Cretaceous Puerto Plata Group
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| Cretaceous Puerto Plata Group | |
|---|---|
| Name | Puerto Plata Group |
| Period | Cretaceous |
| Region | Puerto Plata Province |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Lithology | Limestone, marl, shale |
| Namedfor | Puerto Plata |
Cretaceous Puerto Plata Group
The Puerto Plata Group is a Cretaceous stratigraphic unit in the Dominican Republic, exposed around Puerto Plata and adjacent outcrops on Hispaniola, important for regional Caribbean Sea basin reconstruction and comparisons with units in Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. The unit has been cited in work by researchers affiliated with institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, United States Geological Survey, and the University of Havana, and it figures in biostratigraphic schemes used by paleontologists working on Cretaceous faunas and correlation with sections in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean margins.
Geology and Stratigraphy
The Puerto Plata Group crops out along the northern margin of the Dominican Republic near the city of Puerto Plata and extends into coastal exposures mapped during surveys by the Dominican Geological Survey and teams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University. Stratigraphically it overlies older Paleozoic and Mesozoic basement complexes interpreted in studies by the Geological Society of America and is overlain locally by Neogene reefal and clastic deposits correlated with sequences described by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Correlation frameworks have used marker beds and index fossils in concert with magnetostratigraphy work performed by teams from the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University to align Puerto Plata sections with the Cerro de Maimón and Bonao units mapped by the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo.
Lithology and Depositional Environments
The Group consists predominantly of shallow marine carbonates, including fossiliferous limestone, marl, and interbedded shale, as documented in field campaigns led by the Royal Society-funded projects and researchers from the Natural History Museum, London. Sedimentological analyses by investigators at the University of Miami and Florida International University interpret deposition in rimmed continental shelf settings influenced by currents of the Caribbean Plate and episodic turbiditic input similar to facies described in the Aptian–Maastrichtian successions of Cuba and Mexico. Petrographic work by the Universidad de Barcelona and geochemical studies by teams at the University of Cambridge indicate diagenetic cementation and dolomitization comparable to patterns reported from the Bahamas and Yucatan Peninsula.
Paleontology and Fossil Content
Fossil assemblages in the Puerto Plata Group include marine invertebrates such as ammonites, bivalves, gastropods, echinoids, and foraminifera; these taxa have been compared with collections housed at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum, London. Notable paleontological studies published by researchers affiliated with Harvard University and the University of Oxford documented ammonite taxa used to tie the unit to global Cretaceous chronostratigraphy employed by the International Commission on Stratigraphy and referenced in monographs from the Paleontological Society. Microfossil datasets used for paleoenvironmental reconstructions were produced in collaboration with laboratories at the University of California, Berkeley and the Australian National University, facilitating biogeographic comparisons with assemblages from Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados.
Age and Correlation
Age assignments for the Puerto Plata Group span parts of the Cretaceous and have been refined through biostratigraphy using ammonites and planktonic foraminifera in studies by the GSA Bulletin authors and stratigraphers at the International Ocean Discovery Program. Correlations have been drawn to Aptian, Albian, Cenomanian, and Turonian stages recognized in regional syntheses by the Caribbean Geological Society and in time scales produced by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Isotopic work undertaken in collaboration with the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry provided chemostratigraphic constraints comparable to curves developed from sections in Spain and Morocco.
Economic Significance and Mineral Resources
The carbonates and associated marl of the Puerto Plata Group have local importance for construction aggregate and lime production used by companies registered with the Dominican Chamber of Commerce and processed by cement plants linked to firms like Cementos Cibao and Holcim. Dolomitized horizons and clay-rich marls have been assessed in mineral resource surveys conducted by the United States Agency for International Development and consultants from Schlumberger for potential industrial minerals, while groundwater studies by the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank examined reservoir properties relevant to the region’s water supply and coastal aquifers. Paleoenvironmental indicators from the Group also inform reef restoration projects coordinated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and local NGOs.
Research History and Notable Studies
Systematic geological work on the Puerto Plata Group began with early 20th-century reconnaissance by geologists associated with the U.S. Geological Survey and the New York Botanical Garden; later detailed mapping and descriptive stratigraphy were advanced by scholars at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo and visiting teams from Princeton University and Brown University. Key monographs and papers have appeared in outlets like the Journal of Paleontology, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, and proceedings of the Geological Society of America, with methodological contributions from isotope labs at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Ongoing research collaborations now include multidisciplinary projects between the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism, and regional universities aimed at improving stratigraphic resolution and paleobiogeographic understanding.