Two continuous cores (Unda and Clino) drilled during the initial phase of the Bahamas Drilling Project on top of the western Great Bahama Bank (GBB) penetrated proximal portions of prograding seismic sequences. As such, these cores provide the shallow-water record of sea-level changes and fluid flow of the Bahamas Transect that was completed with the deeper water sites of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 166 in the Straits of Florida. The record of several hierarchies of sea-level fluctuations is identified in the lithology and log signature of two core borings (Unda and Clino), and the nature of fluids responsible for diagenetic alteration is interpreted from formation waters and the stable isotope signal of the sediments and rocks. Facies successions document that several hierarchies of changes in relative sea level are responsible for pulses of progradation. These pulses are seen on seismic data as seismic sequences and in the cores as depositional successions. On the platform, the boundaries of the depositional successions are indicated by subaerial exposure, changes in facies, and diagenetic overprint. On the slope, the sequence boundaries are marked by major discontinuity surfaces within the depositional successions consisting mainly of fine-grained skeletal and nonskeletal sediments. These discontinuity surfaces are characterized by hardgrounds that are overlain by 7-and 28-m-thick, coarser grained packages containing sand-sized blackened lithoclasts, planktonic foraminifers and minor amounts of platform-derived grains. The coarser grained intervals are interpreted as deposits during relative sea-level lowstands, while the fine-grained sediments are interpreted as highstand deposits. Higher order sea-level changes are recorded in the rocks and in the geophysical logs. On the platform top, these changes are recorded in shallowing-upward cycles bounded by exposure horizons. On the slopes, higher order sea-level changes are recognized by facies variations, whereby intervals of coarser grained sediments in the periplatform ooze indicate sea-level falls. The change in sedimentation rate and hydrology during these intervals results in the formation of firmgrounds. The intervals are well recognized as sharp peaks on the gamma-ray and velocity logs. The lower permeability on top of these intervals is likely to separate the fluid flow into several levels within each sequence and influence later patterns of diagenesis. The next higher order of cyclicity is represented by alternations (0.3-1 m) of coarser and finer grained beds within the coarse-grained intervals. Because of their relatively thin nature and low contrast in rock properties, these high-frequency cycles are not recorded in the logs. The slope portions of Unda and Clino yield several age diagnostic foraminifers and nannofossil marker species. Although low in abundance, these microfossils are good indicators of depositional age and provide the base for age determination. By combining micropaleontology, strontium-isotope stratigraphy, and magnetostratigrap...

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A stratigraphic study of late MiocenePliocene mixed carbonate and siliciclastic sediment (upper part of the Yaque Group) was conducted in northern Hispaniola to refi ne the chronostratigraphy of uplifted, nearshore marine sequences in the Cibao Basin. Classic late Neogene sections in these sequences include a spectacularly preserved faunal record for the northern Caribbean. Refi ned ages of the Cercado Formation (6.6-6.0 Ma), the Gurabo Formation (ca. 5.8-4.0 Ma), and the Mao Formation (3.9-3.5 Ma) allow correlation to regional and global sea-level events. Each of the three formations corresponds to one depositional sequence, composed of mixtures, at different proportions, of skeletal debris, mostly coral, and mud-size (silt) siliciclastic sediment. Distinct stratal geometries and lithofacies individualize the three formations, each separated by pebble conglomerates. The Cercado Formation depositional sequence consists of prograding inner-shelf siliciclastic sands and patch reefs. The basal transgressive unit of the Gurabo Formation is made of seaward-prograding low-angle clinothems of bedded and burrowed siliciclastic sand with molluscs and free-living corals. The upper Gurabo unit consists of massive middle-shelf clinothems of silt with bedded reef debris and in situ branching coral thickets. These clinothems grade basinward into massive, deeperwater silt deposits at the shelf edge and basin slopes. The Mao Formation sequence records the transition from lowstand fl uvial-deltaic facies to transgressive and highstand marine clinothems made mostly of coral debris in a silt matrix. In the Mao Formation outcrops, the coral-silt clinothems can be divided into at least 10 high-frequency cycles (40 k.y.?) based on lithofacies. Channelized and slumped coarse siliciclastic sand, gravel, and nonmarine alluvium cap the sequence, likely associated with lowered sea level starting at ca. 3.3 Ma and perhaps the onset of regional uplift. The major lithologic and sequence geometry changes in the Cibao Basin correlate with trends in the oxygen isotope ice-volume proxy and likely refl ect deposition responding to major periods of marine transgression and highstand. An especially prominent feature is the major deepening and margin back step near the Miocene-Pliocene boundary, continuing in the early Pliocene, which resulted in the deposition of the Gurabo Formation. Transgression and sea-level highstand in the late-early Pliocene (3.9-3.5 Ma) produced distinctive margin progradation primarily by coral debris. This progradation event was synchronous with progradation in the nearby western Great Bahama Bank. The different stratal confi gurations of the three sequences can be attributed to a combination of factors, including: (1) shelf morphology and location on the shelf, (2) paleoceanographic conditions such as warm sea-surface temperatures and reduced upwelling, which controlled coral productivity and reef geometry, and (3) the infl ux of siliciclastic mud from the adjacent mountains.

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