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Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Institutefor Geophysics,
Universityof Texasat Austin
2141
2142 ROSENCRANTZ
ETAL.: AGEANDSPREADING
HISTORYOFTI-IECAYMANTROUGH
Honduras CARIBBEAN
Jo
'"
__ PACiFiC OCEAN
Fig.1. Sketch
mapshowing
themajortectonic
features
of theCaribbean
region,
withthelocation
of theCayman
Trough
outlined.
Abbreviations
areasfollows:
Jo,Jocotan-Chameleon
fault;Mo,Motagua
fault;andPo,Polochic
fault.
GEOLOGICAL
ANDGEOPHYSlCAL
OVERVIEW withrugged
topography
consisting
of N-Strending
ridges
and
troughswith maximum reliefs of over 2000 m. The easternand
TheCayman
Troughis anelongate,
rectangular
E-Wtrendingwestern
endsof thetroughhavewaterdepths
whichexceed
4500
deepbasin
which
liessouth
of theCayman RidgeandCubaand M andareunderlain
bysediments
upto1.5sthick(two-waytravel
north
ofHonduras,
theNicaragua
Rise,andJamaica
(Figure
2). It time).Thepresent
position
ofthenorthern
Caribbeanstrike-slip
is bounded northandsouthby precipitous
escarpments which plateboundary
isdefined bytheOrienteandSwan Island
transform
locally
risemorethan5000rnfromthebasin floor.Thecentralfaults [Molnar
andSykes, 1969].Holcombeetal.[1973]identified
thirdofthetrough(between
longitudes
80øand84øW) isflooreda N-Strending, flat-floored
valleyatlongitude
81ø40'W asthe
88 87 86 85 84 8; 81 ORIENTETRANSFORM
FAI 77 76
19-
18-
-18
17- -17
ß
16-
SWAN
ISLANDS
TRANSFORM
FAU•
84 83 82 81 80 79 78 77 76
Fig.2. Bathymetryandmajortectonicfeatures
of theCayman Trough.Bathymetric contours arein kilometers,withthe
exception
ofthedashedline,whichdefines
the200-m contour.
Contour
lines
withticsenclose
deeps. Theheavy solidlinetraces
thepresent
NorthAmerican-Caribbean
plate
boundary. Earthquake
epicenters
areshown asdots(bothsolidandopen).Earthquakes
includeevents
between January1963andSeptember 1986,aslistedbytheInternational
Seismological Center(ISC).Focal
mechanismsarebestdouble-couple
solutions
fromtheHarvardcentroid
moment tensorsolutions
[see
Dziewonski etal.,1981]and
areshownasequalangle,lower
hemisphere
projections,
withshaded
quadrants
representing
compressivefirstmotions.
ROSEN• ET AL.: AGE AND SPREADING HISTORY OF THE CAYMAN TROUGH 2143
location
of a spreading
centerconnecting
thetwotransform
faults. fromthewestern
endof thenorthernfaultscarpandthesouthern
Topography central
tothetroughappears
symmetrical
aboutthis walloftheOriente
transform
faultyieldLateCretaceous
K-Arages
spreading
center.This interpretation
agreedwith othergeophysical [Perfitandtleezen,1978].
datapreviously
collected
withinthetrough[MolnarandSykes, Thegeology
of Guatemala,
to thewestof theCayman
Trough,
1969; Ewing et al., 1960;Bowin, 1968,Edgar et al., 1971; yieldsno firm evidence
of CaymanTroughevolution,
otherthan
Ericksonet al., 1972] and was subsequently
provedby detailed that strike-slipmotionhasoccurredbetweenthe North American
mappings
of the area[PerfitandHeezen,1978;CAYTROUGH, andCaribbean
platessincetheOligocene.
Thismotionhasbeen
1979;Stroup
andFox,1981]. accommodated
alongtheeast-west trendingPolochic,
Motagua and
Macdonald
andHolcombe [1978]computed spreading
ratesforthe Jocotan-Chameleon
left-lateral,
strike-slip
faultsystems.
