Marine terraces of the Promontorio de Cabrera (Pleistocene, northern Dominican Republic)

Eleven marine terraces, locally faulted and southward-tilted, can be recognized in the Promontorio de Cabrera, at the eastern end of the Cordillera Septentrional in the northern Dominican Republic. The lower terraces (T-1-T-7) are reefal platforms belonging to the La Isabela Formation, whereas the upper ones (T-8-T-11) are abrasion platforms sculpted in the carbonates of the Los Haitises Formation. The terraces formed during Pleistocene uplift, initially as a series of erosional steps and later as staircase offlapping depositional terraces. According to available radiometric data, the lower terrace (T-1) formed in the MIS 5e and its uplift rate can be estimated as 0.15-0.17 mm/year in the northern sector. This uplift rate suggests that T-2 formed in the Middle Pleistocene, T-3 in the Middle Pleistocene-Calabrian boundary, T-4-T-8 in the Calabrian, and T-9-T-11 in the Gelasian. The Promontorio de Cabrera has been built by the continuous uplift and emersion of successive terraces since the Early Pleistocene (Gelasian).