Geology of Aruba

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Geological map of Aruba. Source: Rijks Geologische Dienst.[1]

The island of Aruba formed within the past 145 million years, beginning in the Cretaceous, as part of the Lesser Antilles island arc. The island is built on a thick sequence of volcanic rock, but also has carbonate sediment deposits because it was submerged for parts of its existence.[2]

Stratigraphy & Geologic History

The three kilometer thick

uralite
in the rocks. Geochemists have found that the major and trace element chemistry of the rocks is almost the same as in Curaçao.

The

clinopyroxene and magnetite. There are also small occurrences of trondhjemite. [3]

Cenozoic (66 million years ago-present)

A small outcrop of Eocene and Oligocene limestone occurs at Butucu Ranch in east-central Aruba, without quartz, but containing fossils from the time period such as algae and foraminifera. Named for exposures on Curaçao, the Neogene Seroe Domi Formation is on the southeastern side of Aruba and includes a series of detrital limestone and conglomerates.[4]

In 1942, two French friars using divining rods instructed a team to drill the Oranjestad borehole down 302 meters, which revealed the Oranjestad sands and clays from the Pliocene and Late Miocene, as well as a hypersaline artesian well.[5] Five limestone terraces formed during the past 2.5 million years of the Quaternary.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Geology map of Aruba | Dutch Caribbean Biodiversity Database". www.dcbd.nl. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  2. ^ Jackson & Robinson (1994). "Caribbean Geology: An Introduction". University of West Indies. p. 251-255.
  3. ^ Jackson & Robinson 1994, p. 251-253.
  4. ISSN 0264-8172
    .
  5. ^ Jackson & Robinson 1994, p. 254-255.
  6. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1961.tb00370.x
    .
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