Burkart
Cayman Troughbased upontheidentification
of anomalies
alonga [1983]showed thatthePolochic faultdisplacesthemiddleto late
single
magneticprofilecrossing
thespreadingaxis.TheircalculatedMiocenevolcanic
arcof CentralAmerica by approximately 130
rateswere20 mm/yrfor theperiod0-2.4Ma and40 mm/yrfor kmandthattheeastern endof thePolochic faultterminates
against
2.4-8.5Ma. The youngerrate(20 mm/yr)agreeswith North theMotaguafault. DeatonandBurkart[1984]arguedthatthis
American-Caribbean
instantaneous
relativemotionascalculated
on displacement
tookplacebetween10.3 and6.6 Ma. On the other
thebasisof globalrelativeplatemotions[e.g.,Jordan,1975]. hand,geologicalevidencefrom the regionof Jamaicaand
Sykeset al. [1982]suggestedthatspreadingslowedat 2.4 Ma Hispaniola,
to theeastof thetrough,
indicates
thatit opened
in
because
a new plateboundary
developed
alongthePlantain
Garden- Eocenetime. Land [1979] suggested
thata seriesof horstlike
Enriquillofaultsystem transecting
Jamaica andHispaniola [Mann blocksat theeastern marginof thetroughnorthof Jamaica are
etal., 1983,1984]. cappedwith Eoceneageclasticdeposits whichmay be the
The spreading ratesof Macdonald andHolcombedo not fully downfaulted equivalents of similarnearbyJamaican rocks. In
agreewith severalbits of geologicalinformation whichrelate Hispaniola,
Bizonet al. [1985]attributed
stratigraphic
anomalies
directlytorelativeplatemotion.Holcombe etal. [1973]observedwithinHaitianOligocene andMiocenesediment sequencesto
thatalthough the longitudinal
sectionof theCaymanTroughis crustalmovements relatedto strike-slipfaultingand further
indistinguishable
from thoseof slow spreadingmid-oceanrises, suggested
thattheearlyto middleEocenealkalinevolcanicsseenin
depths
tobasement aresignificantly
greater
thanthoseobserved at thispartof Haitimarktheonsetof thisfaulting.ManyCaribbean
othermid-oceanicspreadingcenters.They appliedsubsidencereconstructions [e.g.,PindellandDewey,1982;Sykeset al., 1982;
curvesderivedfor theNorthPacific[Sclateret al., 1971]to a Burkeet al., 1984] proposea lateEocene(36-40Ma) timeof
smoothedversionof basementtopography.
Thesecurves suggested CaymanTroughopening,basedlargelyon reconstructions of
that the trough opened at an estimated rate of 22 mm/yr. Eoceneplatepositions.
Rosencrantzand Sclater [1986] comparedcrustal depths to
subsidence curves which accommodated lateral as well as vertical
DE• TO BASEMENT
cooling of lithosphere [Boerner and Sclater, 1987]. These
subsidencecurvessuggestthat the troughhas openedat a rate of Holcombeet al. [1973] notedthatbathymetricprofilesof the
only about15 mm/yr for the past30 m.y. CaymanTroughorientedparallelto the lengthof the basinare
Sparsegeological information alsoindicates thatthetroughtypical ofthose acrossdeepoceanspreadingcenters,withbasement
opened at slowrates.Perfit[1977]argued thatmarlylimestonesslopingawayfromthespreading axis.Theprofileswereunusual
containing Miocene-Pliocene fossilfragments dredged nearthe onlyin that waterdepthsweresignificantly deeperthanthose
present spreading axisshowthatthetrough hasopened ata rateof observed at typicalspreading centers[Holcombe et al., 1973;
approximately 10 mm/yrfor thepast5 m.y. AlongtheMotagua CAYTROUGH,1979].Rosencrantz andSclater[1986]examined
faultin Guatemala, westof thetrough, measurements of recent depths to basement ascalculatedfrom theseseismic profiles.
