The northeastern Caribbean is a key region for understanding how subduction dynamics, internal plate deformation, and paleogeographic change interact to shape long-term Earth surface systems. Traditionally modeled as part of a rigid Caribbean plate, this region is now recognized as having undergone substantial internal deformation since the Eocene. Integrating paleomagnetic constraints with kinematic and paleogeographic reconstructions reveals a far more dynamic tectonic evolution than previously assumed. Significant vertical-axis rotations and relative translations affected major tectonic domains of the northeastern Caribbean throughout the Cenozoic. These rotations, reaching several tens of degrees, occurred in multiple phases and reflect the cumulative effects of oblique subduction, arc-parallel shearing, and progressive reorganization of plate-boundary structures. Deformation was distributed across rotating blocks rather than localized along discrete plate boundaries, fundamentally modifying regional geometry and challenging rigid-plate models. Incorporating these kinematic constraints into plate reconstructions highlights a highly variable paleogeographic history. Subduction-related uplift, subsidence, and arc migration episodically altered the extent and connectivity of emerged landmasses in the eastern Caribbean. During the Eocene and Oligocene, tectonic uplift and shallow platforms likely formed transient land connections or island chains between northern South America and the northern Caribbean islands. These connections were later disrupted by tectonic fragmentation and subsidence as convergence dynamics evolved. Overall, this integrated framework demonstrates that deep geodynamic processes exert a first-order control on Caribbean landscape evolution and ecological connectivity, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary approaches linking tectonics, paleogeography, and Earth surface processes.

The Caribbean tectonic plate is typically modeled as a rigid plate moving along discrete plate boundaries. Isolated exposures on islands have long shown that above the Lesser Antilles subduction zone, the plate experienced contractional, strike-slip, and extensional deformation, but the importance of this deformation remained long unknown. Recent paleomagnetic data indicated that the northeastern Caribbean region broke from the plate, rotated counterclockwise, and was displaced over 100s of kilometers since the Eocene. Here, we study whether intra-plate shortening, long recognized in the Grenadines (southern Lesser Antilles), where oceanic rocks of the Grenada-Tobago back-arc basin were thrusted and uplifted after the Eocene, also denotes regional intraplate deformation. Therefore, we tested for vertical axis rotations from Eocene-Oligocene aged rocks from the Grenadine Islands between Saint Vincent and Grenada. The paleomagnetic directions reveal at least 25 degrees clockwise rotation relative to the geographic north pole, similar to 10 degrees-15 degrees more than what has been reconstructed for the Caribbean Plate Interior. Two models are proposed which may explain this rotation, though the preferred mechanism suggests that the southeastern Lesser Antilles forearc converged with the Caribbean plate interior, accommodated by inversion via thrusting of the former Tobago-Grenada back-arc basin ridge, with a reconstructed, southward increasing magnitude of between similar to 75 and 125 km. We infer that rotation resulted from transpression along the South American-Caribbean transform plate boundary. Inversion of spreading ridges, including in back-arc basin settings, is often inferred as a possible mechanism for subduction initiation. The Grenadines may thus represent a rare, fossilized, early stage of a subduction initiation process.

The morphology of feeding structures is driven by the nature of the food source, itself being influenced by environmental factors. However, food sources may change with growth, leading to potentially complex interactions between ontogenetic trajectories and environmental variation. This study investigates these interactions using a geometric morphometric analysis of the platform shape of P1 elements of Polygnathus designated here as 'unornamented', from a post-Hangenberg succession from the Montagne Noire. Allometric trajectories vary along the record, with variable shapes for small elements but a common adult morphology. The specimens from each stratigraphic level were split into three size classes to assess environmental forcing. The shape of the small-sized class varied primarily with conodont biofacies, the medium-size class with sedimentary microfacies, while the large-size class followed a random walk unrelated to environmental variation, with little support for a role of palaeotemperatures driving morphological evolution. These results agree with a change of diet during ontogeny, and with an increase of functional constraints related to occlusion in large elements. Biofacies and microfacies trace different signatures of bathymetry and distance from the coast, suggesting that post-Hangenberg unornamented Polygnathus varied in their exploitation of the water column through ontogeny. Finally, the high morphological disparity of small elements suggests fewer feeding specialization constraints in this size class, making small specimens more susceptible to environmental influences than large ones. These results showcase how the complex interactions between allometric trajectories and changes in feeding behaviour may render the identification of underlying patterns of environmental forcing difficult.

