Wooster Geologists in Jamaica
May 2001

(Page 4)

This is another view of the event horizon within the Falmouth. The Overlook House location is underneath trees, so it is difficult to get good photographic exposures.

On the left side is a patch reef of Montastrea and Diploria corals at the base of the Falmouth at Overlook House on the eastern headland of Rio Bueno Harbour. The reef is apparently truncated and then succeeded by the white-weathering unit which is rich in Porites coral debris. A larger version of this image is available.

Sara is pointing to the thick Porites coral debris layer above the apparently truncated coral patch reefs in the Falmouth Formation at Overlook House. The unit below, just visible on the lower right, consists primarily of Montastrea and Diploria coral debris. A larger image is available.
 This Porites-rich unit is more deeply weathered a few hundred meters to the east along the shore (at "John's House"). From there we were able to extract many fossils, so we hope to put together a paleoecological model for this unusual deposit.

The staff of the Discovery Bay Marine Lab (DBML) were excellent hosts. We stayed in a large flat on the southwest side (next to a very busy highway) and ate our meals in both the flat and cafeteria. Most visitors to the DBML use the extensive diving and wet lab facilities, but we left it every day to work on the coastal rocks just to the west.

A view from the sea side of the Discovery Bay Marine Lab where the Wooster Jamaica team stayed. A larger version of this image is available.

Sara, Andrea and Jerome tearing up their tennis shoes on a bit of very sharp, bioeroded Falmouth just east of the Discovery Bay Marine Lab. A larger image is available.
 We once again thank Ted Danner and Wooster's Department of Geology for this opportunity to investigate an unusual tropical carbonate unit which may contain clues of a global climate change during the last interglacial.

Relevant links:

A simplified geological map of Jamaica (drawn by Gabi Gutierrez-Alonso)
Homepage of The Mines and Geology Division, Ministry of Mining and Energy, Government of Jamaica
Geology Department, University of West Indies, in Mona, Jamaica
Some nice underwater images from Discovery Bay
CIA World Factbook entry on Jamaica
Webguide to Jamaica (works most of the time!)
A page of photographs of Jamaican attractions
A clickable image of the Discovery Bay Marine Lab and its surroundings
Homepage of the Discovery Bay Marine Lab
College of Wooster bioerosion webpages
"Soft rock" and paleontology Independent Study webpages at Wooster

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