offsetsindicatethatthepresent rateof sliponthatfaultisbetweenTheyshowed thatbasement topographyalongthetrough suggests
1.5and6 mm/yr[Schwartz et al., 1979]. Although equivalentthatit opened in twodistinct
stages.Theyounger stageproduced
amounts of undocumented displacement couldoccuroneitherthe crestcharacterized by hightopographic reliefandappreciable
nearbyPolochicor Jocotan faults,raisingtotalrateof relative subsidence awayfromthepresent spreading axis,whereas crest
displacement to perhapsasmuchas 18mm/yr[Schwartz et al., generated duringthe olderstageshowslesserrelief andsmall
1979],ErdlacandAnderson [1982]argued thatdisplacementonthe increasesindepthwithincreasing distancefromtheaxis.Crustal
Polochic
faultsince
Miocenetimehasbeenatmostakilometer
or subsidencewithinthecentral,
youngerpartofthetrough
indicated
two,andthereisnoevidence
forPresent
movementontheJocotanthattherateof opening
during
thelaterstage
wasabout15mm/yr.
fault. Thiswouldsuggest
thatthemeasured
displacements
along An intensivereexamination
of the distributionof basement
theMotaguasystemmayin factreflecta current,veryslow depthsin thetrough,incorporating
depthscalculated
fromall
Caribbean-North
American
rateof strike-slip
motion
in Centralavailable
seismic
profiles,
including
thefiveprofiles
examined
by
America. Rosencrantzand Scalter[1986],andfrom the multibeam
Macdonald andHolcombe[1978]
notedthatanextrapolation
of bathymetric
mappresented
byCAYTROUGH [1979]
confirms
the
theirspreading
rates
along
thelength
oftheCaymanTroughplacedpriorobservations
ofHolcombe
etal.[1973]andRosencrantz
and
theopening
of thetrough
in theOligocene.
Wadge
andBurke Sclater
[1986]. Thedistribution
of these
depths
tobasement,
[1983]arguedthatthechange
fromshallowtodeep-watercarbonate
shown asrangesandmeans of depthsobserved at 5 kmintervals
depositionalongthenorth(Cayman Ridge)wall of thetrough alongthelengthof thetrough,isdisplayedin Figure3.
[PerfitandHeezen,1978;EmeryandMilliman,
1980]indicates
that Although theoverallpatternof depthrelativeto thespreading
oceancrestfirstdeveloped
withinthetroughat thattime. Other axisis oneof increasing
depthawayfromtheaxis,it is clearthat
geologicalevidenceLndicates
only that openingis olderthan theseincreases donotdescribesmooth,
continuouscurvesalong
Neogene and younger than Cretaceous. Micritic and marly the length of the basin. Basementwithin the central basin,
limestonesof Mioceneandyoungerageshavebeenrecoveredbetween 220 km westof and165km eastof the axis,clearly
withinthe trough,andgranodiorites
andtonalitesdredged
both slopesawayfromtheaxismoresteeplyandshowsgreaterrelief
2144 ROSEN• ET AL.- AGE AND SPREADING HISTORY OF TI-IE CAYMAN TROUGH
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
i i I i i i i i i i I i i
--
--
--
ß
ß
ß
ß
ß
ß
ß
ß
ß
ee
0 I 0 I 0 I 0 !
0 0 I 0 I 0 I 0 I 0 I I
0 0 I 0 I J
•"g • ,- 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 •"• 0 •"• 0 •"• 0 •"• 0 •"•
•/N31•13•n•v31•l
-I0 •13Bl•lnN •13/31•1 NI H/d30
ROSEN• ET AL.: AGE AND SPREADING HISTORY OF THE CAYMAN TROUGH 2145
than basementbeneaththe outerpartsof the basin. Basement but is characterizedas being of poor quality. The four western
westof theaxisrisesfromwesttoeastfroma meandepthof about measurements
rangein valuefrom94.4to 56.0mW m-2 andshow
5600 m at 220 km to about3500 m at 40 km. Local basement anoveralltrendtowardlowervalueswith increasing distanceaway
relief within thissegmentrangesfrom about600 to over2000 m, fromthe axis. One of thesemeasurements
is alsoratedasbeingof
with relief increasing
toward the axis. Basementunderlyingthe poorquality.
