Abstract
The Maracaibo Basin was formed during the Mio-Pliocene when the Venezuelan Andes and the Sierra de Perijá attained their maximum development (Gonzalez de Juana et al. 1980). Within this basin, the Maracaibo System acts as an assemblage of interactive brackish water bodies (>220 km2), comprised of the Gulf of Venezuela, Tablazo Bay and the Maracaibo Strait, which connect Lake Maracaibo in the interior of the basin to the Caribbean Sea (Fig. 3.1). Eustatic sea level changes during the Holocene have induced either fresh or brackish water conditions in the lake. After the last transgression (about 9,000 years b.p.), when sea levels were about 20 m above present levels, numerous islands and bars were formed at the mouth of the estuary.
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Rodríguez, G. (2001). The Maracaibo System, Venezuela. In: Seeliger, U., Kjerfve, B. (eds) Coastal Marine Ecosystems of Latin America. Ecological Studies, vol 144. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04482-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04482-7_4
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