The Bahoruco Mountain Range—Sierra de Bahoruco (or Sierra de Bahoruco) is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

located in the far southwestern region of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. It is within Pedernales, Independencia, Barahona, and Bahoruco Provinces. A large part of the area is protected within the

Sierra de Bahoruco National Park The Sierra de Bahoruco National Park is an environmentally protected national park located in the South-western region of Dominican Republic. It was created in 1983 by Presidential Decree (No. 1315/83) during the presidency of Salvador Jorge Blanc ...

(''Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco''), also a

Biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

. Its name is mentioned for the first time by Bartolomé de las Casas in his "Brief History of the Indies", who takes it from the phonetic sound used by the Taino Indians to describe that region. It is rich in deposits of salt and gypsum, and also has a lagoon in the southern part (Oviedo lagoon) and between this mountain range and the Neiba mountain range is Lake Enriquillo, the largest in the Antilles.

Geology

The mountain range is a massif of volcanic origin from the Cretaceous period (from 145 to 66 million years ago) and later covered by a layer of calcareous sediment of marine origin, this means that the entire mountain range was once submerged under the sea and in mostly inhabited by corals that left their sediments. The mountain range is formed by a complex of tectonic faults resulting from the collision of the Caribbean and Atlantic plates, rising and leaving the sea. This means that we can find rocks at more than 2000 meters high that at first glance can be seen remains of ancient corals that were in the sea.

Etymology

Granberry and Vescelius (2004) suggest a Macoris etymology for the name ''Bahoruco'', comparing it with ''baho-ro-eku'' 'within the jungle' in the purportedly related

Warao language Warao (also known as Guarauno, Guarao, Warrau) is the native language of the Warao people. A language isolate, it is spoken by about 33,000 people primarily in northern Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname. It is notable for its unusual object–subje ...

of the Orinoco Delta.

Larimar

The Sierra de Bahoruco are noted for the blue colored

concretion A concretion is a hard, compact mass of matter formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles, and is found in sedimentary rock or soil. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular ...

s called larimar, which formed in the range's volcanic vesicles. Larimar is the Dominican name for a mineral assemblage of acidic silicate hydrates of calcium and sodium. Larimar is a specific type of pectolite (occasionally as ratholite), a pyroxenoid mineral.

References

Mountain ranges of the Dominican Republic Geography of Baoruco Province Geography of Barahona Province Geography of Independencia Province Geography of Pedernales Province Biosphere reserves of the Dominican Republic {{DominicanRepublic-geo-stub