westerntroughbeyond220 km showslittle progressive changein
depthoutto thelimit of oceaniccrustat 500 km [Rosencrantz
and DEFrI-I,HEATFLOW,ANDAGE
Sclater,
1986]. Acrosstheaxial
meanbasementdepthincreases
valley[CAYTROUGH, 1979],Depths
from about3500 m at 40 km west
tobasement, heat flow, andage ofcrust producedata
oftheaxis
toamaximum ofabout4600 matthe present axis
(0 spreadingcenterinthedeep oceans show predictable
relationships
km),then
rises
sharplytoabout3200 mat15kmeast oftheaxis. [Sclater
etal.,1971;
Davis and Lister,1974;Parsons and Sclater,
Beyondthis
pointtotheeast,
basementslopesaway from theaxistheoretical
1977;
Lister,1977]. These relationships
have been matched to
modelsof oceanfloor formationby ParsonsandSclater
to a mean depthof about5000 m at 165 km, with local relief
ranging
from
1500to300 mand increasing
toward the axis.Eastwhich
[1977]using the plate concept presented byMcKenzie [1967],in
heat loss in the vertical direction is the dominant mechanism
of 165kmeastoftheaxis, basement again shallows toa forcooling.
minimummeandepthof about4600 m at a distanceof 200 km,
The major difficulty todetermining marginalbasin
thendeepens
eastwardtoamean depthofabout 5400 mattheage from heat flow and depth isthat many ofthese basinsarevery
eastern
limitofoceanic
crust
atabout
450km.Local
basement
narrow
and/or
verysmall,
anditbecomes
inappropriate
toassume
relief
across
this
segment
rangesfrom
300to700m. that
heatislostinthevertical direction
only.Inthese cases a
Thehighrelief
andappreciable
subsidence
ofcrust
underlying
thesignificant
portion
ofcrustal heatmay belostbylateralconduction
central
trough,
incontrast
tothelesser
relief
andlittle
increase
in aswell.
BoernerandSclater[1987] haveconsidered
thisproblemof ocean
depth with increasingdistancefrom the axis within the outer
floorcreatedby a shortaxisof spreading
isolatedwithinolder,cold
trough,indicatethatspreadingduringthesecond(andpresent)stage
oceanic or continental lithosphere.They have calculated the
of openingwasslowerthanthat duringthe earlierstage. The fact
subsidenceand heat loss along the centerlines of severalshort
that the points at which basementslope and characterchange
coincide with those locationswhere the width of the Cayman
finite lengthaxesof spreadingandhavecomparedthesewith the
Trough changesfrom 70-80 km acrossits outersectionsto 100- subsidenceand heat losspredictedby the standardplate model
[McKenzie, 1967]. Their calculationsshowthat the thermaleffects
110 km acrossits centralsection(Figure3) is furtherevidencethat
of lateral heat losscan be relateddirectlyto basinwidth. Lateral
the changein spreadinginvolveda distinctrearrangement of the
spreading
system.
Thesmall
topographic
risecentered
ataboutheat
loss
atspreading
axes
less
than
200kmlong
has
amarked
and
200kmeast
ofthepresent
axis
couldrepresent
anabandoned
measurable
effect
onboth
crustal
subsidence
and
heat
flow
(Figure
spreading
axis,
whichwould
implyfurther
thatthis
rearrangement
5).
involved a ridge jump. As demonstratedbelow, magnetic For example,20-m.y. old crustformed at a spreadingaxis of
"infinite"length,thestandardplatemodelof McKenzie[1967],lies
anomaliessuggestthat thisis the case.
at a depth of about4200 m (Figure 5). Crust of the same age
formedat an isolatedaxis 100 km long andlosingheatlaterallyas
HEATFLOW well asverticallywouldlie 200 m deeper,andsimilarcrust formed
at an axis only 50 km long wouldbe a kilometerdeeper. At 40
Of thefewpublished heatflow
measurements fromtheCaymanMa, crustformed atanaxis100kmlongwouldlie450m deeper
Trough[Eppetal., 1972;Ericksonetal., 1972](seeTable1),only thanthatformedat a typicalmid-ocean
spreading
axis. Vertical
fivelie overapparently
well-sedimented
crmtandcanbeconsideredheatflow showssimilarrelations withdecreasing
spreadingaxis
free of hydrothermal
effects(Figure4). The qualityof these length.At 40 Ma, heatflow in crustformedat a 100-km-long
measurements
rangesfrompoorto excellent.The onepotentially isolatedaxiswouldbe 10mW m-2 lessthanthatin crustformedat
usefulmeasurement
eastof theaxishasa valueof 67.3mWm-2 amid-oceanic
spreading
center.
