Physiography and Geology of Cuba

Outside of four distinctly mountainous areas, the topography is subdued with elevations less than 100 meters (Faribridge, 1975b). The major mountain range is the Sierra Maestra in the southeastern part of Cuba. Pico Turquino, at an elevation of 1974 meters, is the highest peak in Cuba. Many other peaks higher than 1000 meters are present in this mountain range. The eastern end of Cuba is the most rugged part with the Sierra Maestra in the southeast and the Baracos Highlands in the northeast. The central part of the island includes the Santa Clara Hills rising to roughly 200 meters and the Escambray Mountains rising to nearly 700 meters. The Havana and Matanzas Highlands are found in the north-central part of the island near Havana. This is a structurally complex area. A mountainous are known as the Sierra de los Organos is found in the northwest. It is underlain by limestone producing a tropical cone karst landscape with ridgetops and peaks reaching 300 to 700 meters. Cuba is geologically a diverse island. Many of the coastal plains and interior valleys are underlain by Quaternary to Recent sediments. As noted earlier, the Sierra de los Organos represents an are of predominantly limestone. The Havana and Matanzas Highlands and the Santa Clara Hills are underlain by folded and faulted sedimentary bedrock. Sandstones, conglomerates, shales, and dolomites of Cretaceous and Tertiary age are predominant. Various metamorphic rock types make up the Escambray Mountains. In the east, the Sierra Maestra are badly folded layers of sandstone, shale, breccia, and limestone of Paleocene age. Considerable amounts of serpentine and peridotite are exposed within folded sedimentary rock units in neighboring Baracoa Highlands.