Initial sub-aerial volcanic activity along the central Lesser Antilles inner arc: New K–Ar ages from Les Saintes volcanoes

• Les Saintes Islands show new K–Ar ages ranging from 2.98 ± 0.04 to 0.882 ± 0.013 Ma.
• Terre-de-Haut Island was constructed in several phases between 2.98 and 2.00 Ma.
• Terre-de-Bas lavas show ages suggesting a rapid construction at 0.888 ± 0.009 Ma.
• Trace elements show that Les Saintes and Dominica lavas have similar characteristics.
• Les Saintes volcanism is the oldest in the northern part of the Lesser Antilles arc.

We present new groundmass K–Ar ages obtained using the Cassignol–Gillot technique, together with whole-rock major and trace elements, from Les Saintes islands (Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas). They are located along the northern Lesser Antilles inner arc, between Basse-Terre Island (western Guadeloupe) to the North and Dominica Island to the South. Ages reveal that the main volcanic phase in Terre-de-Haut occurred between 2.98 ± 0.04 and 2.00 ± 0.03 Ma, and show that the onset of sub-aerial volcanism in Terre-de-Haut is slightly older (~ 0.2 Myr) than that of northern Basse-Terre. Volcanism in Les Saintes resumed to the west, with the rapid construction of Terre-de-Bas Island at 0.888 ± 0.009 Ma. Major elements analyses show that most lavas from Les Saintes belong to a sub-alkaline medium-K magmatic series and are mainly andesites, with relatively rare basaltic andesites and dacites. Rare earth elements spectra reveal a strong enrichment in light elements, as observed for Dominica lavas, and significantly higher than observed for Basse-Terre lavas. Noticeably, Terre-de-Bas spectra display more enriched patterns relative to those from Terre-de-Haut lavas, suggesting a lower degree of partial melting or a stronger sedimentary component incorporated to the subducting slab. Overall, geochemical signatures of Les Saintes and Dominica magmas display common characteristics, which we interpret as reflecting strong petrogenetic affinities, while both are significantly different from that of Basse-Terre lavas. Finally, this study provides a precise timing of subaerial volcanism of Les Saintes Islands, which can be used to better constrain through time the development of the tectonic half-graben where these islands lie, which is part of the arc-parallel en-echelon faults system accommodating the oblique convergence of the North American plate from Montserrat to Dominica. In addition, these results reveal that the initiation of Terre-de-Haut volcanism is presently the oldest dated volcanism from the northern part of the Lesser Antilles active arc.