-Vinent (1994, 1996,
1998) to show that it produced a local Paleocene
uplift (forebulge) in parts of the Bahamas borderland
(the so-called Remedios and Cayo Coco belts) but it
was totally drowned in the Paleocene–Early Eocene
to become a deep water foreland basin. When this
collision ended in the Middle to Late Eocene, the
western part of the older Bahamas block remained
attached to the leading edge of the Caribbean plate
(northern Cuba), and a marine transgression
submerged large parts of present Cuban area and
further north to create the Canal Viejo de Bahamas
channel. Subsequently, since the Miocene, the
Bahamas assumed their present general shape (Fig.
6; Khudoley and Meyerhoff, 1971; Meyerhoff and
Hatten, 1974; Sheridan et al., 1988). On the other
hand, there is no paleontologic record of terrestrial
fossils or sediments within the Bahamas Cretaceous
and Early Tertiary stratigraphic sections, whose
southern margin extensively crops out in northern
Cuba (Meyerhoff and Hatten, 1974; Pushcharovsky,
1988), so the statement by Hedges remains fully
unsupported and speculative.
Regarding the Cretaceous and Paleogene Antillean volcanic arc system, there are clear indications
of land, shallows, and deep-water environments
associated with the volcanic ridge, but no evidence
of continuous land occurrence in time or space
(Maurrasse, 1990; Lidiak and Larue, 1998; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999; Bartolini et al.,
2003).
The Caribbean paleogeographic scenario discussed above for the Cretaceous to Late Eocene is
compatible with the occurrence of Early Eocene
North American land mammals (Hyrachyus sp.) in
Jamaica, found in association with fresh water
and marine vertebrates (Domning et al., 1997). As
FIG. 6. Caribbean latest Eocene–Early Oligocene paleogeography (35–33 Ma), updated from Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999). This scenario provides the possibility of
terrestrial biota migration from South America into the Aves–Greater Antilles ridge, and also reduces possibilities of marine biotal exchange accross the Caribbean Sea.
806
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
outlined by Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999),
this is an example of the “Viking funeral ship” scenario of McKenna (1973). Recognizance of the
Eocene localities with land vertebrates in Jamaica
(accomplished by the author during year 2000) support this scenario. Early Eocene vertebrates occur in
the Guy Hill Formation, which represent a coastal
siliciclastic depocenter, filled with arcosic sandstones and gravels intercalated with clay, silt, ligniferous sands and clays, and isolated beds of marly
limestones. This unit was deposited within intermediate fluvio-marine environments all along the westcentral part of present-day Jamaica (Western Jamaican block, sensu Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,
1999). By the Early Eocene, western Jamaica was
probably located in the latitude of Central America,
in contact with the Chortis Block–Nicaragua Rise
(Fig. 5C; Pindell, 1994; Domning et al., 1997).
These facts imply that the sedimentary basin where
the Guy Hill Formation was deposited was much
larger than present-day Jamaica, and the sediment
source must have been a continental terrane,
because the clastic sediments are well sorted, and
derived from sialic basement, implying long-distance transport. Therefore, the source area was
probably basement rocks of the Chortis Block/Nicaragua Rise, as part of northern Central America. In
this paleogeographic scenario, as suggested by
Domning et al. (1997), the North American terrestrial biota populated the “Jamaican/Central American territory” when it was a landspan (peninsular
projection) of North America (Iturralde-Vinent,
2005; Fig. 5C).
This inclusion of Jamaica in a peninsular projection of North America into Central America contradicts the statement of Hedges (2001) that the “…
recent discovery of ungulate (rhynocerontoid) and
iguanid lizard fossils from the Eocene (~50 Ma) of
Jamaica… indicate that a diverse biota may have
existed on some Caribbean islands in the early
Cenozoic.” But Jamaican terranes were detached
from Central America only after the Middle Eocene,
due to the displacement of the Caribbean plate
(Pindell, 1994), and much later uplifted as the
Caribbean island of Jamaica near its present
geographic position during the Neogene (Donovan
and Jackson, 1994).
