Limnology and Paleolimnology of Hypersaline Lago Enriquillo, Dominican Republic
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LIMNOLOGY AND PALEOLIMNOLOGY OF HYPERSALINE LAGO ENRIQUILLO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC By DAVID GRAY BUCK A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2004 Copyright 2004 by David Gray Buck ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have been possible without the support of the School of Natural Resources and Environment and Dr. Stephen R. Humphrey. In addition, the NSF-IGERT Working Forests in the Tropics program provided funding during the final semester of this project. My thesis work was carried out under the guidance of Dr. Mark Brenner. His never-ending patience, critical thinking, and encouragement were essential to this project’s completion. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Michael W. Binford and Dr. Douglas S. Jones for serving on my committee. Dr. David A. Hodell provided guidance and insight throughout the project. Dr. Jason H. Curtis provided instruction on lab techniques for the analysis of stable isotopes and sediment geochemistry and also assisted with data collection in the field. Dr. Carlos A. Alvarez Zarikian assisted with initial ostracod and foraminifer identification and Dr. Fred G. Thompson assisted with gastropod identification. Dr. Mark Pagani and Dr. Jonathan B. Martin assisted with hydrogen isotope and basic water chemistry analysis, respectively. Dr. William M. Last provided mineralogy data. Research funding was provided by a grant from the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to Dr. Mark Brenner in addition to student research grants from the Geological Society of America and the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies. I am grateful for having been able to use the facilities of the Florida Institute of Paleoenvironmental Research in UF’s Land Use and Environmental Change Institute. iii Work in the Dominican Republic was facilitated by Dr. Andreas Schubert and the staff of the Programa Medioambiental Transfronterizo. Dr. Ramon Sanchez, Franklin Reynoso, and Matilde Mota of the Subsecretaria de Areas Protegidas y Biodiversidad granted permission for fieldwork. Domingo Morillo and Juan Saldaña of the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidrolicos (INDRHI) kindly shared data on rainfall and lake level fluctuations. I am also grateful for the help of Hermógenes Mendez, Angel Ferrera Benitez, Lidio Méndez Benitez, Jorge Trinidad Ferreras, and Dolores Méndez Méndez and the guards of Lago Enriquillo National Park. Finally, I am indebted to my parents for their consistent support and encouragement throughout my life, both academic and extracurricular. And ultimately, the completion of this project would not have been possible without the constant emotional, physical and mental support of my loving wife, Ellie Harrison-Buck. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................1 Site Description ............................................................................................................3 Previous Studies in Lago Enriquillo.............................................................................6 Origins of the Enriquillo Basin..............................................................................6 Holocene History of Enriquillo Valley..................................................................7 Limnological and Environmental Studies of Lago Enriquillo ..............................8 Recent Developments in Lago Enriquillo...................................................................13 2 PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF HYPERSALINE LAGO ENRIQUILLO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ..............................................................15 Introduction.................................................................................................................15 Study Site....................................................................................................................15 Methods ......................................................................................................................17 Results and Discussion ...............................................................................................18 Temperature and pH............................................................................................18 Salinity and Major Ion Concentrations................................................................18 Stable Isotopes.....................................................................................................20 Microbenthos.......................................................................................................22 Conclusions.................................................................................................................22 3 A LATE HOLOCENE RECORD OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY FROM HYPERSALINE LAGO ENRIQUILLO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC......................25 Introduction.................................................................................................................25 Materials and Methods ...............................................................................................30 Results.........................................................................................................................34 v Chronology..........................................................................................................34 Litho- and Biostratigraphy ..................................................................................35 GRA Bulk Density and Magnetic Susceptibility.................................................40 Stable isotopes.....................................................................................................40 Discussion...................................................................................................................44 Interpretation of Sediment Proxies......................................................................44 Changing Environments of the Lago Enriquillo Basin .......................................47 Open marine to brackish water environment (~400 BC – 170 AD) ............47 High ecosystem variability (170 – 1000 AD) ..............................................48 Freshening of Lago Enriquillo (1000 – 1350 AD).......................................49 Lago Enriquillo variability (1350 – present)................................................50 Regional and Global Climate Comparisons ...............................................................50 Mechanisms for GRA Bulk Density and Magnetic Susceptibility Variability ...51 Comparison to the Yucatan Peninsula.................................................................56 Regional Climate Linkages – Enriquillo and the Cariaco Basin.........................57 Extra Tropical Teleconnections – GISP2 Ice Core .............................................57 Mechanisms for Late Holocene Climate Variability...........................................59 Conclusions.................................................................................................................62 4 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................63 LIST OF REFERENCES...................................................................................................66 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .............................................................................................74 vi LIST OF TABLES Table page 1.1 Holocene sea-level changes in the Enriquillo Valley.................................................8 2.1 Salinity, major ion concentrations and stable isotope ratios of Lago Enriquillo waters, spring waters entering the lake, and Caribbean Sea waters.........................20 3.1 Individual cores retrieved from coring location ENR 13-VI-01 used to develop the composite core. .................................................................................................31 3.2 Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates for samples from Lago Enriquillo, Dominican Republic ..............................................................................31 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 1.1 Map showing the location of Hispañola within the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Basin .........................................................................................................2 1.2 Bathymetric map of Lago Enriquillo showing the two distinct basins at 2-m depth contours. ...........................................................................................................4 1.3 Monthly rainfall and evaporation data from pluvimetric station Puerto Escondido located within the Lago Enriquillo watershed............................................................5 1.4 Elevation of Lago Enriquillo in meters below sea level from1950 to 2003 ............11 2.1 Map of Lago Enriquillo on the Caribbean island of Hispañola. ............................16 2.2 Water column profiles