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is a NE-SW trending archipelago located in the northeastern corner of the Caribbean plate. Exposing volcanic arc rocks, it is located at the junction between the old arc of the Greater Antilles to the Northwest and the active arc of the Lesser Antilles to the South. The BVI are a key location to study the geodynamical evolution of the northeastern boundary of the Caribbean plate. In order to understand its significance into the overall Caribbean evolution, a set of 16 igneous samples from seven islands was studied for petrology, geochemistry (major and trace elements, and Pb-Sr-Nd-Hf isotopes), thermobarometry (Al-in-hornblende) and U-Pb geochronology on accessory minerals (zircon, titanite and apatite). The studied rocks show a typical volcanic arc signature and correspond to a calc-alkaline series, differentiated along a NE/SW gradient. Trace elements patterns show strong negative HFSE anomalies and LILE enrichments. ɛHfi are homogeneous ranging from +11.4 to +14.1 typical of a MORB-type mantle. Magmas were thus originated from a homogeneous mantle corresponding to the mantle wedge, with participation of a slab component. The slab component contribution is estimated to be less than 2% and is dominated by aqueous fluids, except for Peter and Norman Islands. U-Pb ages emphasize an active magmatic period spanning between ~43 Ma and ~30 Ma along a NE-SW younging gradient. This age range and strong geochemical similarities with arc lavas exposed in St Martin and St Barthélémy suggest that the BVI represent the northern continuity of the Eo-Oligocene extinct branch of the Lesser Antilles arc. Crystallization depth of the studied plutonic bodies, estimated by thermobarometric constraints, supports a NE-SW increasing emplacement depth from ~7km to ~13km. The oldest plutonic bodies at NE thus experienced less total exhumation than the youngest plutonic bodies at SW (maximum rate of ~2.2 mm/yr at SW and minimum rate of ~0.2 mm/yr at NE). From Eocene to Oligocene it has been recently demonstrated that the block from Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands (PRVI) rotated 45° counter clockwise (Montheil et al., 2023). Previous thermochronological data shows that the BVI exhumation occurred synchronously along the archipelago between ~25 and ~21 Ma (Román et al., 2021). Together these observations suggest a regional tilt of the BVI block that occurred between plutons crystallisation and their exhumation at ~2 km depth. We propose that the tilting and the fast exhumation of the BVI, that are synchronous with counterclockwise rotation of the PRVI block, are the consequence of subduction locking generated by the Bahamas bank accretion to the northeastern Caribbean plate.

Biodiversity hotspots often coincide with regions along subduction zones where tectonic activity continuously make and break geographic connections promoting biological diversification and speciation. A puzzling biodiversity hotspot is the northern Caribbean islands that contain endemic terrestrial and freshwater biotas mainly evolved from South American colonizers that dispersed during the Cenozoic. However, tectonic reconstructions have always assumed a mostly inactive and coherent eastern Caribbean plate, such that migration routes must either have been overwater, or through an inner-plate land bridge. Nevertheless, recent studies revealed that the northeastern Caribbean region underwent tectonically induced uplift, subsidence and large-scale block rotations questioning the assumed plate coherency. Here we present a plate reconstruction including these novel constraints and reveals how tectonic and volcanic activity along the Lesser Antilles subduction zone have established a transient land corridor connecting South America and the Greater Antilles from ~45 to 25 Ma ago offering a new avenue to explain Caribbean biotic interchanges and diversification.

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.

