Radiometric age and genesis of the Jaimanitas formation in the Rincon de Guanabo region, Cuba

First radiometric data are reported on the coral limestones of the Jaimanitas Formation, a lithostratigraphic and morphologic unit fringing approximately one half of the Cuban shore. Carbon-14 dating was used to date four rock-forming corals (Diploria cf. strigosa, Acropora sp., Colpohylia sp. and Heliastrea sp.), which also abound in the recent coral reefs of Cuba. The scatter of radiometric data (17,350 to 53,500 years) suggests that the corals of the Jaimanitas Formation are rock-forming components of various ages that were redeposited several times. In accordance with the lowest radiometric data obtained so far, the Jaimanitas Formation is thus upper Wisconsinian and not Sangamonian in age. The intricacy of the problems involved in Quaternary exogenous and endogenous processes will necessitate careful confrontation of all accessible data during geological studies of the Cuban shore in the future. (author)