Development of Miocene-Pliocene Reef Trend, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Ivan Gill, David E. Eby, Dennis K. Hubbard, Stanley H. Frost

The Miocene-Pliocene reef trend on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, rims the present southern western coasts of the island and includes accompanying lagoonal and forereef facies. The reef trend was established on a foram-algal bank facies that represents basinal shallowing from the deep-water pelagic and hemipelagic facies of the Miocene Kingshill Limestone. Information on facies distribution and thickness is derived from rock exposures and 22 test wells drilled to a maximum depth of 91 m.

The greatest thickness of the reef facies exists in a subsidiary graben on the south coast of St. Croix. The thickness of the reef section in this locality is due to preservation of the section in a downdropped block. Reef faunas include extant corals, as well as several extinct genera. Extant corals (e.g., Montastrea annularis, Diploria sp., and Porites porites) and extinct corals (e.g., Stylophora affinis, Antillea bilobata, and Thysanus sp.) are the main reef frame-builders. Coralline algae and large benthic foraminifera are significant contributors to the sediments both prior to and during scleractinian reef growth.

Dolomitization and calcite cementation occur prominantly in an area corresponding to a Holocene lagoon. The spatial distribution of the dolomite suggests that the lagoon is a Tertiary feature directly related to the dolomitization process. Stable isotopic values suggest dolomitization of fluids of elevated salinity.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91030©1988 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, 20-23 March 1988.