2006 Philadelphia Annual Meeting (22–25 October 2006)
Paper No. 182-5
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-9:15 AM

PALEOHYDROLOGY OF MIDDLE HOLOCENE LAGOONAL & LACUSTRINE DEPOSITS IN THE ENRIQUILLO VALLEY, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: PORE MORPHOMETRICS AND ISOTOPE GEOCHEMISTRY OF OSTRACODA

MEDLEY, Pamela R., Department of Earth Sciences, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403, pmedl9dj@umw.edu, TIBERT, Neil, Geology, University of Mary Washington, 1301 College Avenue, Fredericksburg, VA 22401, PATTERSON, William, Department of Geological Sciences, Univ of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada, CURRAN, H. Allen, Department of Geology, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, COLIN, Jean-Paul, 3 Impasse des Biroulayres, 33610, France, and GREER, Lisa, Department of Geology, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450

The southwestern region of the Dominican Republic (Enriquillo Valley) contains an exceptionally well-preserved, relict marine, saline lake deposit. Abundant euryhaline ostracodes include Cyprideis salebrosa, C. mexicana, C. similis, and C. edentata. Morphometric and geochemical analyses performed on Cyprideis spp. indicate positive d18O  and d13C coincident with relative abundances of  irregular shape pores that permeate the ostracode carapace. We recognize 3 stratigraphic intervals with distinct ostracode normal pore circularity and stable isotope  trends:  (I) 4.5-5.0 m interval that contains ostracodes with highly irregular shaped pores (multiradiate) with high amplitude variability d18O and d13C values; (II) 5.0-5.6 m interval that contains ostracodes with circular pores with an overall trend towards negative isotope values; and (III) 5.6-6.5 m interval that yields ostracodes with upward increasing abundance in circular pore shapes coincident with a positive-to negative shift in the d18O and d13C values. When the lagoon was first separated from the sea, arid conditions contributed to evaporative, hypersaline waters in the restricted lagoon. By middle-to late Holocene time, increased precipitation in the valley resulted in a coastal lake system that became progressively oligohaline, yet, moderate to small scale amplitude variability in the salinity proxy data suggest short term oscillations in the precipitation-evaporation budgets. At least 2 marine inundations of marine waters contributed to the observed variability in the d18O and d13C values. Evidence for abrupt changes in baselevel indicates that tectonic activity may have contributed to the observed paleoenvironmental trends recorded in the deposit.

 

2006 Philadelphia Annual Meeting (22–25 October 2006)
General Information for this Meeting
Session No. 182
Paleontology/Paleobotany IX: Fossil Distributions in Time and Space
Pennsylvania Convention Center: 112 A
8:00 AM-12:00 PM, Wednesday, 25 October 2006

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No. 7, p. 444

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