The existence of evanescent (non-permanent)
islands, ridges, rises, and shallow banks in the Caribbean during the Cretaceous through Late Eocene
can be also visualized as non-permanent barriers
against the free flow of the Circum-Tropical marine
807
current across the Caribbean Seaway (Figs. 5, 9, and
10; Iturralde-Vinent, 2003a). This current was
certainly a major route for biotic dispersion, as suggested by the presence of several groups of marine
animals (Berggrem and Hollister, 1974; Smith,
1984; Scott, 1984; Sohl and Kollman, 1985;
Ricardi, 1991; Rojas et al., 1995; Kriwet, 2001;
Buitrón-Sánchez and Gómez-Espinosa, 2003; Schweitzer et al., in press). This marine current was
interrupted only between 75 and 65 Ma for no more
than 3–5 m.y., when the latest Campanian–Maastrichtian suspected land bridge was probably constructed along the Antillean volcanic arc system
(Figs. 5B and 10; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,
1999). This brief shutdown of the Circum-Tropical
marine current must have produced a noticeable
effect in the world climate and temporarily interrupted the marine biotic exchange along the Caribbean seaway.
Around the Middle to Late Eocene, a profound
modification of the Caribbean tectonic regime took
place (Mattson, 1984; Iturralde-Vinent and
MacPhee, 1999). A general uplift (Pyrenean orogeny) is recorded in every marine topographic high or
land area, both in the Caribbean realm and in its
surrounding marine and continental areas (Prothero
et al., 2003). In the Caribbean, sedimentation of
terrestrial conglomerates was a widespread event,
the so called “conglomerate event” of IturraldeVinent and MacPhee (1999). In concert with these
developments, the paleogeographic regime underwent important changes that defined a new stage in
the evolution of the region (Iturralde-Vinent, 1994,
1998; Iturralde-Vinent and Gahagan, 2002).
Latest Eocene to Recent: Formation of the
present-day Caribbean
The latest Eocene to Recent stage of the Caribbean paleogeographic evolution has been evaluated
in great detail (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,
1999; Iturralde-Vinent, 2001; MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent, 2005). I have generally concluded
that uplift of the core of the present Antilles started
after the Middle Eocene (~40 Ma). The Eocene–Oligocene transition ( ~35-33 Ma) was the peak of this
general uplift (Pyrenean orogeny) when the amount
of land in the Caribbean should have been at a
maximum (Fig. 6). The Late Oligocene was a time of
high sea level, and therefore of minimum exposure
(and probably minimal interconnectedness) of emergent areas (Fig. 7). Since the early Middle Miocene,
further isolation of land areas took place as a conse-
FIG. 7. Caribbean Late Oligocene paleogeography (29–27 Ma), updated from Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999). This map illustrates the initiation of the break-up and
dispersion of the Antillean blocks and terranes, which last until the present. This event triggered island-island vicariance of terrestrial biotas, a process that lasted until the
Pliocene. Marine biotal exchange resumed across the Caribbean during this interval.
808
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
quence of active tectonic disruption of the northern
and southern Caribbean plate boundaries. In the
case of the Greater Antilles, this resulted in the tectonic subdivision of previously existing landmasses
(Fig. 8). This subdivision was very significant biogeographically as it probably resulted in islandisland vicariance of sloths (White and MacPhee,
2001) and other terrestrial organisms (MacPhee and
Iturralde-Vinent, 1994, 1995, 2000).
Late Eocene–Oligocene transition. The paleogeographic scenario for the Eocene–Oligocene transition (zones P16 to P18 of Berggren et al., 1995) was
characterized by the formation of a large peninsular
extension of South America (Gaarlandia landspan)
that reached as far as central Cuba. The westernmost Cuban archipelago was isolated from nearby
lands by the Havana-Matanzas and Yucatan channels (Iturralde-Vinent, 1969, 1972; Iturralde-Vinent
et al., 1996). The Central American volcanic arc
system was partially uplifted, but the land areas
remained generally isolated from nearby continents
(Coates and Obando, 1996; Denyer and Kussmaul,
2002; Iturralde-Vinent, 2005). Other small islands
and shallow banks were present in different parts of
the Caribbean (Fig. 6). Under these conditions,
Gaarlandia interrupted the Circum-Tropical marine
current, but limited flow took place between the
Pacific, Caribbean, and North Atlantic via the Strait
of Florida (Fig. 6; Mullins and Neumann, 1979; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999). For a short time
period, < 3 million years, overland dispersal from
northern South America into Gaarlandia occurred
for various elements of the land biota (Borhidi,
1985; MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent, 1994, 1995,
2000, 2005; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1996,
1999). The Caribbean waters may have cooled due
to the combined action of the California current
drifting southward (Duque Caro, 1990; Droxler et
al., 1998) and the general cooling of the world
climate (Wright and Miller, 1993; Prothero et al.,
2003).
Oligocene. Since the Early Oligocene (~32–30
Ma), but certainly by Late Oligocene (zones P21bP22 of Berggren et al., 1995), many Caribbean lowlands were inundated, and Gaarlandia was subdivided into distinct archipelagos (Fig. 7). The
Circum-Tropical marine current was re-established,
producing another change in climate due to the
influx of warm Atlantic waters into the Caribbean
(Duque Caro, 1990; Droxler et al., 1998; see also
Wright and Miller, 1993). The terrestrial organisms
that colonized Gaarlandia in the Eocene-Oligocene
809
transition became isolated from the continent, and
represents the earliest true Greater Antillean biota.
Elements of this biota with a clear South American
signature have been found in Lower Oligocene units
of Puerto Rico; in the Miocene of Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Cuba; and in younger deposits of many
Antillean islands (Monroe, 1980; Borhidi, 1985;
Graham, 1986, 1990; MacPhee and Wyss, 1990;
MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent, 1994, 1995, 2000;
MacPhee and Grimaldi, 1996; MacPhee et al.,
2003; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1996, 1999;
White and MacPhee, 2001). In the Caribbean, the
first coral reef communities appeared in the Oligocene, and evolved to importance during the Neogene and Holocene (Frost et al., 1983; Budd et al.,
1996; González Ferrer and Iturralde-Vinent, 2004).
Miocene and Pliocene. During the Miocene and
Pliocene, the Caribbean plate continued its eastward displacement (Pindell, 1994; Iturralde-Vinent
and Gahagan, 2002). The Greater Antillean tectonic
terranes were transported, deformed, and skewed
along the contact between the Caribbean and North
American plates, creating deep marine straits that
completed the isolation of the major islands as independent geographic entities (Fig. 8; IturraldeVinent and Gahagan, 2002). The Circum-Tropical
marine current drifted more efficiently across the
Caribbean Sea into the Pacific Ocean, with a branch
that fed the early Gulf Stream (Iturralde-Vinent et
al., 1996; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999).
Regarding the climate, the oxygen isotope curves
record Middle Miocene (17 and 14 Ma) warm excursions (relative maxima) both in the Atlantic and
Pacific (Tsuchi, 1993; Wright and Miller, 1993).
These events have been correlated in the Caribbean
with the unusual production of resin by the amberproducer tree Hymenaea protera in Hispaniola and
Puerto Rico (Iturralde-Vinent and Hartstein, 1999;
Iturralde-Vinent, 2001), suggesting that in both
marine and terrestrial environments an unusual
warm climatic maxima probably occurred. After this
event, a general cooling trend is evident in the
oxygen isotope signature (Tsuchi, 1993; Wright and
Miller, 1993).
About Late Pliocene (nearly 2.5–2.3 Ma), but
starting as a shallow ridge as early as 3.0 Ma (Jackson et al., 1996), the Isthmus of Panama closed and
formed the Central American land bridge. Nevertheless, this closure was not fully erected, because
Tonnoidean gastropod larvae were capable of crossing between the Caribbean and the Pacific during
interglacial maxima during the Early Pleistocene
FIG. 8. Caribbean Lower–Middle Miocene paleogeography (16–14 Ma), updated from Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999). This scenario represents the tectonic isolation of
the Antillean blocks and terranes, and formation of the present island cores.
810
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
(Beu, 2001). This ridge probably had an ephemeral
precursor back in the late Middle Miocene, creating
some closely spaced shallows and islands in Central
America, when some South American mammals dispersed into North America (Webb, 1985; Lucas and
Alvarado, 1994). The Pliocene was also a time of
general uplift in many areas of the Caribbean, producing the backbone of today’s relief (IturraldeVinent, 1969, 1978, 2003b; Mann et al., 1990;
Coates and Obando; 1996; van Gestel et al., 1998,
1999). As this paleogeographic situation evolved,
the Caribbean region looked more like that of today.
The island’s shelf became defined, the major mountain ranges formed, but the topographically low
parts of the landscape were subjected to repeated
inundation and desiccation due to oscillatory sea
level rise and fall (Haq et al., 1987) and vertical
motion of the earth’s crust (Mann et al., 1990; Iturralde-Vinent, 1978, 1998, 2003b). These events
produced short time subdivisions or ephemeral connections between closely related topographic highs
and small islands in the Caribbean, but never again
between the major islands (Cayman, Bahamas,
Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico).
Neither were there connections between the islands
and the nearby continents, because they were separated by deep water channels generally since the
Miocene and Pliocene (Mann et al., 1990; IturraldeVinent and MacPhee, 1999).