The semichatovae Event is a mid-late Frasnian (Late Devonian) episode of a major marine transgression that coincides with the spread of the conodont Palmatolepis semichatovae. The occurrence of this species and the associated event were therefore proposed to define the Middle-Late Frasnian boundary. As this species is not found on the north Gondwana platforms, this event is documented only on the Laurussia marine outer shelves. As such, it is not known in the Frasnian reference section within the Upper Quarry Coumiac, located in the Montagne Noire (southern France). In this contribution, we have used a multidisciplinary approach that combines sedimentology, conodont assemblages, magnetic susceptibility and concentrations of certain elements that are indicative of detrital components to precisely date this event in the absence of Palmatolepis semichatovae by means of global-scale correlations. We found that a significant part of the environmental signal has been preserved in the strata, and we could locate the semichatovae transgressive event in the cross-section in the lower part of Zone FZ 11. During this period of recurrent environmental perturbations, conodonts responded to sea-level changes only above a certain depth threshold, which is reached only with the semichatovae event.

The Last Interglacial (LIG) or Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e, spanning 129 to 116 kyrs ago, is recognised as one of the warmest periods in the Quaternary, with global sea surface temperatures (SSTs) 1 degrees C-2 degrees C higher than today, sea levels 5-10 m above the current level and biogeographical range expansion of specific tropical species into the Mediterranean. We present new stratigraphic, palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographic data from the uplifted marine terraces of Kastellos Bay, Karpathos (Aegean Sea, Greece). Detailed sedimentological analysis reveals that the so-called "Tyrrhenian" terrace comprises multiple depositional cycles, with only the uppermost bed attributable to MIS 5e. From this unit, we document 64 molluscan taxa, including members of the "Senegalese fauna" and several species not previously reported from Greek LIG deposits. Ecological affinities of the assemblage indicate a heterogeneous infralittoral environment with mean annual SSTs of around 20 degrees C, consistent with other Mediterranean records. By revising and integrating Greek species lists into a Mediterranean-Atlantic framework, we demonstrate that the Aegean Ecoregion forms a key link between eastern and western Mediterranean faunas and shares affinities with the Saharan Upwelling region. These results refine the palaeobiogeographic interpretation of tropical species dispersal into the Mediterranean and highlight the need for robust chronological calibrations of Greek LIG sites to improve reconstructions of faunal dynamics under warm climate scenarios.

Plate motion along concave (toward the upper plate) strike slip to subduction transition (SSST) where the down going plate does not tear, results over time in a lengthening of the subduction zone while the downgoing plate is transported along the transform margin. In the northern Antilles such a transition has developed since the late Paleogene while the Bahamas bank swept the northern Antilles margin and collided with Hispaniola westward. Tectonic record along the Puerto-Rico (PR), Anegada and the northern Lesser Antilles (NLA) margin reveals the modalities of the SSST evolution and gives insights into the interaction between the subducting North America oceanic plate and the overriding Caribbean plate.We present a detailed structural map from eastern PR to southern Anguilla platform in the Lesser Antilles based on interpretation of multibeam bathymetry and multichannel seismic data.We confirm that plate motion partitioning between a trench parallel strike slip fault and thrusting along the interplate is exclusively restricted to the margin tip east of the Bunce Fault. Further upslope, the Virgin Islands northern margin is affected by trench-parallel, trenchward dipping normal faults. These faults accommodate the deepening of the margin interpreted as the result of basal tectonic erosion. From NLA westward to St Croix and southern Virgin Islands, the margin is dislocated by a cross cutting pattern of NE-SW and E-W normal fault systems, bounding elongated E-W throughs, rhomboidal basins and S-shaped ridges. Formally interpreted as either slip sense strike-slip system along the Anegada Passage, the structural pattern that we describe, supported by our seismic interpretation, reveals limited left lateral displacement restricted to the EW basins. Instead, the cross fault system appears to accommodate NW-SE extensional tectonics. At a regional scale along the SSST, from the Lesser Antilles margin to Hispaniola collision zone, the strain pattern along the margin progressively evolves from NNW-SSE extension responsible for V-shaped basins open toward the trench, to NW-SE extension along the Anegada passage and increasing shortening along the Muertos through from Southeastern Puerto Rico westward. Such a pattern attests for a progressive bending of the margin in a context of low interplate coupling along the evolving SSST.

