The geology of Cuba differs significantly from that of other Caribbean islands because of ancient 900 million year old Precambrian Proterozoic metamorphic rocks in the Santa Clara province and extensive Jurassic and Cretaceous outcrops.
Western and central Cuba are an orogenic belt—mountains formed by crumpling and uplift—created by the collision of an island arc in the Cretaceous with the Florida-Bahamas platform.
[1][2][3][4] The Jagua Formation in western Cuba has yielded numerous fossils of marine reptiles and pterosaurs.
Cuba is located in an area with several active fault systems which produce on average about 2,000 seismic events each year.
[5] While most registered seismic events pass unnoticed, the island has been struck by a number of destructive earthquakes over the past four centuries, including several major quakes with a magnitude of 7.0 or above.