Emergence and Evolution of Barbados

Emergence and Evolution of Barbados is a three-part analysis of the Quaternary geologic and geomorphologic evolution of the island of Barbados in the southeastern Caribbean. “Geology of Southeastern Barbados” assembles and integrates detailed observations into a complex 700 k.y. history of marine sculpting and riverine flooding processes. “Marine Terrace Evolution of Windward Barbados” revises the Quaternary stratigraphy of the island, describes the tectonics of emergence, and demonstrates that uplift rates vary by location. “Active Emergence, Chronology, and Limestone Facies in Southeastern Windward Barbados” is the first comprehensive study to integrate marine erosion and deposition with tectonic uplift rates. Major findings of this work are that Barbados’ Central Highlands are an erosional remnant, and that terraces originated principally by marine erosion rather than by reef construction.
Marine terrace evolution of windward Barbados
*Deceased: 1933–2003; published posthumously.
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Published:June 09, 2021
ABSTRACT
The geomorphic evolution of southeastern windward Barbados is embodied in the development of a terraced seaward island slope on a tectonically rising scarp. The island slope is wholly erosional and a product of marine and subaerial processes. Modulation of the slope by terraces has occurred fundamentally by marine erosion at eustatic stillstands but includes morphologic additions by limestone deposition. The ongoing phase of morphologic development and island emergence began at or before ca. 700 ka. Emergence has proceeded at an increasing rate northwestward along the island’s southeastern coastline. The terraced island slope is markedly affected by post-terrace denudation.
As...
- actinides
- Antilles
- Barbados
- carbonate rocks
- Caribbean region
- Cenozoic
- erosion
- eustasy
- isotopes
- landform evolution
- Lesser Antilles
- limestone
- marine terraces
- metals
- oscillations
- Quaternary
- radioactive isotopes
- sea-level changes
- sedimentary rocks
- shore features
- terranes
- Th-230
- thorium
- transgression
- uplifts
- West Indies
- Windward Islands