Abstract. In this study, alternatively to the megathrust, we identify upper plate normal faults orthogonal to the trench as a possible tsunami source along the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. We study the Morne Piton Fault system, a trench-perpendicular upper crustal fault affecting the Lesser Antilles forearc at the latitude of Guadeloupe. By the means of seismic reflection, high resolution bathymetry, Remotely Operated Vehicle images and dating, we reassess the slip rate of the Morne Piton Fault at 0.2 mm.yr-1 since fault inception (i.e. 7 Ma), dividing by five previous estimations and thus increasing the earthquake time recurrence and lowering the associated hazard. We evidence a metric scarp with striae at the toe of the Morne Piton Fault system suggesting a recent fault rupture. We estimate a fault rupture area of ~ 450–675 km2 and then a magnitude range for the seismic event around Mw 6.5 ± 0.5. We present results from a multi-segment tsunami model representative for the worst-case scenario which gives an overview of what could happen in terms of tsunami generation if the whole identified Morne Piton Fault segments ruptured together. Our model illustrates the potential impact of local tsunamis on the surrounding coastal area as well as local bathymetric controls on tsunami propagation as (i) shallow water plateaus act as secondary sources and are responsible for a wrapping of the tsunami waves around the island of Marie-Galante, (ii) canyons are focusing and enhancing the wave height in front of the most touristic and populated town of the island, (iii) a resonance phenomenon is observed within Les Saintes archipelago showing that the waves’ frequency content is able to perturbate the sea-level during many hours after the seismic rupture.

Warmer temperatures and higher sea level than today characterized the Last Interglacial interval [Pleistocene, 128 to 116 thousand years ago (ka)]. This period is a remarkable deep-time analog for temperature and sea-level conditions as projected for 2100 AD, yet there has been no evidence of fossil assemblages in the equatorial Atlantic. Here, we report foraminifer, metazoan (mollusks, bony fish, bryozoans, decapods, and sharks among others), and plant communities of coastal tropical marine and mangrove affinities, dating precisely from a ca. 130 to 115 ka time interval near the Equator, at Kourou, in French Guiana. These communities include ca. 230 recent species, some being endangered today and/or first recorded as fossils. The hyperdiverse Kourou mollusk assemblage suggests stronger affinities between Guianese and Caribbean coastal waters by the Last Interglacial than today, questioning the structuring role of the Amazon Plume on tropical Western Atlantic communities at the time. Grassland-dominated pollen, phytoliths, and charcoals from younger deposits in the same sections attest to a marine retreat and dryer conditions during the onset of the last glacial (ca. 110 to 50 ka), with a savanna-dominated landscape and episodes of fire. Charcoals from the last millennia suggest human presence in a mosaic of modern-like continental habitats. Our results provide key information about the ecology and biogeography of pristine Pleistocene tropical coastal ecosystems, especially relevant regarding the—widely anthropogenic—ongoing global warming.

In this study, alternatively to the megathrust, we identify upper-plate normal faults orthogonal to the trench as a possible tsunami source along the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. The Morne Piton fault system is such a trench-perpendicular upper crustal fault at the latitude of Guadeloupe. By means of seismic reflection, high-resolution bathymetry, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) imaging and dating, we reassess the slip rate of the Morne Piton fault since 7 Ma, i.e., its inception, and quantify an average rate of 0.25 mm yr−1 since ca. 1.2 Ma. This result divides by two previous estimations, increases the earthquake time recurrence and lowers the associated hazard. The ROV dive revealed a metric scarp with striae at the toe of the Morne Piton fault system, suggesting a recent fault rupture. We estimate a fault rupture area of ∼ 450–675 km2 and then a magnitude range for a maximum seismic event around Mw 6.5 ± 0.5, making this fault potentially tsunamigenic as the nearby Les Saintes fault responsible for a tsunami following the 2004 Mw 6.3 earthquake. Consequently, we simulate a multi-segment tsunami model representative of a worst-case scenario if all the identified Morne Piton fault segments ruptured together. Our model provides clues for the potential impact of local tsunamis on the surrounding coastal area as well as for local bathymetric controls on tsunami propagation. We illustrate that (i) shallow-water plateaus act as secondary sources and are responsible for a wrapping of the tsunami waves around the island of Marie-Galante; (ii) canyons indenting the shallow-water plateau slope break focus and enhance the wave height in front of the most touristic and populated town of the island; and (iii) the resonance phenomenon is observed within the Les Saintes archipelago, showing that the waves' frequency content is able to perturb the sea level for many hours after the seismic rupture.

