Late Jurassic Oceanic Crust and Upper Cretaceous Caribbean Plateau Picritic Basalts Exposed in the Duarte Igneous Complex, Hispaniola: A Discussion

Lapierre et al. (1999) have reported new chemical data on the composition of the Duarte complex and two Ar/Ar ages on amphiboles, from which they conclude that at least part of the Duarte complex is part of the Caribbean-Columbian-Cretaceous Igneous Province (CCCIP) of Kerr et al. (1997). They also conclude that emplacement of the central Hispaniolan ophiolite (CHO) took place in the Late Cretaceous. We would like to highlight some aspects of the regional geology at odds with Lapierre et al.’s conclusions and offer an alternative interpretation of their results. We argue that the age of the Duarte complex is Late Jurassic—or, at youngest, Early Cretaceous—and that Lapierre et al.’s 86–87-Ma ages are the result of the thermal effects associated with granitoid intrusion and do not represent primary igneous crystallization of the Duarte complex.