Hispaniola consists of an agglomeration of 11 island-arc terranes that crop out over the northern two-thirds of the island and one oceanic plateau terrane that crops out over the southern one-third of the island. The island-arc terranes, which range in age from Early Cretaceous to late Eocene, can be classified on the basis of lithologic associations, structure, and metamorphic grade as: 1) fragments of oceanic crust, 2) fragments of the fore arc/accretionary prism of an island arc, 3) fragments of the volcano-plutonic part of an island arc, and 4) a fragment of a back-arc basin. Based on indirect regional constraints, it is inferred that both the oceanic and island-arc terranes of Hispaniola originated in the Pacific as part of a single continuous island arc, the "Great Arc', which swept into the Caribbean during Late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic time. -from Authors
