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series of ridges associated with an early east-west trans-<br />

form fault. If so, the basement structures under the<br />

Greater Anti 11 es Outer Ri dge may represent a younger<br />

extension of this fault zone.<br />

During late Cretaceous time the rugged sea floor<br />

received pyroclastic sediments from the Greater Antilles,<br />

which were experiencing extensive geosynclinal volcanism<br />

(Weyl, 1968; Monroe, 1968). Some of the siltstones, clay-<br />

stones, cherts, and limestones dredged from the north slope<br />

of the present Puerto Rico Trench probably also were<br />

derived from the Greater Antilles, and they may have been<br />

interbedded with flows of tholeiitic magma (Chase and<br />

Hersey, 1968). The Cenomanian 1 imestones dredged from the<br />

north slope were probably deposi ted at depths greater than<br />

3000 m (Todd and Low, 1964); their nonclastic texture<br />

indicates that they may have been deposited on an elevated<br />

area whi ch was not i nfl uenced by the downs lope sedi mentati on.<br />

Core data from DSDP Site 28 on the north slope of the<br />

Puerto Rico Trench indicate that the deposition of inter-<br />

bedded layers of chert, limestone, siltstonè, lutite, and<br />

mi crofoss i 1 ooze apparently conti nued under s i mi 1 ar<br />

conditions, but without the basait flows, until middle<br />

Eocene time, thus forming the present stratified layer.<br />

Pyroclastic debris was furnished by early to middle Eocene<br />

221<br />

volcanism in the Greater Antilles (Mattson and Pessagno,1971).<br />

It is likely that the acoustic stratification of the<br />

pre-mi ddl e Eocene sedi ment is due to i nterbeddi ng of these<br />

\<br />

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