The Evolution of the Caribbean Seaway: Jurassic to Present

Manuel A. Iturralde-Vinent

Museo Nacional de Historia Natural

Obispo No. 61, Plaza de Armas

La Habana Vieja 10100, Cuba

www.medioambiente.cu/museo

Abstract

This paper presents a summary of the history of the Caribbean Seaway, from its

Lower to Middle Jurassic Pangaean epicontinental sea precursor (rift valleys), its debut as an

oceanic seaway in the Oxfordian, and its subsequent evolution until the Present. Since

Oxfordian, marine connectivity between the Tethys/Atlantic and the Pacific oceans along the

Caribbean Seaway have been shaped by the occurrence of different topographic barriers,

sometimes as isolated islands and submarine highs, sometimes as continuous land barriers.

This scenario can be used to evaluate possible biotic interchange, either by land between the

American continents or by water between the Pacific and Tethys/Atlantic oceans. It is

demonstrated that during the Eocene-Oligocene transition (35-33 Ma) there was a land

barrier in the Caribbean (Gaarlandia), that precluded free ocean water circulation between

the Pacific and the Atlantic/Caribbean, probably contributing to the climatic change that took

place at this time interval. This barrier was progresively drowned during the Oligocene,

restoring the Circumtropical current that warmed up temperature within the Caribbean Sea

and the Tropical Pacific.

1

Introduction

It is well known that, due to changing Earth paleogeography, global ocean water

circulation has changed, controlled by the configuration of the continents, islands, oceans,

seas and shallow submarine areas, as well as atmospheric and water composition and

dynamic factors (Barrow and Peterson, 1989). As a consequence, present-day patterns of

marine circulation cannot be extrapolated to evaluate paleobiogeographic scenarios

(Berggren and Hollister, 1974; Frakes et al., 1992; Parrish, 1992). For these reasons, in

this paper I briefly explore the origin and evolution of the Caribbean area, using the

database compiled by Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999), as well as the paleogeographic

reconstructions published recently (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999; Kerr et al., 1999;

Iturralde-Vinent, 1998, Lawver et al., 1999). This is a necessary step toward the

understanding of the history of marine biotic exchange between the Pacific and

Tethyan/Atlantic oceans.

In order to summarize the evolution of the Caribbean Seaway, figure 1 is presented

to illustrate the history of topographic barriers between North and South America, and their

bearing on the history of marine flow across the area. This history can be subdivided into

the following major steps: 1. The Western Pangaean epicontinental seaway, 2. The early

opening of the Caribbean Seaway, 3. The Mesozoic evolution of the Caribbean Seaway, 4.

The early Cenozoic evolution, and 5. The latest Eocene to Recent evolution of the Seaway.

Acknowledgement. This is a contribution to UNESCO/IUGS IGCP Project 433 Caribbean Plate

Tectonics. The author wish to thanks his colleague Ross MacPhee (American Museum of

Natural History), and an anonymous reviewer, for important suggestions to the original

typescript and drawings. Attending the GSA Penrose Conference on The Marine Eocene-

Oligocene Transition (Seattle, 1999) was possible thanks to a grant from the Cuba Group of

SSRC. Field work in the Greater Antilles for this paper was partially supported by a NGS

Grant to the author. Laboratory work at the Institute for Geophysics of the University of

Texas at Austin (UTIG) was possible thanks to grants from the Institute for Latin American

Studies (UTEXAS) and UTIG.

The Western Pangaean epicontinental Seaway

Similarities among several groups of marine animals (pelecipods, ammonites, marine

reptiles) that occur both in the western Tethys and the East Pacific suggest that since the

2

Pliensbachian-Hettangian (nearly 190±5 m.y. ago) an aquatic connection existed between

these regions (Smith, 1983; Damborenea and Maceñido, 1979; Ricardii, 1991; Gasparini,

1992, 1996). Although the connection, theoretically, may have taken place eastward across

the eastern Tethys into the Pacific Ocean, similarities between the western Tethyan and the

East Pacific taxa suggest that the connection passed trough the central part of the Pangaean

supercontinent (Gasparini, 1978; Smith, 1983; Riccardi, 1991; Gasparini, 1978, 1992,

1996; Gasparini and Fernández 1996; Damborenea, 2000, Aberham, 2001). This

connection first yielded a limited exchange of shallow marine taxa (Smith, 1983;

Damborenea, 2000, Aberham, 2001), but with time the waterway widened (Pindell, 1994;

Lawver et al., 1999) allowing an increasing exchange of marine animals, including both open

and shallow marine taxa, limited during the Bathonian-Oxfordian, and extensive since the

Oxfordian (Westermann, 1981; Westermann, 1992; Hilldebrandt, 1981; Hilldebrandt et al.,

1992: Imlay, 1984; Sandoval and Westermann, 1986; Bartok et al., 1985; Riccardi, 1991;

Gasparini, 1978, 1992, 1996; Gasparini and Fernández, 1996; Iturralde-Vinent and Norell,

1996; Damborenea, 2000). According to recent paleogeographic reconstructions, this

passway was established before the break-up of Pangaea, probably across a dominantly

shallow siliciclastic interior sea located within western Pangaea (Fig. 1; Salvador, 1987;

Pindell, 1994; Pindell and Tabbutt, 1995).

The fact that large ocean dwelling saurians are recorded from the Middle Jurassic of the

southeastern Pacific (Gasparini, 1992; Gasparini and Fernández, 1996) suggest that the

western Pangaean epicontinental seaway may have been transected by some deep water

channels, probably along grabens and semigrabens produced by crustal extension (rift

valleys). This hypothesis is supported by the existence of "continental margin and marine

facies" in the preOxfordian probably Bathonian-Bajocian siliciclastic rocks of western Cuba

(San Cayetano Formation), with sedimentary features suggesting the occurrence of

paleoslopes from fluvio-marine facies into marine environments (Haczewski, 1976;

Pszczolkowski, 1978); and by the occurrence of Jurassic rift grabens and semigrabens in the

eastern and southern continental margin of North America (Salvador, 1987; Pindell, 1994;

Marton and Buffler, 1994, Bullard et al., 1965; Klitgord et al., 1988; Gradstein et al., 1990;

Jones et al., 1995, Pindell and Talbut, 1995; Milani and Tomas Filho, 2000).

The Pangaean Epicontinental Sea should not be thought of as the ProtoCaribbean basin

itself, but as a precursor situated within western Pangaea (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,

1999). For this reason, I propose to avoid the confusing terms "Hispanic Corridor" or

"Caribbean Corridor" to designate this seaway and refer to it instead by a more descriptive

term, the Western Pangaean Epicontinental Seaway and rift valley system (Fig. 1).

3

The early opening of the Caribbean Seaway

As the break-up of Western Pangaea completely separates Laurasia and Gondwana, a

new paleogeographic feature formed: the Caribbean Seaway. This Seaway is here

understood as a truly oceanic basin located between the North and South American

continental landmasses. This seaway represents a linkage between the Pacific and the

Atlantic/Tethyan Oceans. In order to explore the origin of this basin, two sources of

information are needed: Earliest Mesozoic occurrence of ocean crustal indicators and the

first occurrence of true marine environments.

The earliest occurrence of Mesozoic oceanic crustal indicators within the Mesoamerican

realm comprise the pillow basalts and associated marine sediments reported from the

Andean terranes of northern South America (Bajocian/Bathonian Siquisique basalts: Bartok

et al. 1985) and from the Guaniguanico terrane of western Cuba (Oxfordian El Sábalo

basalts: Pszczolkowski, 1994; Kerr et al., 1999). The original position of the Siquisique

basalts is not yet well understood, but probably they belong to the Pacific margin of

Pangaea, as do the Andean terranes (Pindell, 1994; Pindell and Tabbutt, 1995, Aleman, A.

and V.A. Ramos, 2000). If this is true, they predate the formation of the early Caribbean

oceanic crust (Iturralde-Vinent, 1998). This is not the case for the El Sábalo basalts, which

probably formed on the Mayan (Yucatan) block margin facing the Caribbean (Iturralde-

Vinent, 1994; Hutson et al., 1999), so they can be thought of as representing a magmatic

event related to the initiation of ocean spreading within the Caribbean (Iturralde-Vinent,

1998; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999; Kerr et al., 1999). This inference is corroborated

by the occurrence of an important assemblage of Oxfordian marine animals (pelecipods,

ammonites, ganoid fish and marine reptiles) in the Guaniguanico terrane of western Cuba

(Iturralde-Vinent and Norell, 1996) that are clearly related to both the western Tethys and

the eastern Pacific faunas (Ricardii, 1991; Gasparini, 1992; Gasparini and Fernández, 1996;

Fernández and Iturralde-Vinent, 2000).

The opening of the Caribbean Seaway represents an important paleoceanographic golden

spike, --the initiation of Mesozoic deep circumequatorial ocean water circulation that linked

the Tethys, the Central Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.

The Mesozoic evolution of the Caribbean Seaway

4

It is generally understood that active seafloor spreading between North and South

America lasted from Late Jurassic through late Albian, widening the gap between the

continents (Pindell, 1994). Subsidence of the crust produced abyssal water depth sections

within the area, as early as the Tithonian (Pszczolkowski, 1978; 1982; Iturralde-Vinent,

1998; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999). These processes generally improved the

chances for inter-oceanic marine communication across the Caribbean Seaway. This

paleoceanographic scenario allowed extensive biotic exchange between the Tethys, the

Caribbean and the Pacific, as recorded by the distribution of several mollusks taxa (Shol and

Kollmann, 1985; Ricardii, 1991; Rojas et al., 1996; Boitrón-Sánchez and López-Tinajero,

1996).

Some numerical models of Cretaceous ocean circulation across the Tethys suggest

that the main circulation was directed eastward (Barron and Peterson, 1989). This

hypothesis is contradicted by the pattern of ammonite (cephalopod), acteonelid (gastropod)

and rudist (pelecipod) dispersion from east to west (Shol and Kollmann, 1985; Ricardii,

1991; Rojas et al., 1996; Boitrón-Sánchez and López-Tinajero, 1996).

Marine connectivity along the Caribbean Seaway was eventually moderated by local

and regional uplift within the Caribbean (Fig. 1). Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999) have

compiled abundant information concerning the occurrence of locals and regional

unconformities and hiatuses, as well as the presence of shallow-water banks, indicating both

subaereal exposure and/or submarine topographic highs during the time interval under

consideration. These positive topographies must have ultimately interrupted deep ocean

circulation, and forced circulation along deep trenches and channels. However, the present

state of our knowledge precludes accurate reconstruction of the specific paleoceanographic

scenarios.

An important permanent barrier that occurs within the Caribbean Seaway is the

Bahamas. By Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, this shallow water structure included present-

day Florida and Bahamas, but since Aptian this megaplatform has been subdivided into

smaller platforms separated by a network of abyssal channels (Buffler and Hurts, 1985;

Iturralde-Vinent, 1994; 1998). This general barrier allowed restricted deep marine

circulation through the channels, but had the special effect of concentrating the main

circulation across the Strait of Florida and the Central Atlantic Ocean. Some other barriers

probably occurred as islands chains (erosional surfaces and hiatuses within the volcanic

sections) and shallows (interbedded shallow marine limestones) along the active volcanic

arcs of the Caribbean realm (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999), but these topographic

features, during the Cretaceous, were mostly located on the western periphery of the

5

Caribbean (Pindell, 1994; Iturralde-Vinent, 1998). Within these volcanic terranes major

uplift events are recorded during the Neocomian, Aptian-Albian, and Coniancian-Santonian;

but these barriers were surely non-permanent, because subsidence and deposition of marine

rocks are also recorded in them after each uplift (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999).

The documented interchange of large terrestrial tetrapods between North and South

America, late in the Cretaceous, strongly suggests that there was a landbridge between

these continents (Gingerich, 1985; Gayet et al., 1992). Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee

(1999) suggested that this landbridge probably coincided in time with the regional uplift that

took place by late Campanian-early Maastrichtian along the Antillean Cretaceous volcanic arc

(Fig. 1). This event would have closed the Caribbean Seaway for a period of 1-3 Ma.,

producing a major change in ocean water circulation and global climate, as the one recorded

after the formation of the Panamanian bridge in the Pliocene. The pre late Campanian

topographic barriers within the Cretaceous volcanic arcs where ephemeral and probably not

continuous landmasses and shallows separated by local deep-water channels (Iturralde-

Vinent and MacPhee, 1999), so their effect on the marine flow across the Caribbean Seaway

was not so drastic (Fig. 1).

The early Cenozoic evolution of the Caribbean Seaway

The end of the Cretaceous in the Caribbean realm was accompanied by strong

modifications in the tectonic regime of the area. Rock deformation and collisional tectonics

associated with important vertical movements played an outstanding role since latest

Campanian and the formation and destruction of topographic barriers was a common

phenomenon during the Cenozoic (Khudoley and Meyerhoff, 1971; Pszczolkowski and Flores,

1986; Droxler, et al., 1998; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999). This dynamic of the

crustal movements within the Caribbean also produced a more complicated landscape, as

several volcanic chains and ridges were present, with a clear tendency toward the reduction

of the size of the marine basins (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999: Figs. 6-8).

Nevertheless, those barriers did not prevent marine currents from flowing across the

Caribbean Seaway (Fig. 1), as Paleogene and Neogene biotas from the Pacific and

Atlantic/Tethys intermingled in the Caribbean and/or migrated between these oceans

(Papers in this volume; Duque Caro, 1990; Collins, 1996; Iturralde-Vinent, et al., 1997).

This biotic interchange was particularly marked during the periods of high stand, recorded

by the frequent occurrence of deep water environments within Caribbean early Cenozoic

stratigraphic sections (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999).

6

Consequently, during the Paleocene and Eocene, the so-called Circumglobal

equatorial current (Droxler, et al., 1998) flowed between the Tethys/Atlantic and the

Caribbean/Pacific across the Caribbean Seaway. Figure 2 (60-35 Ma) illustrates, in a very

general manner, the Caribbean paleogeography during this time interval.

The latest Eocene to Recent evolution of the Caribbean Seaway

The transition between the end of the Eocene and the beginning of the Oligocene

(zones P16 to P18 of Berggren et al., 1995) coincides with the Pyrenean phase of

tectogenesis (Leonov and Khain, 1987), the effects of which are well represented in the

Caribbean Region (MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent, 1995; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,

1999). During this phase, regional tectonic uplift coincided with a major eustatic sea level

drop at ca. 35 Ma (Miller et al., 1996). As a result, subaerial exposure within the Caribbean

Region was probably more extensive then than at any other time in the Cenozoic, including

the late Quaternary. The map (Fig. 2: 35-33 Ma) reflects this fact. However, it is important

to compare this map with other “Oligocene” reconstructions which represent this period as

one of overall minimum land exposure (e.g., González de Juana et al., 1980; Galloway et

al., 1995; Macellari, 1995). The explanation for the difference in treatment lies in the fact

that most Oligocene reconstructions depict the paleogeography of the mid- to later

Oligocene, by which time the Pyrenean orogenic phase had terminated (Iturralde-Vinent and

MacPhee, 1999).

Evidence for Pyrenean uplift can be seen in stratigraphic sections as well as

submarine dredge samples, drill cores, and seismic lines recovered from many parts of the

Caribbean and surrounding continental borderlands (Table1). Many stratigraphic sections

consistently lack marine sediments of latest Eocene-Early Oligocene age, presenting instead

hiatuses, red beds, and other kinds of terrestrial deposits (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee,

1999). In many sedimentary basins located near former topographic highs, latest Eocene-

Early Oligocene sediments carry abundant land-derived debris, chiefly very coarse

conglomerates (matrix or clast-supported) and sandstones. This type of sedimentary unit is

so common in the Caribbean realm that Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999) dubbed it the

"Eocene-Oligocene transition conglomerate event". In places far removed from terrestrial

sediment sources, such as the Colombian, Venezuelan and Yucatan basins, deep-marine

deposition was condensed (Edgar et al., 1973; Sigurdsson et al., 1997).

The Aves Ridge is considered to have constituted the southeastern continuation of

the Greater Antilles ridge in latest Eocene-Early Oligocene time. Iturralde-Vinent and

7

MacPhee (1999) argue that exposure of the ridgecrest created, for a short time ca. 33-35

Ma, a series of large, closely-spaced islands or possibly a continuous peninsula (as part of

Gaarlandia) stretching from northern South America to the Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands to

Central Cuba. Noteworthy, during the Eocene-Oligocene transition is the fact that western

Cuba was uplifted, but separated by the Havana-Matanzas deep-water channel from central

Cuba (actually from Garrlandia), and by the Strait of Yucatan from the Yucatan Peninsula

(Fig. 2; Iturralde-Vinent et al., 1996). Some positive topographic features characteristic of

the present Caribbean sea floor did not exist in Eocene-Oligocene times (and are therefore

not depicted in Fig. 2). These are the Cayman Trench, Mona Channel, Anegada Trough, etc.

(see discussion by MacPhee and Iturralde-Vinent, 1994, 1995).

About Latest Eocene, after the colision of the Antillean arc with the Bahamas, general

uplift started all along the axis of the present day Greater Antilles, about 37 Ma ago

(Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999). Short after, during the Eocene-Oligocene transition

(c.a. 35-33 Ma) a pronounced topographic barrier (Gaarlandia) reduced to a minimum water

exchange between the Atlantic and the Caribbean/Pacific, and a special pattern of ocean

water circulation similar to present day was established for a short time (Fig. 2), probably

contributing to the climatic change recorded at the Eocene-Oligocene transition (Prothero,

1994).