Two sediment sections are investigated at Cape Arkhangelos, island of Rhodes, where Pleistocene marine sediments crop out in horsts and grabens of a Mesozoic basement. There, hemipelagic sediments characterized by upper bathyal communities are atypically mixed with much shallower faunal components because they were deposited close to rugged coastal landforms. Biostratigraphic analyses show that the sections were deposited between 1.8 and 0.9 Ma, and between 1.8 and 1.6 Ma, respectively. By combining the planktonic/benthic foraminiferal ratio with 31 bathymetric indicators chosen among extant species of benthic foraminifera, mollusks, and bryozoans, we show that relative sea-level fluctuations can be reconstructed in these atypical settings despite the proximity of steep slopes that favored transportation of allochthonous fauna. The shallow-water components (including gravels and calcareous algae) were transported downslope by the combined action of gravity, currents, and tectonic disturbance that promoted drowning (with a maximum flooding recorded at ca. 1.7 Ma) and then uplift of fault-bounded paleovalleys that formed during the Early Pleistocene. Abrupt facies changes and age differences between sections have been triggered by the irregular paleotopography of the Mesozoic basement, which fostered differential depositional settings, with outer to middle neritic deposits above the horsts and upper bathyal deposits in paleovalleys.

Phylogenetic studies of present-day terrestrial organisms suggest that faunal dispersals between South America and the Greater Antilles may have occurred during the Cenozoic through the Lesser Antilles. However, because of the lack of geological data to unravel the areas that may have emerged along the Lesser Antilles trench, the migration paths used by their ancestors remain unknown. Here, we present novel paleogeographic maps of the central Lesser Antilles (extending from Guadeloupe to Martinique islands) which are built on the basis of onshore and offshore stratigraphic correlations (50 seismic lines, biostratigraphy of 9 dredged and 29 field samples, six sedimentary logs). We find that repetitive episodes of uplift and drowning have occurred in the central part of the Lesser Antilles during the Neogene. Offshore, the Marie-Galante Basin comprises three sedimentary megasequences that deposited between: (i) the Oligocene and Early Miocene, including the extinct arc, (ii) the Middle and Late Miocene and (iii) the latest Miocene and Holocene. These sediments infill a NNW-SEE trending forearc rift that opened during the Early Miocene. The megasequences are separated by subaerial regional unconformities that affect the rift shoulders. Onshore, we show that the lower part of the carbonate platform in Guadeloupe and La Désirade has deposited during the late Messinian. In Martinique, we refine the age of the carbonate deposits belonging to the extinct arc to the Chattian-Burdigalian, and evidence a major subaerial unconformity corresponding to the Middle Miocene. We propose that between Anguilla and Martinique, from north to south, large archipelagos, which are now drowned, have existed during the early Middle Miocene and the latest Miocene. We suggest that during the Miocene, the Lesser Antilles may have been used as a pathway for land-faunal dispersals from South America.

Molluscs, and among them bivalves, are organisms known for their ability to precisely record paleoenvironmental changes, both in shallow and deep marine settings. When looking into the recent geological past, bivalve assemblages offer information on the climatic changes that have impacted their taxonomic compositions. In the eastern Mediterranean, assemblages of bathyal bivalves are scarce. In order to investigate the impact of climatic changes on deep-water bivalve communities during the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition, we focus here on two well-dated sections on Rhodes Island (Greece) corresponding to the Lindos Bay Formation. The sections of Lindos and Lardos present a continuous sedimentation of fine, marly sediments, and cover the Marine Isotopic Stages (MIS) 32 to 18. A total of 15 samples were analysed, resulting in the recovery of 31 species of bathyal bivalves. The depositional depths of these samples are estimated to be between 150 and 500 m. All samples are dominated by Protobranch bivalves, with the larger diversity found in families Nuculanidae and Yoldiidae. Three species, found only in cool intervals, are now extinct: Ledella nicotrae, Katadesmia confusa, and Pseudoneilonella pusio. Differences in sample composition are thought to be due mainly to climatic rather than bathymetric conditions. Although the associations in most MIS are similar to those found in the Italian Pleistocene deposits, those of the MIS 21 interglacial (Nucula nucleus – Saccella commutata – Cyclopecten hoskynsi – Limea crassa) and the MIS 20 glacial (Saccella commutata – Bathyspinula excisa –Yoldiella curta – Bathyarca spp.) are new for the Mediterranean region. These results imply that there were significant changes in bathyal bivalve associations during the climatic transitions of the Early-Middle Pleistocene and that modern bathyal associations of bivalves have been stabilized after the Middle Pleistocene.

The Tortonian–Messinian transition is associated with important climatic and oceanographic changes in the Mediterranean Basin, which have shaped both the biotic and abiotic nature of this setting. The morphological variability of the planktonic foraminifera Globorotalia menardii, a species that is highly sensitive to water column structure, has been investigated from the sedimentary archive of three Cretan sections across a west–east transect covering the Tortonian–Messinian Boundary. The present work explicitly focuses on test-size and coiling direction changes occurring during the 7.36–7.24 Ma time slice. On such a short timescale, the most important morphological differentiation accounts for the average size of G. menardii, which is mostly associated with evolutionary adaptation to new ecological niches during the latest Tortonian as a response to the environmental perturbations and ecological stress conditions preceding the Tortonian–Messinian Boundary. A combined thermal and/or salinity-driven stratification and thermocline development hypothesis has been suggested to explain the observed size variability. To ameliorate the accuracy of the proposed model and further determine which environmental parameter reflects the optimum conditions of the analysed species, additional sea surface temperature and salinity data derived from the same sampling intervals of the studied or additional Mediterranean sites are needed. The coiling direction of this species within the study time interval remained constant and not environmentally controlled.

We present an updated biostratigraphic and paleo-environmental synthesis of the lithostratigraphic successions that crop out in the Eastern Caribbean region in the Lesser Antilles, the Kalinago and Marie Galante Basins and the Aves Ridge. This synthesis relies on larger benthic and planktonic foraminiferal analyses conducted by Marcelle BouDagher Fadel during the last 5 years. The platform of Anguilla has formed during the Aquitanian and the early Messinian. The carbonates of Saint Martin have deposited between the late Aquitanian and the Zanclean, those of Tintamarre between the late Aquitanian and the early Langhian and those of Saint Barthelemy and Roche Plate during the Lutetian, Priabonian, Aquitanian-Burdigalian and Serravalian. The Highland Formation in Barbuda has deposited during the Late Miocene and the Early Pliocene. The carbonates of Antigua have deposited between the late Rupelian and the Aquitanian. Those of the "old" arc of Martinique have deposited during the Chattian, Aquitanian and Burdigalian. The upper part of the Kalinago andMarie Galante Basins have deposited between the Chattian and the Holocene. On the Aves Ridge, finally, we found Bartonian and Aquitanian shallow-water limestones and Serravalian, Tortonian-Messinian, Zanclean and Calabrian deep-sea deposits. With her contribution to the Caribbean geology by dating such a substantial amount of onshore and offshore lithostratigraphic successions and samples, Marcelle Boudagher-Fadel led our community toward a new conception of the paleo-environmental evolution of the Eastern Caribbean through time. She greatly contributed to sharpen the chronology of major regional emergence or drowning episodes, then contributing to a better understanding of the paleogeographic changes that occurred in the region during the Cenozoic, which will help to gain knowledge on the geodynamical processes responsible for such changes.