2146 ROSEN• ET AD: AGE AND SPREADINGHISTORY OF THE CAYMAN TROUGH
DISTANCE IN KILOMETERS
-600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500
I I I I I I I I I I I
160 160
I
I
? RIFT AXIS
E
:120- 120
89.0 94.4 94
•: 6o-
o
56.0
72.7
•.08•
29.149.3
9•8 67.3 80
I-- 40- 40
0 • • • 0
-z
,,CI -lENT
,
GE R•
SWANISLANDSFRACTURE
ZO! C-•4
BI NICARAGUA RISE
Becausethe CaymanTroughhasthroughoutits historyconsisted to the west was betweenabout5.5 mm/yr (110 km axis) and 7
of a 100 km or less spreadingaxis terminatingagainstlong mm/yr(80 km axis)betweenthepresentaxisanda point220 km
transformfaults,with bothspreadingaxisandtransforms isolated west. Beyond270 km the half ratecannotbe determinedfor lack
within old, cold lithosphere,it is probablethat lateral heat loss of measureddepths.Measureddepthsbetween220 and270 km are
plays a significantrole in the thermalevolutionof its lithosphere.
This is initially evident in the fact that although the trough
displays all the major characteristicsof an oceanic spreading DEPTH
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
correlativeto depthages.Basementsubsidence alonepredictsthat
theoldest
crust
attheeastern
endofthetrough
isolder
than
40Ma AGE INMILLION
YEARS
(Eocene)
andthatthechange
introughopening
rateoccurred
at Fig.
5. Theoretical depth
versus age andheat flowversus
ageprofries for
oceaniccrest within small isolatedbasins[from Boerher and Sclater,
about30Ma(Oligocene). 1987].The curves showprofiles forspreading axes
ofseverallengthsall
Thepicture
ofspreading
tothewestoftheaxisislessclear.The opening
atarateof30mm/yr.
Subsidence
andheat
flowarecalculated
trendsof agesderivedfromdepthindicatethattheopeninghalf rate along
linesperpendicular
toaxesmidpoints.
ROSENCRAN1Z
ETAL' AGEANDSPREADING
HISTORY
OFTIlECAYMANTROUGH 2147
70 - - 7o
110 Km AXIS
- 6o
60 -
ß ß - 50
ß
ß
10.9
(+2.0)mm/yr
•
...
m 40 ß
- 40
z e\ ß
0
- 30
- 30 -
z
- 20 -
-k ßß :.?" - 20
5.5(-+0.5)mm/yr
-'---•'•, ß/• 4.7(-+0.3)mm/yr
10 -
'/: - 10
WEST EAST
I
i i i 0
60 - - 6O
80 Km AXIS
50 - - 5O
m
z
40 -
ß ee 13.0
(-+2.2)mm/yr - 40
O
- 30 - - 30
z
- 20
- 20 -
. 7.0(-+0.5)m'•m/yr
ß ß 6.1(-+0.5)mm/yr
10 - 10
ee •d •
WEST ß EAST
I I I I I I I I I I 0
-500 -400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500
DISTANCE IN KILOMETERS
Fig.6. Crustal
agesascalculated
fromdepths
tobasement
(dots)
andheat
flow(stars),
plotted
against
distance
from
thespreading
axis( located
at0 km).Theages
intheupper
panel
arecalculated
assuming
anaxislength
of110km:those
inthelower
panel
are
based uponan80-kmaxial
length.
Depth-based
ages
arecalculated
fromthemean depths
showninFigure
3. Calculated
depth-
based
agetrends,
i.e.,spreading
rates,
areshown
assolidlines.
apparently
anomalousandyieldexcessively
oldages;thisdeepalthoughtheregional
magnetic
anomalieshadbeen previously
basementmaydescribeasmall
fracture
zone
ormayreflectcrustalmapped
anddiscussed
byEwingetal.[1960],
Bowin[1968],and
faulting
relatedtostrike-slip
processes
along
theSwan IslandsGoughandHeirtzler
[1969].
