Marine terraces of the Promontorio de Cabrera (Pleistocene, northern Dominican Republic)

Abstract

Eleven marine terraces, locally faulted and southward-tilted, can be recognized in the Promontorio de Cabrera, at the eastern end of the Cordillera Septentrional in the northern Dominican Republic. The lower terraces (T1-T7) are reefal platforms belonging to the La Isabela Formation, whereas the upper ones (T8-T11) are abrasion platforms sculpted in the carbonates of the Los Haitises Formation. The terraces formed during Pleistocene uplift, initially as a series of erosional steps and later as staircase offlapping depositional terraces. According to available radiometric data, the lower terrace (T1) formed in the MIS 5e and its uplift rate can be estimated as 0.15-0.17 mm/year in the northern sector. This uplift rate suggests that T2 formed in the Middle Pleistocene, T3 in the Middle Pleistocene-Calabrian boundary, T4-T8 in the Calabrian, and T9-T11 in the Gelasian. The Promontorio de Cabrera has been built by the continuous uplift and emersion of successive terraces since the Early Pleistocene (Gelasian).