Mapping of the spatial distribution of benthic habitats in the Gulf of Batabanó using Landsat-7 images

The spatial distribution of benthic habitats in the Gulf of Batabanó obtained by remote sensing, using five images from the Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) satellite sensor, is reported for the first time. The map covers a total underwater area of 21,305 km2 and is presented at the 1:250,000 scale. Five benthic habitats were identified within this area and located using the supervised classification technique: medium- to high-density seagrass, low-density seagrass, sand with scarce vegetation, mud with scarce vegetation, and rock. Seagrass covers 64.85% (13,818 km2) of the total area, while 35.15% (7,487 km2) corresponds to the remaining benthic habitats with or without scarce vegetation. Both the underwater vegetation (seagrass and macro seaweed) and the substratum types were considered. Results were confirmed by in situ measurements obtained from three research cruises between 2003 and 2005. This map represents an important characterization of the Cuban platform waters in order to better understand these ecosystems, and can be used in future change detection analyses to monitor the health of benthic habitats in the Gulf of Batabanó.

Paleocene–Eocene palynomorphs from the Chicxulub impact crater, Mexico.Part 2: angiosperm pollen

At the end of the Cretaceous Period, an asteroid collided with the Earth and formed the Chicxulub impact structure on the Yucatan Platform. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 364 drilled into the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact crater. The post-impact section of the core was sampled for terrestrial palynological analysis, yielding a high-resolution record ranging from the early Paleocene to the earliest Eocene (Ypresian), including a black shale deposited during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The IODP 364 core provides the first record of floral recovery following the K–Pg mass extinction from inside the Chicxulub impact crater. The systematic taxonomy of the angiosperm pollen provided here follows a separate publication describing the systematic paleontology of the plant spores and gymnosperm pollen from the IODP 364 core (Smith et al. 2019). The Paleocene section of the core is nearly barren, but with unusually high relative abundances of the angiosperm pollen Chenopodipollis sp. A (comparable to the Amaranthaceae), possibly indicating an estuarine pollen source. Pollen recovery is higher in the PETM section, and variable but generally increasing in the later Ypresian section, with excellent preservation in several samples. Estimated absolute ages of several potentially useful regional biostratigraphic events are provided. One new genus (Scabrastephanoporites) and five new species (Brosipollis reticulatus, Echimonocolpites chicxulubensis, Psilastephanocolporites hammenii, Scabrastephanoporites variabilis, and Striatopollisgrahamii) are formally described

Late-Holocene faunal and landscape change in the Bahamas

We report an intertidal, bone-rich peat deposit on the windward (Atlantic Ocean) coast of Abaco, The Bahamas. The age of the Gilpin Point peat (c. 950-900 cal. yr BP) is based on five overlapping radiocarbon dates (one each from single pieces of wood of buttonwood Conocarpus erectus and sabal palm Sabal palmetto, and single bones of the Cuban crocodile Crocodylus rhombifer, Albury\u27s tortoise Chelonoidis alburyorum, and green turtle Chelonia mydas). The short time interval represented by the charcoal-rich peat suggests rapid sedimentation following initial anthropogenic fires on Abaco. The site\u27s diverse snail assemblage is dominated by terrestrial and freshwater species. The peat is exposed today only during exceptionally low tides, suggesting a lower sea level at the time of deposition as well as a degrading shoreline during the past millennium. Fossils from Gilpin Point represent a late-Holocene vertebrate community at the time of first human presence; only 10 of the 17 identified species of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals still live on Abaco. Numerous unhealed bite marks on the inside of the thick carapaces of the green turtle attest to consumption by Cuban crocodiles, which probably scavenged turtles butchered by humans. This concept, along with the dense concentration of bones in the peat, and charring on some bones of the green turtle and Abaco tortoise, suggests a cultural origin of the bone deposit at Gilpin Point, where the only Amerindian artifact recovered thus far is a shell bead