Introduction to the Caicos Platform Workshop

Abstract For the past 30 some years, Caicos Platform has been an important area for studies of Holocene and Pleistocene carbonate successions and a destination for numerous geoscientists interested in learning about modern carbonate sedimentary systems. During the past few years there has been a renewed interest in understanding the geology of the platform, stemming in large part from recognition in the petroleum industry that more refined reservoir models of carbonate systems are needed both in exploration and development. The impetus for this workshop and this volume was a desire to bring together both present and past Caicos Platform workers with those not familiar with the Platform to share knowledge on the Holocene to Pleistocene sedimentology, diagenesis, platform evolution, and the applicability of the platform as an analogue for ancient isolated carbonate platforms. This volume includes a broad array of papers and is divided into five sectionsIntroductionHolocene, Platform-Scale Surficial Sediment and Facies DistributionHolocene Subsurface StudiesHolocene Sedimentology, Reservoir and Source-Rock PotentialPre-Holocene Platform Evolution Sedimentology, and Diagenesis In the Introduction section, Lloyd et al. (How It All Began: The Early Days of the Turks and Caicos Field Seminars) recount their search for carbonate seminar locations in the 1970s, prompted by logistical and security issues associated with the classic locations of the Florida Keys and Bahamas, and their identification of Caicos Platform as a new seminar destination. They also describe their early work sampling and documenting the major depositional environments. Larger-scale observations on Holocene sediment distribution and