Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:33:15.744Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Coastal Morphology and Late Quaternary History, Cayman Islands, West Indies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

C. D. Woodroffe ,
D. R. Stoddart ,
R. S. Harmon  and
T. Spencer
C. D. Woodroffe
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Auckland, New Zealand
D. R. Stoddart
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England
R. S. Harmon
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, East Kilbride, Scotland
T. Spencer
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Manchester, Manchester, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Instrumental surveys of coastal profiles in the Cayman Islands, western Caribbean, reveal the presence of a horizontal erosional bench at +1.9 m on Grand Cayman and a deep horizontal notch at +6.4 m on Cayman Brac, but no raised erosional features on Little Cayman. Each island is surrounded by a horizontal constructional raised reef, usually below +2 m, here dated by U-series methods as 124,000 ± 8000 yr old, and hence broadly contemporary with other western Atlantic raised reefs of similar elevations. The different raised erosional features indicate independent vertical tectonic movement of the three islands, predating the formation of the raised reef. The accordance and horizontality of the raised reef indicates stability of the islands since the last interglacial times. An erosional notch at present sea level has formed since the sea reached its present level less than 2100 B.P., and algal benches on exposed coasts are also in equilibrium with present conditions.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 64 - 84
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adey, W.H., MacIntyre, I.G., Stuckenrath, R., Dill, R.F.. 1977. Relict barrier reef system off St. Croix: Its implications with respect to late Cenozoic coral reef development in the western Atlantic. Proceedings of the 3rd International Coral Reef Symposium 2. 15–21.Google Scholar
Alexander, C.S.. 1961. The marine terraces of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. Association of American Geographers. Annals 51. 102–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, W.. 1962. Emerged and submerged shorelines of the Dominican Republic. Revista Geografica 56. 51–77.Google Scholar
Barazangi, M., Dorman, J.. 1969. World seismicity maps compiled from ESSA, Coast and Geodetic Survey, epicenter data, 1961–1967. Seismological Society of America Bulletin 50. 369–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender, M.L., Taylor, F.W., Matthews, R.K.. 1973. Helium-uranium dating of corals from Middle Pleistocene Barbados reef tracts. Quaternary Research 3. 142–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender, M.L., Fairbanks, R.G., Taylor, F.W., Matthews, R.K., Goddard, J.G., Broecker, W.S.. 1979. Uranium-series dating of Pleistocene reef tracts of Barbados, West Indies. Geological Society of America Bulletin 90. 577–594.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, A.L., Broecker, W.S., Chappell, J.M.A., Matthews, R.K., Mesolella, K.J.. 1974. Quaternary sea level fluctuations on a tectonic coast: New 230Th 234U dates for the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. Quaternary Research 4. 185–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Thurber, D.L.. 1965. Uranium-series dating of corals and oolites from the Bahaman and Florida Key limestones. Science 149. 58–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broecker, W.S., Thurber, D.L., Goddard, J., Ku, T.-L., Matthews, R.K., Mesolella, K.J.. 1968. Milankovitch hypothesis supported by precise dating of coral reefs and deep-sea sediments. Science 159. 297–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brunt, M.A., Giglioli, M.E.C., Mather, J.D., Piper, D.J.W., Richards, H.G.. 1973. The Pleistocene rocks of the Cayman Islands. Geological Magazine 110. 209–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cant, R.V.. 1972. Jamaica's Pleistocene reef terraces. Geological Society of Jamaica Journal 12. 13–17.Google Scholar
Doran, E.B. Jr.. 1954. Land forms of Grand Cayman Island, British West Indies. Texas Journal of Science 6. 360–377.Google Scholar
Doran, E.B. Jr.. 1955. Landforms of the southeast Bahamas. University of Texas Publication No. 5509 1–38.Google Scholar
Emery, K.O.. 1981. Low marine terraces of Grand Cayman Island. Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science 12. 569–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emery, K.O., Milliman, J.D.. 1980. Shallow-water limestones from slope off Grand Cayman Island. Journal of Geology 88. 483–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
English, T.M.Savage. 1912. Some notes on the natural history of Grand Cayman. Handbook of Jamaica for 1912. Ford, J.C., Cundall, F.. Government Printing Office, Kingston, Jamaica. 598–600.Google Scholar
Focke, J.W.. 1977. The effect of a potentially reef-building vermetid-coralline-algal community on an eroding limestone coast, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. Proceedings of the 3rd International Coral Reef Symposium 1. 239–245.Google Scholar
Focke, J.W.. 1978a. Limestone cliff morphology on Curacao (Netherlands Antilles), with special attention to the origin of notches and vermetid/coralline algal surf benches (“cornices”, “trottoirs”). Zeitschrift Für Geomorphologie N.F. 22. 329–349.Google Scholar
Focke, J.W.. 1978b. Limestone cliff morphology and organism distribution on Curacao (Netherlands Antilles). Leidse Geologisches Mededelingen 51. 131–150.Google Scholar
Harmon, R.S., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C.. 1978. Late Pleistocene sea level history of Bermuda. Quaternary Research 9. 205–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harmon, R.S., Land, L.S., Mitterer, R.M., Garrett, P., Schwarcz, H.P., Larson, G.J.. 1981. Bermuda sea level during the last interglacial. Nature (Lond) 289. 481–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herweijer, J.P., Focke, J.W.. 1978. Late Pleistocene depositional and denudational history of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao (Netherlands Antilles). Geologie en Mijnbouw 57. 177–187.Google Scholar
Hoffmeister, J.E., Multer, H.G.. 1968. Geology and origin of the Florida Keys. Geological Society of America Bulletin 79. 1487–1502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holcombe, T.L., Vogt, P.R., Matthews, J.E., Murchison, R.R.. 1973. Evidence for sea-floor spreading in the Cayman Trough. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 20. 357–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horsfield, W.T.. 1972. A late Pleistocene sea level notch and its relation to block faulting on the north coast of Jamaica. Geological Society of Jamaica Journal 12. 18–22.Google Scholar
Horsfield, W.T.. 1975. Quaternary vertical movements in the Greater Antilles. Geological Society of America Bulletin 86. 933–938.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaye, C.A.. 1959. Shoreline features and Quaternary shoreline changes, Puerto Rico. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 317-B. 49–140.Google Scholar
Kinzie, R.A. III. 1973. The zonation of West Indian gorgonians. Bulletin of Marine Science 23. 93–155.Google Scholar
Ku, T.-L., Kimmel, M.A., Easton, W.H., O'Neil, T.J.. 1974. Eustatic sea level 120,000 years ago on Oahu, Hawaii. Science 183. 959–962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Land, L.S., Mackenzie, F.T., Gould, S.J.. 1967. Pleistocene history of Bermuda. Geological Society of America Bulletin 78. 993–1006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacIntyre, I.G.. 1971. Some submerged coral reefs in the Caribbean Proceedings of the 5th Caribbean Geological Conference1968 49–54.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, I.G.. 1972. Submerged reefs of eastern Caribbean. AAPG Bulletin 56. 720–736.Google Scholar
Matley, C.A.. 1926. The geology of the Cayman Islands (British West Indies) and their relation to the Bartlett Trough. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 82. 352–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesolella, K.J.. 1967. Zonation of uplifted Pleistocene coral reefs on Barbados, West Indies. Science 156. 638–640.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mesolella, K.J., Matthews, R.K., Broecker, W.S., Thurber, D.L.. 1969. The astronomical theory of climatic change, Barbados data. Journal of Geology 77. 250–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, W.S., Somayajulu, B.L.K.. 1974. Age determinations of fossil corals using 230Th 234Th and 234Th227Th. Journal of Geophysical Research 79. 5065–5068.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morelock, J., Schneidermann, N., Bryant, R.. 1977. Shelf reefs, south-western Puerto Rico. AAPG Studies in Geology 4. 17–25.Google Scholar
Neumann, A.C., Moore, W.S.. 1975. Sea level events and Pleistocene coral ages in the northern Bahamas. Quaternary Research 5. 215–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newell, N.D., Rigby, J.K., Whiteman, A.J., Bradley, J.S.. 1951. Shoal-water geology and environments, eastern Andros Island, Bahamas. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 97. 1–29.Google Scholar
Osmond, J.K., Carpenter, J.R., Windon, H.L.. 1965. Th230U234 age of the Pleistocene corals and oolites of Florida. Journal of Geophysical Research 70. 1843–1847.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perfit, M.R., Heezen, D.C.. 1978. The geology and evolution of the Cayman Trench. Geological Society of America Bulletin 89. 1155–1174.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rehder, H.A.. 1962. The Pleistocene mollusks of Grand Cayman Island, with notes of the geology of the island. Journal of Palaeontology 36. 583–585.Google Scholar
Richards, H.G.. 1955. The geological history of the Cayman Islands. Notulae Naturae of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 284. 1–11.Google Scholar
Richards, H.G.. 1972. Some aspects of the marine Quaternary of the Caribbean area Transactions of the 6th Caribbean Geological Conference1971 426–429.Google Scholar
Rigby, J.K., Roberts, H.H.. 1976. Grand Cayman Island: Geology, sediments and marine communities. Brigham Young University Geological Studies, Special Publication 4. 1–122.Google Scholar
Roberts, H.H., Murray, S.P., Suhayda, J.N.. 1975. Physical processes in a fringing reef system. Journal of Marine Research 33. 233–260.Google Scholar
Scholl, D.W., Craighead, F.C., Stuiver, M.. 1969. Florida submergence curve revised: Its relation to coastal sedimentation rates. Science 163. 562–564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schubert, C., Szabo, B.J.. 1978. Uranium-series dating of Pleistocene marine deposits on the islands of Curacao and La Blanquilla, Caribbean Sea. Geologie en Mijnbouw 57. 325–332.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D.. 1973. Oxygen isotope and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 Quaternary Researchyear and a 106 year scale 3. 39–55.Google Scholar
Stanley, S.M.. 1966. Paleoecology and diagenesis of Key Largo Limestone, Florida. AAPG Bulletin 50. 1927–1947.Google Scholar
Stoddart, D.R.. 1980. Geology and geomorphology of Little Cayman. Atoll Research Bulletin 241. 11–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szabo, B.J., Ward, W.C., Weidie, A.E., Brady, M.J.. 1979. Age and magnitude of the late Pleistocene sea-level rise of the eastern Yucatan Peninsula. Geology 6. 713–715.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughan, T.W.. 1926. Species of Lepidocyclina and Carpentaria from the Cayman Islands, and their geological significance. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 82. 388–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warthin, A.S. Jr.. 1959. Ironshore in some West Indian islands. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 21. 649–652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, J.D.. 1962. Notes on some erosional features in Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands. Caribbean Journal of Science 2. 159–167.Google Scholar
Weaver, J.D.. 1971. Review of geomorphological and Pleistocene research in the Caribbean Transactions of the 5th Caribbean Geological Conference 201–206.Google Scholar
Woodroffe, C.D.. 1981. Mangrove swamp stratigraphy and Holocene transgression, Grand Cayman Island, West Indies. Marine Geology 41. 271–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodroffe, C.D., Stoddart, D.R., Giglioli, M.E.C.. 1980. Pleistocene patch reefs and Holocene swamp morphology, Grand Cayman Island, West Indies. Journal of Biogeography 7. 103–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar