Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-26T22:12:20.041Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Boulder Deposits from Large Waves during the Last Interglaciation on North Eleuthera Island, Bahamas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Paul J. Hearty
Paul J. Hearty*
Affiliation:
Chertsey #112, P.O. Box N-337, Nassau, Bahamas
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Seven boulders measuring 100 to 1000 m3 are scattered along the coastal ridge of north Eleuthera. Some are situated on ridge crests up to 20 m above present sea level. The boulders were probably deposited during oxygen-isotope substage 5e or 5d, as shown by their stratigraphic setting and by amino acid racemization ratios. D-alloisoleucine/L-isoleucine ratios were determined for land snails, and oolite of both marine and eolian origin was associated with the boulders. Like the boulders, the probable source rocks exposed in the adjacent cliffs are composed of marine and eolian limestone of oolitic and peloidal composition. The source beds are correlated with stage 9 or 11. The largest boulder is about 10 times the size of the largest Holocene ones moved by waves in the area. Tsunamis are a reasonable possibility as a transporting mechanism of the Pleistocene boulders. However, if deposited instead by storms during the last interglaciation, the storms were of much greater intensity than those occurring in the region during the late Holocene.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , November 1997 , pp. 326 - 338
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aby, S.C., (1994). Relation of bank-margin fractures to sea-level change, Exuma Islands, Bahamas. Geology. 22, 1063–1066.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Mahaffy, M.A.W., (1976). Growth rate of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and sea level lowering (with emphasis on the 115,000 BP sea level low). Quaternary Research. 6, 167–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, M.M., (1967). Carbonate sand bodies of Florida and the Bahamas. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 37, 556–591.Google Scholar
Birkeland, P.W., (1974). Pedology, Weathering, and Geomorphological Research. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. Google Scholar
Bourrouilh-Le Jan, F.G., Talandier, J., (1985). Sédimentation et fracturation de haute énergie en milieu récifal: Tsunamis, ouragans et cyclones et leurs effects sur la sédimentologie et al géomorphologie d'un atoll: Motu et hoa, à Rangiroa, Tuamotu, Pacifique SE. Marine Geology. 67, 263–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, F.A., (1975). Paleoclimate significance of quartz/illite variations in cores from the Eastern Equatorial North Atlantic. Quaternary Research. 5, 225–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bricker, O.P., Mackenzie, F.T., (1970). Limestones and red soils of Bermuda, discussion. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 81, 2523–2524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carew, J.L., Mylroie, J.E., (1987). A refined geochronology for San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Proceeding of the 3rd Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas. CCFL Bahamian Field Station, p. 35–44.Google Scholar
Carew, J.L., Mylroie, J.E., (1995). Quaternary tectonic stability of the Bahamian archipelago: evidence from fossil coral reefs and flank margin caves. Quaternary Science Reviews. 14, 145–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, J.H., Curran, H.A., White, B., Wasserburg, G.J., (1991). Precise chronology of the last interglacial period: 234U-230Th data from fossil coral reefs in the Bahamas. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 103, 82–97.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, J.E., (1983). Paleohydraulic reconstruction of flash-flood peaks from boulder deposits in the Colorado Front Range. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 94, 986–1004.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curran, H. A., White, B., (1995). Terrestrial and Shallow Marine Geology of the Bahamas and Bermuda. .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic Chart #26307. Eleuthera, East Part (1:000,000), Washington, D.C..Google Scholar
Foos, A.M., (1991). Aluminous lateritic soils, Eleuthera, Bahamas: a modern analog to carbonate paleosols. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 61, 340–348.Google Scholar
Freeman-Lynde, R.P., Ryan, W.B.F., (1985). Erosional modification of Bahamian escarpment. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 95, 209–220.Google Scholar
Garrett, P., Gould, S.J., (1984). Geology of New Providence Island, Bahamas. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 95, 209–220.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, S.J., (1988). Prolonged stability in local populations ofCerion agassizi . Paleobiology. 14, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, P.E., Mitterer, R.M., (1967). Non-protein amino acids in fossil shells. Carnegie Institution of Washington Yearbook. 65, 236–364.Google Scholar
