Tracking the Caribbean Magmatic Evolution: The British Virgin Islands as a Transition Between the Greater and Lesser Antilles Arcs

Abstract

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) archipelago, located between the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles, is a key location to study the geodynamic evolution of the Caribbean plate. Geochemistry of the studied samples reveals typical volcanic arc signatures, including a calc-alkaline affinity, strong negative HFSE anomalies, and LILE enrichment. The ɛHf values are homogeneous, indicative of a MORB-type mantle. Magmas were sourced from a homogeneous mantle wedge with less than 2% slab-derived sediment inputs, dominated by aqueous fluids. A concomitant melt component has been detected in the Peter and Norman Islands. U-Pb dating emphasizes an active magmatic period spanning over ca. 13 Myr (43–30 Ma), with a NE/SW decreasing age gradient. Thermobarometry data display a SW increasing emplacement depth from ∼6 to 13 km. Compared to the Greater and Lesser Antilles, this archipelago shows strong similarities with the extinct northern Lesser Antilles arc in terms of source and age. A geodynamical evolution model is proposed in which this archipelago represents a transition between the Greater and the Lesser Antilles arcs. The Oligocene cessation of magmatism (ca. 30 Ma) may coincide with a regionally documented lull in arc magmatic activity during which the Bahamas bank collided to the north. Paleomagnetic evidence of forearc sliver motion along the northeastern boundary of the Caribbean indicates a northward translation of the archipelago from a position above the Lesser Antilles subduction zone to its modern location along the highly oblique, strike-slip-dominated plate boundary, thus preventing the re-establishment of arc magmatism in the eastern Caribbean.