Concerning island connectivity, research by van
Gestel et al. (1998, 1999) challenged the widely
held conclusion that the island of Puerto Rico had
been continuously uplifted since the latest Eocene
(Meyerhoff, 1933; Monroe, 1980; Iturralde-Vinent
and MacPhee, 1995, 1999). According to van Gestel
et al. (1999), the Oligocene to Pliocene phase of
development of Puerto Rico “… started with a
period of non-deposition and erosion, resulting in a
Latest Eocene to Oligocene unconformity”; but
since the Middle Oligocene the Puerto Rico and the
Virgin Islands were covered by the sea (van Gestel
et al., 1999, their Fig. 18). This statement was
addressed in detail by MacPhee et al. (2003). First,
during the Eocene–Oligocene transition, thick terrestrial conglomerates, paleosol and alluvial sandstone with terrestrial plant remains were deposited,
clearly indicating erosion and non-marine deposition (Monroe, 1980; MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent,
1995; Montgomery, 1998). Second, Oligocene and
Miocene stratigraphic sections along the northern
and southern coastal flanks of the island are different in many aspects, and normally contain clastic
811
material derived from the igneous-sedimentary
Cretaceous–Eocene core of Puerto Rico (Monroe,
1980; Iturralde-Vinent and Hartstein, 1998). Third,
many findings of Oligocene and Miocene terrestrial
fossil remains, undoubtedly indicating the existence
of land, have been reported from the island
(Graham, 1986; MacPhee and Wiss, 1990; MacPhee
and Iturralde-Vinent, 1995; Iturralde-Vinent and
Harstein, 1998, Iturralde-Vinent, 2001; MacPhee et
al., 2003).
On the other hand, the interpretation of several
offshore seismic lines by van Gestel et al. (1998)
provide important information concerning the interconnectiveness of Puerto Rico with Hispaniola, the
Virgin Islands, and Saba Bank. The Gulf line LS49
(van Gestel et al. 1998, Fig. 12) strongly suggests
that St. Croix was isolated from Saba Bank since the
Middle Miocene; Gulf lines LS50 to LS52 (van
Gestel et al. 1998, their Fig. 11) also strongly suggest that the marine depression between Puerto Rico
and the easternmost Virgin Island was inundated
only since the Pliocene. The interpretation of EW
96-05 line 35 and UTIG north-south line VB by van
Gestel et al. (1998, Figs. 14 and 15) accross the
Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola,
on the other hand, suggest that the area was inundated since the Oligocene.
This interpretation contradicts Iturralde-Vinent
and MacPhee (1999), who assumed the inundation
to have taken place after the Miocene, mostly
because the old pre-latest Eocene island cores are
exposed or covered by transgresive “Pleistocene
rocks” on both sides of the Mona passage. van
Gestel et al.’s (1998) interpretation of the age of the
sediments filling in the Mona Passage is based on
the assumption that they have “the same age as in
the Puerto Rico North Coast basin,” but they do not
have any direct stratigraphic control. It would be
more correct to correlate the sediments filling the
Mona Passage with those outcropping on both sides
of the passage (in easternmost Hispaniola and westernmost Puerto Rico). Those in westernmost Puerto
Rico are definitely Quaternary, but those on easternmost Hispaniola are newly dated as Middle to Late
Miocene in age. The age revision of the Upper
Tertiary rocks of Hispaniola conducted during
winter 2003 by the author, included the recovery of
several samples from two quarries (one near Bassora
and the other east of La Romana), which yield
microfossils (Sorites marginalis (including specimens ~ 2 cm in diameter), Amphistegina spp.,
Amphistegina angulata, Amphistegina cf. A. rotundata,
812
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
?Nummulites sp., Victoriella sp., Globigerinita sp.
[rare], Globigerina sp. [rare], Acervulinidae, mollusks, echinoids, and red algae, identified by Silvia
Blanco Bustamante). This fossil assemblage can be
dated as Middle or Late Miocene, because of the
presence of Miocene taxa and the absent of Early
Miocene species (as Lepidocyclina or Miogypsina).
