Mixed carbonates and siliciclastics in the Quaternary of southern Belize: Pleistocene turning points in reef development controlled by sea-level change

A study of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System reveals that significant reef growth in mixed carbonate-siliciclastic systems began during the exceptionally long and warm marine isotope stage 11, around 400,000 years ago, coinciding with high-amplitude sea-level changes. This finding aligns with patterns observed in other major barrier reefs like those in Florida, Great Barrier Reef, and New Caledonia. The research used lithostratigraphy, strontium isotopes, and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy to constrain stratigraphic ages due to diagenetic alteration limiting uranium-series dating. It found that the Belize shelf was subaerially exposed during much of the mid-Pleistocene, dominated by siliciclastic sedimentation, but transitioned back to carbonate dominance and continuous reef development during late Pleistocene highstands.

GISCHLER, E., GINSBURG, R. N., HERRLE, J. O., & PRASAD, S. (2010). Mixed carbonates and siliciclastics in the Quaternary of southern Belize: Pleistocene turning points in reef development controlled by sea-level change. Sedimentology, 57(4), 1049–1068. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2009.01133.x