Macdonald andHolcombe [1978]
transform
faultsystem
tothesouth.
Thewestem
heat
flowderived analyzed
indetail
whattheyconsideredthebest
profile
ofthose
agesshow a largescatter
withabroad
trend
ofincreasingage collected
bytheUSNS Wilkes
in1973(profile
1inFigures7-9).
westward.
However,
heatflowvalues
aresignificantly
higher
and Theynotedthatthemagnetics
on theremaining
profileswere
derivedages
younger
than might
beexpected
assuming
symmetrical
"clearly
disturbed"
wheretheprofiles
crossed
ashortoffset
ofthe
spreading
about
thepresent
axis. spreading
axis[seeCAYTROUGH, 1979].Onthebasis of
It isimportant
tonotethatbecause
relative
subsidence
isabetteranomalyidentifications
alongthisnorthern
line,theycalculated
indication
ofcrustalagethandepth alone,relative
depth-derived
thatthetrough opened at a rateof about
20mm/yrbetween the
agesgivea betterindication
of overallagethandoindividualPresent and2.4Maandabout 40mm/yr between 2.4and8.4Ma.
calculated
ages.Agesshown in Figure6 arecalculated
onthe However, RosencrantzandSclater [1986]argued,onthebasis
of
assumptionthatzeroagecrust
liesatadepth of2570m,which is basement depth andcrustal
subsidence,thatthetrough
openedata
theequilibrium
axialdepth
calculatedbyboththeMcKenzie[1967]much slower rateduringthepast30m.y.,about 15mrn/yr,
and
andBoerner andSclater
[1987]platecooling
models.Thepresencethatpartof themagnetic anomaly sequencecouldbereasonably
of theaxialvalleyisignored.Axialdepths
actually
varyaboutthis interpreted
toreflectthisslower
rate.
number byseveralhundred meters,andit islikelythattheCayman Marinemagnetic anomalyprofiles
whichtransect theCayman
axisisdeeper.Assuming a deeperaxisreduces agesrelativeto Troughareshown astwosetsofprofilesin Figure7. Profiles
in
depths.In Figure6 thiswouldhavetheeffectof moving allthe Figure
7aincludethosewhichtrendsubparallel
tothelongitudinal
agepointsdownward (toward younger values)butwould notchangeaxisofthetrough;those
whichcross thetrough athighangles are
therelative
distributions
of ages(i.e.,rates). shownin Figure7b. Althoughtheregional magnetic fieldhas
beensubtracted
from thesedata,the profilescollectivelyshowa
MARINE
M•GNET•C
AnOMAtmS slight
remaining
regional
gradient
sloping
tothesouth
andeast.
No attempthasbeenmadeto rectifyprofilecrossings.
Magnetic
Macdonald
andHolcombe
[1978]werethefirsttoexamine
and edgeeffectsproduced
by thesteep,fault-bounded
wallsof the
identify
marine
magnetic
anomalies
withintheCayman
Trough,trough
(alinear
magnetic
highandlowwhich
parallel
thenorthem
2148 ROSENCRAN1Z
ETAL.:AGE
ANDSPREADING
HISTORY
OFTI-IE
CAYMAN
TROUGH
'o'".
o '-.
" • ' I! .....
.. '"-...•
'O'-.
• / i: • .'• "..
....
..".? , o.... ß
....
:...;
o
,- •
! •r .:I :
'
I
'"..
l ii.0
:1
il .
I :• ' b.I
! !
! ! :
' I
0 I ' ".
• • I 0 '.
". Zl
I :
I ß
I
I :
i '1
I-J --
o ."
i •-
, i¸
• ..
I (
'/U 009 v.. ,' .
: I
: I
i I ' --
:' !• ::
7 .......
7
ROSENCRANIZ ET AL.' AGE AND SPREADING HISTORY OF THE CAYMAN TROUGH 2149
I
AXIS
13.4mm/yr I 13.4mm/yr
2O I
• 6.Dmm/yr
6.4mm/yr 6.Dmm/yr
8 9 20
7 ,
i E C B AD -- i
300
2A I 2
5 5C 6 6B 7 8/9
6.4mm/yr
Fig.8. A comparisonofselected
observedmagnetic
anomaly profiles
andcalculated
(synthetic)
anomaly
sequences.
