Tectonic rotations suggested by paleomagnetic results from northern Colombia, South America

Nine sites in two Cretaceous units, the La Teta lava and the Maruayan diorite (approximately 12°N, 72°W), from the Guajira peninsula of Colombia give a virtual geomagnetic pole in central equatorial Africa. The Cretaceous pole for eight sites in La Teta lava is located at 10°N, 21°E(δp = 10°, δm = 19°). This pole is about 90° from Cretaceous poles determined by other workers for North and South America. Our results, combined with the results of other workers from circum-Caribbean sites, are interpreted in terms of large tectonic rotations of Caribbean sites during and after Cretaceous times. A paleotectonic reconstruction of the Americas was made by superimposing Cretaceous virtual paleomagnetic poles. It is concluded that the Guajira and Greater Antilles sites occupied latitudes about 10° south of their present latitudes, possibly off northwestern South America, in Cretaceous times. Eleven other sites from two diorite bodies in the Guajira peninsula gave inconclusive results.