Relative Caribbean‐North American plate motion is partitioned over the trench and intra‐Caribbean plate faults that bound large scale tectonic blocks. Quantifying the kinematic evolution of this tectonic corridor is challenging because much of the region is submarine. We present an extensive regional paleomagnetic data set (1,330 cores from 136 sampling locations) from Eocene and younger rocks of the northern Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, and use a statistical bootstrapping approach to quantify vertical axis block rotations. Our results show that the Puerto Rico–Virgin Island (PRVI) block and the Northern Lesser Antilles (NoLA) block formed two coherently rotating domains that both underwent at least 45° counterclockwise rotation since the Eocene. The first ∼20° occurred in tandem in late Eocene and Oligocene time, after which the blocks were separated in the Miocene by the opening of the Anegada Passage. The last 25° of rotation of the PRVI block ended in the middle Miocene, whereas the NoLA block rotated slower, until the latest Miocene. The boundary between the NoLA block and a non‐rotated Southern Lesser Antilles was likely the Monserrat‐Harvers fault zone. These results require hundreds of kilometers of intra‐Caribbean motions with oroclinal bending of the trench or forearc sliver motion along the curved plate boundary as endmembers. These data invite a critical re‐evaluation of the kinematic reconstruction of Caribbean‐North American plate motion. The consequent changes in paleogeography may provide a new view on the enigmatic eastern Caribbean paleo‐biogeography and the Paleogene dispersal of South American mammals toward the Greater Antilles.

Abstract This study presents an extensive geochemical data set of 23 samples from St. Barthélemy Island, which belongs to the extinct branch of the Lesser Antilles arc and is currently exposed in the northern part of the subduction forearc. Samples were selected to represent all lithologies and main periods of magmatism, that is, Middle‐Late Eocene, Early Oligocene and Late Oligocene. They show enrichment in light rare earth element/medium rare earth element, large ion lithophile elements (Rb and Ba) and isotopic characteristics, suggesting mixing between the mantle and a subduction component (oceanic crust + sediments). Trace element ratios suggest that primary magmas were generated in a normal mid‐oceanic ridge basalt‐type mantle‐wedge that underwent 8%–18% partial melting in the spinel‐stability field. The sediment contribution was low (0.1%–1%) irrespective of the age of the samples. This is similar to what is observed for the northern Lesser Antilles active branch. St. Barthélemy Island shares strong similarities with St. Martin Island, located on the same extinct arc branch, which suggests a similar geodynamic evolution. Oligocene samples displayed an increase in incompatible elements in the magma source, suggesting an increase in sediment melts, which could be correlated with a drastic change in the tectonic regime at that time, characterized by stretching perpendicular to the trench and subsequent basin opening. On Δ7/4Pb versus 206Pb/204Pb, the samples showed a similar trend for both active and extinct islands of the northern Lesser Antilles, suggesting negligible changes in the nature of the magma sources.

The definition of pre-Messinian source rocks in the eastern Mediterranean is of paramount importance for hydrocarbon exploration because of the ability of salt to act as a high-quality seal rock. This research evaluates the organic geochemical features of the Upper Miocene (Tortonian-Messinian) sedimentary succession onshore Crete Island, Greece. The study employs original (Messinian, Agios Myron Fm) and published (Tortonian, Viannos Fm, Skinias Fm, Moulia Fm, and Messinian Ploutis section) results from organic geochemical analyses of mudstone samples. One hundred and one samples were examined using standard organic geochemistry methodology (Rock-Eval II and VI-TOC) to define the origin, type, and degree of organic matter maturity. The data indicate that the studied samples have poor to fair gas-prone source rock potential. These possible source rock units have not experienced great temperatures during burial, and, thus, their organic matter is thermally immature. The sub-salt (Tortonian-Messinian) source rock units are likely to be of higher thermal maturity in the western and eastern south Cretan trenches because of tectonic subsidence and a thicker sedimentary overburden. Several traps can grow in these regions, associated with normal faults, rotated blocks and unconformities (both below and above the unconformities). This research provides a basis for the further evaluation of the hydrocarbon potential in Crete Island. It is an area that shares geological similarities with the surrounding regions that contain proven reserves and is of crucial economic and strategic importance.