Theobserved
profiles
(collected
bytheUSNS Wilkes;seeHolcombe etal.[1973])
areprojected
ontoavertical
plane
striking
080ø,parallel
to
thelength of thetrough.SeeFigure 7 forprofile
locations.Thepresent
spreadingaxisislocated
at0 km. Thesynthetic
sequencesarecalculated
withthefastFourier
method described
bySchouten
andMcCamy [1972]andhavebeensmoothed
bythe
application
of a 2.5-kmGaussian
filter.Thespreading
ratesshown
arethose
used
tofit calculated
toobserved
anomalies.
Thesynthetic
profile
iscalculated
at1-kmsample
intervals,
whichcalculated
sequences
withtheassumption
ofasynunetric
spreading
approximates
the1- to 2-kmsample
intervalof theobservedacross
thepresent
axis. However,
isolated
portionsof the
profries. observed
sequences
doshowacceptable
correlation
tocalculated
Observed
anomalies
wereidentifiedonthebasisof bestvisual sequences.The bestof thesecorrelations,
whichincludea
matches
tocalculated
anomaly sequences.
Theobservedsequencesrecognizable
matchacrossall of theprofiles,
include thecentral
werecomparedto series
of synthetic
profiles
calculated
withhalf anomaly(lineation
A) andflankinganomalies 2A (lineation
D to
spreading
rates
rangingfrom20 mm/yr [MacdonaldandHolcombe, theeast),andtheanomaly sequence 6-6A-6Btothewestof the
1978]to5 mm/yr,
theapproximate
lower
limitofratepredicted
by axis(Figure8). Anomaly
6 corresponds
to lineation
C. On
crustalsubsidence.
Synthetic
sequences
werealsovariedwith profiles
1 and2 tothewestof theaxis,anomalies
5 to5Carealso
respect
towidthofthezoneofcrustal
accretion
bytheapplication
recognizable,
asareanomalies
3A,4,4A,and5 onprofile
5. This
ofGaussian
filters
withhalfwidths
ranging
from0 to8 km. suggests
thatlineation
B corresponds
toanomaly5.
Thefullsetof observed
anomalies
westtoeastacross
thetrough To theeastof theaxis,correlations
between
theobserved
and
showsnoacceptable
matchtoanylinear,
continuous
calculated
calculated
sequences
asshown inFigure
8 areslight.
Theprofiles
anomalysequence
centered
onandreflected
across
thepresentshow
nowell-developed
lineations,
exceptforlineation
D andfor
extrustion
axis.Nordoobserved
sequences
reasonably
matchthepartial
lineation
extending
across
profiles
2,4, and5 at110km
ROSENCRAN1Z
ET AL.: AGEAND SPREADINGHISTORYOFTHECAYMAN TROUGH 2151
55
//
/
/ 50
/
/
/
/
/
,•, //
,• /
rr // 45
rn ////
o // ,,• ///
(/) //
//// / 3.1 ////
/ //
40
/ // /
30 C•
; ; /
iI i/ // // z
/i ///
i i //
;; •/
i II / / 25 r-
0
;/ ? z
II i //
iI ,//i / / 20 :=
II /I ß
II /I/
iI///
15
//
Iß 10
;/
o
-500 -400 -300 -200 - 100 100 200 300 400 500
DISTANCE IN KILOMETERS
Fig. 9. Agesof pickedanomalies plottedasa functionof distancefrom thepresentspreading axis. Solid andopensymbols
identifylineationsandisolatedanomalies, respectively.
Spreading
rates(in millimeters
peryear)arecalculatedasbestfit trendsand
drawnassolidlines. The dashed linesdescribethespreadingratescalculated
fromcrustalsubsidence (Figure6). Thetimescaleat
theleft is drawnfromBerggrenet al. [ 1985].
B
• /• • • ORIENTE
TiANSFORM
FAULT
/
PRESENTß----m SWANISLANDS
TRANSFORM
FAULT
ß 2AI 2A
18
19
20
A5 (9.5 MA)
Bc• •/,•• / 19
18 15
13119
818
9l•-•
A6(20MA) •
19 18 1513
A7-8(26MA) Ridge
Jump
and
propagation
B //• 49 48 15 4311441
14 43 15
•/<• • . ß ß
19 20 ?
