Publication

Back to overview

The paradoxical occurrence of oolitic limestone on the eastern islands of Great Bahama Bank: where do the ooids come from?

Type of publication Peer-reviewed
Publikationsform Contribution to book (peer-reviewed)
Author Kindler Pascal, Hine Albert C.,
Project Sea-level and climate events during the past 5 million years: the record from fossil reefs, coastal deposits and dolostones from Mayaguana and Little Inagua Islands, SE Bahamas
Show all

Contribution to book (peer-reviewed)

Book Perspectives in carbonate geology. A tribute to the career of Robert Nathan Ginsburg. Special Public
Publisher Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester
Page(s) 113 - 122
ISBN 978-1-4051-9380-1
Title of proceedings Perspectives in carbonate geology. A tribute to the career of Robert Nathan Ginsburg. Special Public

Abstract

The origin of the ooids forming the bulk of many large Pleistocene and Holocene ridges on the windward islands of Great Bahama Bank is not well understood. A formation locus situated to the east of these islands would be consistent with present-day sediment fluxes, but outer platforms in these areas are extremely narrow today and appear unsuitable for large-scale ooid production. The four models presented suggest that ooids could originate (1) from these narrow outer platforms, (2) from wider outer platforms that no longer exist, (3) from the bank interior via tidal channels, and (4) directly from the bank interior by means of a westerly sediment flux. With the exception of option 3, all models are validated by field observations in Eleuthera and in the Exumas. Corroboration of models 2 (outer platform erosion) and 4 (westerly flux) further indicates that past depositional environments and sedimentary processes on Great Bahama Bank could have been significantly different from those operating today.
-