9316659 Maurasse The Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary beds in the Southern Peninsula of Haiti are of special interest because of the stratigraphic continuity of the sequences, and because structures in the marker beds may offer succession of events that will allow for the characterization of oceanic disturbances that affected the deep basin of the Caribbean Sea. Our most recent investigation of an extended area of the Beloc Formation suggest that different outcrops in the area may provide key lithologic and biostratigraphic data necessary to determine whether or not the disruptive phenomenon recorded at the boundary is single or multiple. Although the genesis of the marker beds is unresolved, preliminary correlation of diverse sequences in the area suggests that some of the structures are caused by extraordinary waves of translation in deep water rather than from turbidity currents. The hypothesis of such giant waves is compatible with predicted models of potential disturbances expected to take place in the water column in conjunction with an oceanic target site (Gault and Sonett, 1982; O'Keefe and Ahrens, 1982; Ahrens and O'keefe, 1983; Sonett et al., 1991). This project will focus specifically on the detailed analysis of amalgamated beds that show physical evidence of poorly understood oceanic disturbances recorded in the transitional series at several additional locations in the Peninsula. The results will provide additional data to: 1) further characterize the oceanic disturbances(s) that led to the genesis of reworked marker beds in deep-water basins; 2) find a viable solution for unexplained fossil mixing in deep-ocean basins observed worldwide at the K/T boundary; 3) better understand the magnitude of oceanic mixing that could have been caused by an impact.