A19
(44MA) "' •,- >z/•/
Fig.11.Simple
cartoonoutlining
theopening
history
oftheCaymanTrough
asindicated
bymagnetic
anomaly
identifications.
Magneticanomalies
areshown
assolid
rectangles
andsquares.
The bold
solid
line
traces
thepositions
oftheplate
boundary.
Fossil
ridge
axes
areshown
asdashed
lines.
Rift-related
faults
areshown
ashatchured
lines,
with
tics
onthedownthrown
block.
Abbreviations
areasfollows:
B,Belize;
C,Cuba;
J,Jamaica;
SIB,Swan
Islands
tectonic
block.
Seetextforfurther
description.
Crustal
ages
determined
fromheat
flowmeasurements
neither
However,
heatflowdata
aresparse
andareunconstrained
asto
fullysupport
norcontradict
thosecalculated
fromcrustal
position
relative
to underlying
basementtopography.
subsidence
and
magnetics.
Heat
flowfromasingle
station
located
Consequently,
thevalues
mayhave
been
perturbed
byhydrothermal
east
oftheaxisoverwell-sedimented
crust
yields
a crustal
age circulation
induced
byunderlying
basement
topography.
We
co•istent
withthatcalculated
fromdepth
andmagnetics,
butthreesuggest
thatthequestion
ofCayman
Trough
heatflowbeshelved
offourapparently
reliable
measurements
west
oftheaxis
yielduntil
newand
better
measurements
areobtained.
ages
younger
than
predicted
bythemagnetics.
Thisintroduces
a Theorigin
oftheridge
jumps
isunknown.
Onepossible
problem
intotheoverall
consistency
ofourinterpretation.
explanation
isthat
the
spreading
center
isopening
soslowly
that
it
ROSENCRAN'rZET AL.- AGE AND SPREADINGHISTORY OF THE CAYMAN TROUGH 2155
wouldalsomeanthatpastCaribbean-NorthAmerican
displacement
processes,
we suggestthat new surveysof CaymanTrough
ratesarenotnecessarilyreliable
indicators
ofpresentrate. geologyand geophysics
wouldbe appropriate.A thorough
magneticssurvey(preferablyan aeromagnetic survey),including
CONCLUSIONS therift margins,wouldnot onlydescribethe full spreadinghistory
of the troughbut wouldalsobetterdefinethe accretionmechanics
CaymanTroughcrustalagesbasedbothuponcalculations of of very slow spreadingsysterns.A seriesof drill holesacrossthe
crustalsubsidence anduponidentifications of marinemagnetic lengthof thebasinandits eastandwestmarginswouldserveto
anomalysequences indicatethatthetroughhasopenedat slowto constrainboth the age of oceanic crust and the timing and
veryslowratesin twomainstages.The overalldistribution of geometryof the rifting process. Seriesof precisionheat flow
basement depthacrossthetroughis typicalof thatobservedacross measurements within the basin would provide additional
spreadingcentersin deepoceanbasinsbut showsa marked constraintson crustalageandwouldalsotestthe effectsof lateral
asymmetry of subsidence,whereincrustto theeastof thepresent heat lossin small,isolatedoceanbasinsas predictedby Boerner
axishassubsided fartherthanat equivalentdistancesto thewestof and Sclater [1987].
the axis. Basementalsoshowsdistinctbreaksin slopebothto the
east and west of the axis. The distributionof agesbasedupon Acknowledgments. The authorsthank Ruth Buskirk, Larry
subsidence curves which accommodate lateral as well as vertical
Lawyer, and Peter Vogt for their commentson style and content.
coolingof the accretingslabsuggestthatthe troughopenedat a Thesehave significantlyimprovedthe manuscript. This work
rate of about 15 mm/yr during the later and presentstageof was supportedby the Shell Foundationand the University of
opening
andatbetween
25and
30mm/yr
during
theearly
stage.
Texas.
University
ofTexas
Institute
forGeophysics
contribution
Thechange
inrateoccurred
atabout
26Ma(Oligocene). 731.
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