THRUST EMPLACEMENT OF THE HISPANIOLA PERIDOTITE BELT - OROGENIC EXPRESSION OF THE MIDCRETACEOUS CARIBBEAN ARC POLARITY REVERSAL

New Structural data from central Hispaniola suggest that a mid-Cretace ous orogenic event resulted in the obduction of peridotites onto the e arly Antillean are. The Maimon belt, which structurally underlies the peridotites, contains a shear zone composed of mylonitic and phyllonit ic schists formed by northward thrust emplacement of the peridotites. Penetrative deformation decreases progressively to the northeast and i s observed in the Neo comian sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Los Ranchos Formation, The unconformably overlying, upper Albian-Cenomani an limestones are not penetratively deformed, thus bracketing the obdu ction to Aptian-Albian time. This event is synchronous with chemical c hanges of the are magmas in Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and central Cuba, Thus, they may both be related to the postulated Greater Antillean po larity reversal.