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Late Holocene Environmental Reconstruction of St. Michiel Saline Lagoon, Curaçao (Dutch Antilles)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Bogumila B Klosowska ,
Simon R Troelstra ,
Jan E van Hinte ,
Dirk Beets ,
Klaas VAN der Borg  and
Arie F M de Jong
Bogumila B Klosowska*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Department of Paleoecology and Paleoclimatology, Vrije Universiteit, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Simon R Troelstra
Affiliation:
Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Department of Paleoecology and Paleoclimatology, Vrije Universiteit, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Jan E van Hinte
Affiliation:
Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Department of Paleoecology and Paleoclimatology, Vrije Universiteit, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Dirk Beets
Affiliation:
Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Department of Paleoecology and Paleoclimatology, Vrije Universiteit, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Klaas VAN der Borg
Affiliation:
Robert J van der Graaff Laboratorium, University Utrecht, Box 80.000, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands
Arie F M de Jong
Affiliation:
Robert J van der Graaff Laboratorium, University Utrecht, Box 80.000, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands
*
Corresponding author. Email: klob@geo.vu.nl.
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Abstract

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Two sediment cores collected from the saline lagoon St. Michiel on Curaçao (Dutch Antilles) preserve a ~5000-yr record of environmental change. Investigation of radiocarbon-dated sections by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is based on faunal assemblage analyses, sediment mineralogy, and the interpretation of sedimentary facies. The cores recovered from different parts of the lagoon demonstrate different development. Initially, in the proximal part of the lagoon (core STM-2), the sediment accumulated in a coastal, semi-protected bay with strong marine influence, whereas the distal part (STM-1) was dominated by chemical precipitation (gypsum, aragonite). By about 3500–3400 BP, connection with the open sea became very limited due to the gradual formation of a coral rubble barrier at the coastline. Subsequently, the record reveals undisturbed sedimentation in the highly restricted shallow lagoon. Around 1100–1000 BP, biological and sedimentological records indicate a change to less evaporitic conditions. Stages of increased salinity are intercalated with intervals of episodic freshening due to increased runoff and precipitation. The authors demonstrate that since permanent human settlements were established on the island about 1100 BP, the watershed has undergone intensive deforestation, especially during the European colonization at the beginning of the 16th century. Deforestation resulting from agriculture and construction caused increased erosion, which was translated to increased sediment accumulation rates and a shift in lagoon sedimentation from almost entirely endogenic to mostly detrital.

Type
Part II
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 46 , Issue 2: Proceedings of the 18th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 2), Conference Editors: Nancy Beavan Athfield, Rodger J Sparks , 2004 , pp. 765 - 774
Copyright
Copyright © The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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