On the other hand, fossils described by Kaye
(1959) from the islands Mona and Monito suggest a
Lower or Middle Miocene age. In order to corroborate this dating, paleontological samples kindly
provided by Wilson Ramírez from the limestone and
dolostones exposed in Mona island were investigated. These samples, also indentified by Silvia
Blanco Bustamante, yield algae, spines of equinoderms, bryozoa and foraminifera (Nummulites sp.,
Amphistegina angulata, Amphistegina cf. A. gibbosa
and Orbulina? sp.) which can be dated as Middle or
Late Miocene, also because the presence of Miocene
taxa and the absence of Early Miocene markers. The
fact that near Mona Island (within the Mona Passage) the thickness of the oldest seismostratigraphic
beds wedge out, suggest that the older basement
below Mona was exposed longer than the rest of the
graben, and the rocks of Mona are near the oldest
basement. Therefore, it is tentatively assumed here,
following MacPhee et al. (2003), that the marine
inundation of the Mona Passage and isolation
between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola may have
started around the mid-Oligocene (~30 Ma) but also
in the Early Miocene, because Miocene rocks of
Mona and Dominican Republic reflect shallowmarine environments.
Hedges (2001) argue against the IturraldeVinent and MacPhee (1999) paleogeographic reconstruction of Puerto Rico, because “Larue (1994)
noted that shallow-water limestone facies are found
in north- and south-central Puerto Rico, suggesting
that the Central Block may have been a topographic
high in the Eocene.” Although this evidence does
not contradict the interpretation that IturraldeVinent and MacPhee (1999) presented for Puerto
Rico, the same Larue et al. (1998) concluded that
the core of the island was inundated in the Paleocene-Eocene, and later inversion and uplift took
place between the Late Eocene and Middle
Oligocene. Furthermore, geological prospecting of
the island by the author (1999–2003) revealed the
presence of Paleocene to Middle Eocene rocks of
deep-marine origin in the northern, western, and
central areas of Puerto Rico, which suggests that the
deformed Antilles Cretaceous volcanic arc core was
covered by the sea during the Early Tertiary (see
also Larue et al., 1998; Montgomery, 1998). Later, in
the Late Eocene, the presence of a regional unconformity and terrestrial deposits in the island indicates that it was uplifted as part of Gaarlandia
(Larue et al., 1998; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,
1995, 1999). Under this scenario, the occurrence of
Oligocene and Miocene shallow-water marine rocks
in both northern and southern Puerto Rico, with terrestrially derived clastic material (Monroe, 1980,
see also a full evaluation by MacPhee et al., 2003),
as well as offshore in the North Basin of Puerto Rico
(Larue et al., 1998), indicates that not only the
central block, but the entire axial part of the island
was uplifted since the latest Eocene as depicted by
Meyerhoff (1933).
Hedges (2001) further disputed the authors
interpretation of the “Aves ridge.” According to
Hedges (2001) … “the difference between an island
chain and a continuous land bridge is fundamental
for biogeography …”, but “… geological support for
a continuous land bridge vs. a chain of islands does
not exist.” However, Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee
(1999) compiled a set of data that show that Aves
Ridge was a topographic high during the Eocene–
Oligocene transition, with important possibilities of
being completely uplifted for a short period, but do
not rule out the possibility that it may has been a
close chain of islands separated by a shallow shelf.
Any of these arrangements provided a route for
terrestrial dispersion of land taxa as confirmed by
the fossil record (see Table 1 of MacPhee et al.,
2003; MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent, 2005). On the
other hand, this paleogeographic scenario explains
why Aves Ridge operated as a filter and not as a full
corridor for the dispersion of the land biota
(MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent, 2000).
Among the problematic aspects of the paleogeographical reconstruction presented here (Figs. 6, 7
and 8), pending further evaluation, is the subdivision of Jamaica into two main independent terranes,
the close positioning of the southwestern peninsula
of Hispaniola and the Blue Mountains Block of
Jamaica in the Oligocene, as well as the inferred
permanent exposure of parts of eastern Jamaica
(Blue Mountains Block) as early as 33–35 Ma (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999). For a summary of
these relationships, see Figures 9 and 10.
Quaternary. The Pleistocene and Holocene
paleogeography of the Caribbean have not been fully
developed up to the present. Nevertheless, recently
Iturralde-Vinent (2003b) produced a set of three
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
813
FIG. 9. Schematic illustration of the Jurassic to Recent evolution of water circulation across west-central Pangea/
Caribbean Seaway, updated after Iturralde-Vinent (2003a) with new information provided in this paper and new
chronology.