Hearty, P.J., (1998). The geology of Eleuthera Island, Bahamas: A rosetta stone of Quaternary stratigraphy and sea-level history. Quaternary Science Reviews. 17. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hearty, P.J., Kindler, P., (1993). New Perspectives on Bahamian Geology: San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Journal of Coastal Research. 9, 577–594.Google Scholar
Hearty, P.J., Kindler, P., (1997). The stratigraphy and surficial geology of New Providence and surrounding islands, Bahamas. Journal of Coastal Research. 13, 798–812.Google Scholar
Hearty, P.J., Vacher, H.L., Mitterer, R.M., (1992). Aminostratigraphy and ages of Pleistocene Limestones of Bermuda. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 104, 471–480.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, A.T., (1992). Catastrophic wave erosion on the southeastern coast of Australia: Impact of the Lanai tsunami ca. 105 ka?. Geology. 20, 1150.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, B., Hunter, I.G., (1992). Very large boulders on the coast of Grand Cayman: The effects of giant waves on rocky coastlines. Journal of Coastal Research. 8, 763–774.Google Scholar
Jones, A.T., Mader, C.L., (1996). Wave erosion on the southeastern coast of Australia: tsunami propagation modelling. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 43, 479–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kindler, P., Hearty, P.J., (1995). Pre-Sangamonian eolianites in the Bahamas? New evidence from Eleuthera Island. Marine Geology. 124, 73–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kindler, P., Hearty, P.J., (1996). Carbonate petrology as an indicator of climate and sea-level changes: new data from Bahamian Quaternary units. Sedimentology. 43, 381–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipman, P., Normark, W., Moore, J., Wilson, J., Gutmacher, C., (1988). The giant submarine Alika debris slide, Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Journal of Geophysical Research. 93, 4279–4299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G.H., Brigham-Grette, J., (1989). Amino Acid Geochronology: Resolution and Precision in Carbonate Fossils. Quaternary International. 1, 111–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitterer, R.M., (1968). Amino-acid composition of organic matrix in calcareous oolites. Science. 162, 1498–1499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moore, J.G., Moore, G.W., (1984). Deposit from a giant wave on the island of Lenai, Hawaii. Science. 226, 1312–1315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhs, D.H., Bush, C.A., Stewart, K.C., Rowland, T.R., Crittenden, R.C., (1990). Geochemical evidence of Saharan dust parent material for soils developed on Quaternary limestones of Caribbean and western Atlantic islands. Quaternary Research. 33, 157–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullins, H.T., Hine, A.C., (1989). Scalloped bank margins: Beginning of the end for carbonate platforms?. Geology. 17, 30–33.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, A.C., Hearty, P.J., (1996). Rapid sea-level changes at the close of the last interglacial (substage 5e) recorded in Bahamian island geology. Geology. 24, 775–778.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taggart, B.E., Lundberg, J., Carew, J.L., Mylroie, J.E., (1993). Holocene reef-rock boulders on Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico, transported by a hurricane or seismic sea wave. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs. 25, A-61.Google Scholar
(1975). Soil Taxonomy, a Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys. U.S. Department of AgricultureSoil Conservation Service. Google Scholar
Vacher, H.L., Hearty, P.J., (1989). History of stage-5 sea level in Bermuda: with new evidence of a rise to present sea level during substage 5a. Quaternary Science Reviews. 8, 159–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wehmiller, J.F., (1993). Applications of organic geochemistry for Quaternary research-Aminostratigraphy and aminochronology. Engel, M.H., Macko, S.A., Organic Geochemistry. Plenum Press, New York, 755–783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, V.P., (1994). Paleosols in shallow marine carbonate sequences. Earth-Science Reviews. 35, 367–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, R., Bryant, E., (1992). Catastrophic wave erosion on the southeastern coast of Australia: Impact of the Lanai tsunamis ca. 105 ka?. Geology. 20, 199–202.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, R., Bryant, E., (1992). Reply to Jones (1992) on. Geology. 20, 1151.Google Scholar
Young, R.W., Bryant, E.A., Price, D.M., (1996). Catastrophic wave (tsunami?) transport of boulders in southern New South Wales, Australia. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie. 40, 191–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar