The Mayari-Baracoa paired ophiolite belt, Eastern Cuba: Implications for tectonic settings and platinum-group elemental mineralization

Abstract

The Jurassic Mayari-Baracoa ophiolite belt and associated Cretaceous volcanic rocks form the Zaza zone of eastern Cuba. This zone has been traditionally considered allochthonous and overrides a passive continental margin, the Cuban foreland. The ophiolites consist of mantle tectonites and cumulates, overlain by a volcanic-arc sequence including porphyritic basalts and andesitic lavas. These are, in turn, overlain by a sequence of tuffs and epiclastic sedimentary rocks. There are two ophiolitic massifs in the belt, the Mayari-Cristal Massif (MCM) and the Moa-Baracoa Massif (MBM). The MCM consists of harzburgites and dunites with abundant high-Cr podiform chromitites and dikes of gabbro and pyroxenite. The MBM, on the other hand, is composed of harzburgites with abundant high-Al podiform chromitites, cut by troctolite dikes. The two ophiolitic massifs have different REE and PGE patterns and contents. The mantle sequence in the MCM is more depleted than that in the MBM. We suggest that the MCM formed beneath a volcanic island arc and the MBM beneath a nascent spreading center in a back-arc basin. The two massifs form a paired ophiolite belt.