paleogeographic maps for Cuba (Fig. 11), including
the Pliocene–Lower Pleistocene, the Late Pleistocene (~125,000–120,000 a), and the latest Pleistocene (~25,000–20,000 a). These maps suggest
that the present shape of the island was attained
8,000–6,000 years ago, that about 25,000 years ago
the entire present shelf was uplifted, and that about
125,000 years ago only isolated islands occurred
within the territory of present-day Cuba. The
present-day Island of Youth (Isle of Pines) and western Cuba were connected at least between 125,000
and 8,000 years ago, providing a route for animal
814
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
FIG. 10. Jurassic to Recent evolution of land occurrences and terrestrial interconnections within the Caribbean,
modified and updated from Figure 12 of Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999), with additional data provided in this
paper and new chronology. Vertical patterns are lands, and horizontal shades imply non-permanent connections as land
bridge and landspan. Large horizontal arrows suggest possible overland migratory routes.
migration between these lands. Also I concluded
that today’s small islands and keys within the Cuban
shelf are very young features, probably younger than
25,000 years (Iturralde-Vinent, 2003b).
Concerning the marine biota, about 20,000 to
25,000 years ago, the emergence of the whole Cuban
shelf must have eliminated all marine life, so
the present-day coralline and related communities
must be younger (González Ferrer and IturraldeVinent, 2004). In relation to the climate, it was suggested that periodic stages of cool, dry weather coincided with every glacial period, while warm, wet
stages attended interglacial periods. Under this
circumstance, the terrestrial biota populating PlioPleistocene Cuban territory experienced several
stages (glacial maxima) of high possibilities of
exchange and interaction (full connectivity within
the territory), intercalated with stages of isolation
and concentration within the highlands (interglacial
maxima), concurrent with climatic modifications
(Fig. 11). These events may have shaped the evolution of the biota in the Quaternary, and probably
account for extinctions and development of local
endemics. The same events may have operated in
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
815
FIG. 11. Late Pliocene to latest Pleistocene paleogeographic evolution of Cuba after Iturralde-Vinent (2003b). These
maps illustrate a typical scenario for conditions of glacial and interglacial maxima that repeatedly took place since the
Pliocene. Glacial maxima allowed extensive dispersion of terrestrial organisms, whereas interglacial maxima favored
isolation of the biota in high lands (transient island conditions). The 25–20,000 a glacial maxima produced the total
exposure of the present Cuban shelf, destroying all shallow-marine ecosystems. Consequently the present marine populations of the Cuban shelf are younger. Since the beginning of the Holocene, the outline of the present land areas have
been shaped and reshaped constantly as a consequence of sea level rise and fall and neotectonic movements.
816
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
the entire Caribbean area, but we cannot prove it at
present.
The Late Eocene to Recent paleoceanographic
model for the Caribbean, developed by IturraldeVinent (2003a), takes into account the importance of
topographic factors in the reconstruction of the main
trend of surface marine currents (Fig. 12). However,
Hedges (2001) postulated that the present pattern of
surface marine currents in the Caribbean was similar during the entire Cenozoic. His position is
mostly based on the belief that the Coriolis effect is
the only driving force for surface marine currents.
This simplistic interpretation is flawed, as demonstrated by Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999),
MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent (2000, 2005), and
Iturralde-Vinent (2003a).
Conclusions
The conclusions of this paper are meant to be
independent of any biogeographical bias. They show
that we have advanced in our comprehension of the
Caribbean paleogeography and paleoceanography,
but at the same time suggest how far are we yet from
a complete understanding of some important details
of the area’s geological history.
1. Caribbean seaway. The history of the Caribbean as a seaway is synthesized in Figure 9. The
marine connection between western Tethys and the
eastern Pacific across west-central Pangea, according to biogeographic interpretations, is postulated to
have existed since the Early Jurassic (Hettangian–
Pliensbachian) according to paleontological findings (Berggren and Hollister, 1974; Imlay, 1984;
Boomer and Ballent, 1996; Damborenea, 2000;
Gasparini and Iturralde-Vinent, in press), but the
stratigraphic basis for this date is lacking. Probably
since Bathonian (~165 Ma), but certainly since
Oxfordian (~159 Ma), the stratigraphic and paleontologic record indicates that this connection was
fully functional as a corridor for marine biotas, and
the Circum-Tropical marine current established
(Fig. 9).
2. Intercontinental connections. The history of
terrestrial connections within the Caribbean realm
is summarized in Figure 10. The last time that overland dispersal between western Laurasia (North
America) and western Gondwana (South America)
had some probability of occurrence was during the
Middle Jurassic, because since the Oxfordian the
continents were separated by a marine gap (Fig. 1).
