Baoruco Mountain Range
The Bahoruco Mountain Range—Sierra de Bahoruco (or Sierra de Bahoruco) is a mountain range located in the far southwestern region of the Dominican Republic. It is within Pedernales, Independencia, Barahona, and Bahoruco Provinces.
The range is a continuation of the Massif de la Selle in Haiti.[1]
Part of the area is protected within the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park (Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco), also a Biosphere reserve.
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 of the Orinoco Delta.[2]
Larimar
The Sierra de Bahoruco are noted for the blue colored concretions 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
- Bulletin. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1948. p. 89.
- Granberry, Julian, & Gary Vescelius (2004). Languages of the Pre-Columbian Antilles. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-5123-X.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)