Sistema Faro, Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico: speleogenesis of the world’s largest flank margin cave

Abstract

Isla de Mona, a small, uplifted carbonate plateau jutting out of the waters of the Mona Passage, is an incredibly fragile and densely karstic environment. Expedition work was conducted by the Isla de Mona Project in cooperation with the Departamento Recursos Naturales y Ambientales de Puerto Rico (DRNA), including contributions from many researchers and cavers volunteering from across the U.S and Puerto Rico in the course of 12 separate expeditions, spanning a 14-year period (1998 to 2013). Over 200 caves have been documented on the island to date, the majority of this inventory is composed of flank margin caves but also includes sea caves, pit caves and talus caves. The most extensive example of cave development on the island is Sistema Faro – a sprawling maze-like series of chambers formed within the eastern point of the island with over 40 cliffside entrances overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Detailed cartography and analysis of the geomorphology and development of the Sistema Faro has helped form a complex model of carbonate island cave development as a function of tectonic uplift, lithology, sea level changes, karst hydrogeology and cliff retreat. This communication examines the roles these controls have played in the genesis of the world’s largest flank margin cave.