Later, in the latest Campanian/Maastrichtian (~75–
65 Ma) a landbridge or closely located islands and
shallows may have been present along the axis of the
Antillean volcanic arc system connecting North and
South America (Fig. 5A). During that time, the Antillean volcanic arc system was located in the present
possition of Central America. On the other hand, the
present-day bridge (Panamanian Isthmus) was
completed only in the Plio-Pleistocene as part of the
Central American volcanic arc system (2.5–2.3 Ma).
Evidence for a precursor bridge late in the Middle
Miocene (~9 Ma; Fig. 10) remains ambiguous at this
time, because it is based only on paleontologic
evidences (Webb, 1985).
3. Availability of lands in the Caribbean. The history of land occurrence in the Caribbean realm is
summarized in Figure 10. Since the formation of the
first volcanic archipelago within the Caribbean
plate about the time of the Jurassic–Cretaceous
transition, volcanic islands, shallow banks, and
ridges have been always present in the paleogeographic scenario of the region. But these lands were
generally ephemeral, because they lasted just a few
million of years before being drowned (IturraldeVinent and MacPhee, 1999). Also, the tectonic
terranes where these lands evolved were not located
in the same paleogeographic position as today,
because of subsequent lateral movements of the
tectonic plates (Figs. 7, 8, and 9). Only after the
Middle Eocene (~ 40 Ma) have permanent lands
been available within the Caribbean geographic
setting (Fig. 10). Gaarlandia emerged later at about
35–33 Ma, forming a long ridge (landspan) that
briefly connected northern South America with central Cuba (Fig. 6). Gaarlandia was partially drowned
since ca. 32–30 Ma (Fig. 7), and diverse groups
of islands developed and ultimately became the
present day lands and shallow banks of the
Caribbean.
4. Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic Caribbean biotas.
Fossils remains of terrestrial fauna and flora are
known since the Lower Jurassic sedimentary sections of western Pangea around the future Caribbean
realm. From the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) onward,
the occurrence of marine fossils has been recorded
in the Caribbean region (Guaniguanico, Escambray,
and Pinos terranes of western Cuba), but they
represent biotic elements of intercontinental sea
channels within Pangea (Fig. 2C). Terrestrial island
biota are also recorded from the Cretaceous and
throughout the Eocene within the Antillean volcanic
arc terranes, chiefly represented by plants and
invertebrates. Eocene vertebrates are reported from
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
817
FIG. 12. Caribbean Late Eocene to Recent paleoceanographic model after Iturralde-Vinent (2003a). This scenario
takes into account the constantly changing terrestrial and submarine relief of the region, as well as general patterns of
ocean water circulation. This can be utilized as a tool to evaluate any model of Late Tertiary overwater dispersal.
818
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
FIG. 13. Caribbean lands chorogram for the Middle Eocene to Recent interval. Small black ovals represent points of
convergence or divergence of land units. The triangular gray pattern associated with land divergence or convergence
suggests possible land connectivity during sea level drops. Gaarlandia is depicted as a large black oval. NA and SA
indicate North and South America, respectively. Black blocks mean land, either island (vertically short) or continent
(vertically long). Horizontal grey strips depict extensive land exposure and potential interconnectivity during tectonic
uplift or glacial maxima.
western Jamaica, but this paleobiota belonged originally to northern Central America (Fig. 5C). Nevertheless, probably none of these pre–latest Eocene
terrestrial clades survived into the present-day biota
of the Caribbean islands, inasmuch as no paleontologic record exists to prove it. Cretaceous and
Eocene terrestrial lineages are assumed to have
been rooted in the Antilles, solely based in molecular clocks used to date phylogenetic divergence
(Hedges, 2001; Dávalos, 2004; Roca et al., 2004);
but the method has been challenged by several
authors (Crother, 2002; Crother and Guyer, 1996;
Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999; MacPhee and
Iturralde-Vinent, 2000, 2003, 2005).
5. The bolide that impacted the earth in Yucatan
(Chicxulub) at 65 Ma induced unusual catastrophic
events that affected the Caribbean geographic and
biological environment. Both marine and terrestrial
biotas sustained a high level of mortality, probably
larger than in other areas of the planet. Consequently, the Caribbean biota were severely damaged
and probably none of the local species, especially
terrestrial ones, survived into the Tertiary. This
implies that the window of opportunity for coloniza-
819
CARIBBEAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY
tion of the Caribbean sea and lands can be limited to
the Cenozoic (Crother and Guyer, 1996; IturraldeVinent and MacPhee, 1999; MacPhee and IturraldeVinent, 2005).
6. Origins of the present-day land biota. The
present-day terrestrial biota of the Caribbean
Islands originated after the Middle Eocene (<40
Ma), when permanent land masses became available. These lands (peninsular projections of the continents, archipelagos, isolated islands, and keys),
underwent extensive modifications in terms of relief,
extension, and geographic position. Periodic
climatic changes also took place, specially since the
Pliocene. Nevertheless, the lands were able to
accommodate a rich biota that evolved into today’s
island ecosystems. In order to characterize land
occurrence and land connectivity since the Lower
Oligocene within the Caribbean, Dávalos (2004,
Fig. 1) produced a geological area chorogram mostly
based on Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999).
Here I present a different version of the geological
area chorogram, extended backward to the Middle
Eocene, based on all the plate tectonic and stratigraphic evidence presented in this paper (Fig. 13).
This figure can be used to test biogeographic
scenarios.
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank Ross D. E. MacPhee
(American Museum of Natural History, New York)
and Zulma Gasparini (Natural History Museum of
the University of La Plata) for sharing relevant paleontological data with the author, and for extensive
discussions about the historical biogeography of the
Caribbean land fauna and marine reptiles respectively. Silvia Blanco Bustamante (Petroleum
Research Center, Cuba) and Consuelo Díaz Otero
(Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Cuba) identified microfossils of key samples for this study. Reinaldo Rojas, Stephen Díaz, William Suárez (Museo
Nacional de Historia Natural, Cuba) and Juanito
Gallardo (Museo de Viñales, Cuba), provided great
support during field work. Lisa Gahagan and Larry
Lawver (University of Texas at Austin), provided
access to the program PLATES for the plate tectonic
reconstruction of the Caribbean. Support for the
field and laboratory research for this paper in
Argentina and the Greater Antilles was provided by
grants 6001/97, 6009/97, and 6984/1 from the
National Geographic Society, the American Museum
of Natural History, the Institute for Geophysics and
the Institute for Latin American Studies of the University of Texas at Austin, the Spanish DGES-MEC
project BTE2002-01011 (University of Granada,
Spain), the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de
Cuba, and other sources. Field reconnaissance work
carried out in Central America, and some locations
in the Lesser and Greater Antilles, was also provided by the UNESCO/IUGS International Geologic
Correlation Program for the years 2000–2004.
Note
While this paper was in press, a meeting was
held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, July 5–8,
2006, dedicated to “Biological Diversification on
the West Indies Archipelago” [www.lacertilia.com/
WIndies/]. During this event, among other issues,
the paleogeographic background for biological
colonization, diversification, extinction, and permanence of terrestrial life in the islands was evaluated.
Of particular interest to evolutionary biologists
were: (1) land permanence, and (2) the erection and
disappearance of terrestrial connections, both
between continent and islands and between islands.
Regarding land permanence, geologists argue
that island landscapes in the past may have been of
two general kinds: (a) islands with mountains and
plains (as Cuba or Puerto Rico today); and (b) shallows and low sandy keys with mangrove vegetation
(as some Bahamian keys today). These two geographic scenarios imposed different constraints to
species survival, as the first type of islands may last
longer, geologically speaking, whereas the second
type may be ephemeral, subject to reduction or
disappearance by the combined action of tectonic
subsidence, strong hurricanes, tsunamis, and sea
level rise.
Regarding connections between lands, those
events may occur due to local or general tectonic
uplift (as at the end of the Eocene in the Caribbean)
and/or sea level decline. The interruption of land
connections can take place in two steps. Initially a
marine transgression may override the connector,
producing shallow seas and ephemeral sandy keys
and shallows, as occur today between Cuba and the
Island of Youth. Eventually, tectonic forces may
produce a break-up of the shelf and erect a deep
channel, widening and complicating the gap
between lands, as the present-day Windward
Passage produced by the Cayman trench system.
Mona Passage was presented as an example of
initial drowning starting in the Upper Oligocene
820
MANUEL A. ITURRALDE-VINENT
or the Lower Miocene, later separated by a deep
channel since the Pliocene. Biologically speaking, a
shallow-water passage with keys may eventually
allow overland dispersal of terrestrial organisms, but
can behave more as a filter than as a corridor. The
Aves Ridge was presented as an example of a connecting feature between South America and the
nucleus of the Greater Antilles during the Eocene
and Oligocene transition, represented by small
islands, sandy keys, and shallows that may be completely subaerial for a short period of time.
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