| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4682772 | Journal of South American Earth Sciences | 2009 | 14 Pages |
The occurrences of oceanic assemblages on the Pacific shore of Costa Rica are part of an intricate group of complexes with different tectonic origins. Although they are dismembered and disrupted, they are the only available inland source of information to decipher the evolution of this active margin. Six main regions are described in this paper: (1) Santa Elena Peninsula, constituted by a supra-subduction zone (Santa Elena Nappe), that is overthrusting an igneous-sedimentary Aptian–Cenomanian sequence (Santa Rosa Accretionary Complex), which includes OIB (Ocean Island Basalts) portions, (2) the Nicoya Complex, which is a Jurassic–Cretaceous chert sediment pile disrupted and detached from its original basement by multiple magmatic events that occurred during the formation of the CLIP (Caribbean Large Igneous Province), (3) the Tortugal area formed by the Tortugal Suite with OIB signature and surrounded by Nicoya Complex outcrops, (4) the Herradura Block composed of the Tulín Formation to Maastrichtian to Lower Eocene OIB accreted oceanic island and the Nicoya Complex as basement, (5) Quepos Block correlated with the Tulín Formation, (6) the Osa-Burica Block composed of the Golfito and Burica Terranes (geochemically and chronologically correlated to the Nicoya Complex), Rincón Block (Early Paleocene to Early Eocene accreted seamounts), and the Miocene Osa-Caño Accretionary Complex. The Santa Rosa Accretionary Complex together with the Tortugal Suite have OIB signatures and possibly without Galapagos hotspot geochemical affinity. These coincidences would be explained by the hypothetical existence of an “autochthonous” Cretaceous basement formed by these two regions together with the rest of the Caribbean. Costa Rican basement is constituted by several CLIP portions and seamounts accreted from the end of Cretaceous in the northwest to the Miocene in the southeast, forming the diverse oceanic occurrences of the Pacific, which are mainly connected to the Galapagos hotspot activity.
