The deformation history of the Villa de Cura blueschist belt, Venezuela: Implications for the evolution of the Caribbean-South American Plate boundary zone

• Main Author: John, Alastair M.
• Other Authors: Lallemant, Hans Ave
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Geology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1911/17885

This study presents a new conceptual tectonic model for the exhumation and emplacement of the Villa de Cura blueschist belt, which places specific constraints on the development of the Caribbean-South American plate boundary zone. New structural and fluid inclusion microthermometric analyses constrain the evolution of the western and central parts of the Villa de Cura blueschist belt, Venezuela. The structural evolution is represented by seven generations of deformation structures. Three ductile generations are associated with Late Cretaceous subduction zone deformation, and Paleocene-Eocene exhumation of the belt from the fore arc of the Great Arc of the Caribbean. Two brittle-ductile generations record the Eocene-Miocene emplacement of the belt onto the South American continental margin; during this deformation early aqueous fluid inclusion assemblages are reequilibrated. Two brittle generations result from plate boundary deformation similar to that occurring at present; methane-rich fluid inclusion assemblages are associated with hydrocarbon entrapment during these deformations.* *This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation). The CD requires the following system requirements: Microsoft Office.