Ponce Limestone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ponce Limestone is a geologic formation in Puerto Rico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Neogene period[3] (20.45 million years ago (Mya).
Ponce Limestone | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Neogene ~ | |
Type | Formation |
Lithology | |
Primary | Limestone |
Other | Carbonate,[1] Clastic facies,[2] Chalk, Marl, Shale Phosphate |
Location | |
Coordinates | 18.007°N 66.661°W |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 18.0°N 66.6°W |
Region | Caribbean |
Country | Puerto Rico |
Type section | |
Named for | Ponce, Puerto Rico |
Named by | Watson H. Monroe |
Ponce Limestone includes beds of brown clay and has a maximum estimated thickness of 850 meters.[4] It consists mostly of yellowish-orange, soft to moderately hard, fossiliferous limestone and appears almost continuously as a narrow band extending from Bahía Montalva in Patillas to Río Pastillo, in Barrio Canas.[5]
Exposed in the Ponce, Río Descalabrado, Punta Cucharas, Yauco, Punta Verraco, Guanica, La Parguera, San German, and Cabo Rojo quadrangles of the United States Geological Survey maps.[6]
Various fossils have been found in the Ponce Limestone: molds of gastropods, pelecypods, coral heads, and large foraminifera are indicative of deposition in shallow-water lagoon and back-reef environments. The large foraminifera, Lepidocyclina undosa and the ahermatypic “deep sea” coral Flabellum are reported within the Ponce Limestone.[7]
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