Since the Lower Oligocene, Gaarlandia progressively drowned. Inundation of

terrestrial environments began as early as zone P19 (Berggren et al., 1995) and continued

into zone P22, as it is indicated by the widespread occurrence of transgresive Oligocene

marine sediments in the Caribbean Region (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999, its table 3

and appendix 1). Marine communication between the Atlantic and Pacific reestablished, and

the Circumtropical current warmed up the water temperature within the Caribbean Seaway

and the equatorial Pacific (Droxler, et al., 1998). This scenario lasted until the Middle

Miocene (Fig. 2: 33-9 Ma), and by Late Miocene water circulation across the Caribbean

Seaway was restricted again by regional uplift during the Late Miocene (Fig. 2: 9-7 Ma;

Coates and Obando, 1996; Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999), as is suggested by a

foraminiferal faunal turnover in the Panamanian area, by the abundance of high latitude

Californian elements in the Panamanian fauna, and the occurrence of South American land

mammals in the Late Miocene-Pliocene of North America (Gingerich, 1985; Duque-Caro,

1990; Collins, 1996). The Panamanian barrier was drowned at the end of the Miocene (Fig.

2: 7-3.7 Ma), and soon erected again, first as a shallow submarine ridge, later as a

landbridge between North and South American continents (Fig. 2 3.7-0 Ma; Duque-Caro,

1990; Collins, 1996; Coates and Obando, 1996).

8

Conclusions

The history of the Caribbean Seaway is very complicated, but can be generally

explored with the available data. Figure 1 is a summary of the history of marine

connections and topographic barriers within the Caribbean area. This scenario can be used

to evaluate possible biotic interchange, either by land between the American continents or

by water between the Pacific and Tehys/Atlantic oceans. Figure 2 illustrates the Paleocene to

Recent evolution of the seaway, which is the main interest of the present volume. In

general, the evolution of the Caribbean Seaway must have had a strong bearing on the

global patterns of ocean circulation and climate change in the past, but this is an issue that

remains to be studied in more details.

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FIGURES

Figure 1. Major events in the evolution of the Caribbean Seaway from Jurassic to Recent. Data from

Iturralde and MacPhee (1999:Fig. 12 and tables 1 - 4). On the left part of the graphic, the dotted

vertical strips are the permanent continental masses of North and South America (NA and SA),

the central patternless zone represent the Caribbean marine area, and the bubble rows indicate

topographic barriers within the Caribbean. The right part of the graphic bring information about

the topographic barriers and the marine seaway. The thin vertical strip within the textual area is

intended to show in black major shutdowns of the flow along the Caribbean Seaway, and with

15

horizontal pattern the time lapses when water exchange was possible between the Pacific and

Atlantic/Tethyan oceans. Chronology not to scale.

Figure 2. Main scenarios of Late Eocene to Recent marine surface circulation across the

Caribbean Seaway. After data from Prothero (1994), Coates and Obando (1996), Droxell

et al. (1998), Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee (1999: Fig. 10). Since the Late Eocene the

course of westward-flowing currents in the mid-Atlantic/Tethys across the Caribbean

Seaway has been greatly affected by the appearence and disappearence of various

topographic barriers. Thus, the Circumtropical current, which originally passed into the

western Pacific (Late Eocene) was temporarily disrupted during the Eocene-Oligocene

transition by the emergence of Gaarlandia, during the Late Miocene by the partial

emergence of Central America, and was permanently disrupted by the uplift of Central

America in the Late Pliocene.

16

Table 1. Stratigraphic indicators for land, shallow marine, and deep marine environments

during the latest Eocene-early Oligocene (35-33 Ma, Zones P16-18) interval within the

Caribbean realm and its surroundings. Some present-day geographic areas are not listed

because they do not existed at this time interval (Cayman Trench, Windward Passage, Mona

Passage, Anegada Trough, etc.). Compiled from Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1999, table 2

and appendix 1.

Location Land indicators

(hiatuses, red beds,

alluvia, paleosls,

terrestrial plant and

animal fossils,

nearshore

conglomerates)

Shallow marine and

costal indicators

(lagoonal sediments,

carbonate shelf, etc.)

Deep marine

indicators

(Globigerine ooze,

etc.)

Florida Peninsula X X -

Bahamas Platform X X X

Southern Mexico X X X

Yucatan Peninsula X X X

Northern Central

America

X - -

Southern Central

America

- X X

Northeastern South

America

X X X

Northeastern South

America shelf and

islands

X X -

Nicaragua Rise X X -

Cayman Ridge X X -

Beata Ridge - X -

Aves Ridge X X -

Cuba X X X

Jamaica X X X

Hipaniola X X X

Puerto Rico-Virgin

Islands

X X -

Lesser Antilles X X ?

Yucatan Basin and - ? X

17

Cayman Rise

Colombia and

Venezuela Basins

- - X

Grenada Basin - X X

18