Late Pleistocene stratigraphy and geologic development of Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo, Mexico

dc.contributor.advisorWilson, James Lee
dc.creatorSpaw, Richard Hoencke
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-18T21:16:35Z
dc.date.available2018-12-18T21:16:35Z
dc.date.issued1977
dc.description.abstractKnowledge of the depositional history of Cozumel Island is important for an understanding of the tectonics of the block-faulted eastern Yucatan and Belize continental margin. Basic information was derived from field reconnaissance and petrographic and mineralogic descriptions of thin sectioned and x-rayed samples. Two older Pleistocene, ten late Pleistocene, and one Holocene shallow-water carbonate facies are differentiated by their geometries and positions, megafauna, sedimentary structures, textures, carbonate grain-types, mineralogies and cements. The two older Pleistocene facies represent patch reef and sandy backreef environments of deposition. The late Pleistocene facies were deposited in windward and leeward coral reef, reef pass, seagrass-stabilized backreef, oolite shoal, storm channel, beach, and dune environments. Beachrock is the only Holocene rock on the island. Previously described 125, + 15, B.P. reef, backreef, and beachnearshore facies on the eastern Yucatan coast are in the same positions as the late Pleistocene facies on Cozumel Island; thus, the late Pleistocene Cozumel facies probably were deposited during the Sangamon Interglacial. A world-wide sea level fluctuation curve compiled from the literature is applied to deposition on Cozumel. Rocks from the island record two periodsof submergence with associated shallow-water carbonate deposition, and two intervening periods of emergence with associated subaerial vadose diagenesis. In reconstructing the depositional history of the island, it is determined that no tectonic activity has occurred since the latter part of the middle Pleistocene.
dc.format.digitalOriginreformatted digital
dc.format.extent196 pp
dc.identifier.callnoThesis Geol. 1977 Spaw
dc.identifier.citationSpaw, Richard Hoencke. "Late Pleistocene stratigraphy and geologic development of Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo, Mexico." (1977) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/104042">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/104042</a>.
dc.identifier.digitalRICE1668
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/104042
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.titleLate Pleistocene stratigraphy and geologic development of Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo, Mexico
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentEarth Science
thesis.degree.disciplineNatural Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts
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Description of Plate II: Facies of Cozumel Island-Characteristics
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PLATE II TABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF COZUMEL ISLAND FACIES
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Plate Iii Cozumel Island Fence Diagram Viewed To The Northwest