Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m8s7h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T08:43:46.205Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sea Level Events and Pleistocene Coral Ages in the Northern Bahamas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

A. Conrad Neumann  and
Willard S. Moore
A. Conrad Neumann
Affiliation:
Marine Sciences Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514 USA
Willard S. Moore
Affiliation:
U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, Washington, D.C. 20390 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Emergent Pleistocene sea level indicators in the northern Bahamas include: a bioerosional notch at +5.3 to 5.9 m; sea caves, notches, and marine terraces at about +4.3 m; and lithified coral rubble and reef deposits between 0 and 3 m. Thorium 230 dates of the fossil corals, which were deposited as these features were being produced, span the age range from 100 to 145 thousand years BP with a majority falling between 115 and 130 thousand years BP. The notch at about +5.6 m is interpreted to be the product of a sea level stand 125 thousand years BP, while the features at +4.3 m are believed to be formed sometime later as sea level fell from the higher position. Part of the age span is inherent in the dating technique and possible sample alteration. Another cause of the spread may be mixing of corals of different ages into a single deposit.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 1975 , pp. 215 - 224
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

Bloom, A.L., Chappell, W.S., Matthews, R.K., Mesolella, K.J., (1974). Quaternary sea level fluctuations on a tectonic coast: New 230Th/234U dates from the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. Quaternary Research 4, 185 205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., (1963). A preliminary evaluation of uranium series inequilibrium as a tool for absolute age measurement on marine carbonates. Journal of Geophysical Research 68, 2817 2834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Thurber, D.L., (1965). Uranium-series dating of corals and oolites from Bahaman and Florida Key limestones. Science 149, 58 60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broecker, W.S., Thurber, D.L., Goddard, J., Ku, T.L., Matthews, R.K., Mesolella, K.J., (1968). Support for the Milankovitch hypothesis from precise dating of coral reefs and deep-sea sediments. Science 59, 297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., van Donk, J., (1970). Insolation changes, ice volumes, and the 0–18 record in deep-sea cores. Reviews, Geophysics and Space Physics 8, 169 198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chappell, J.M.A., (1974). Upper mantle rheology in a tectonic region: evidence from New Guinea. Journal of Geophysical Research 79, 390 398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emiliani, C.E., (1969). Interglacial high sea levels and the control of Greenland ice by the precession of the equinoxes. Science 166, 1503 1504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Emiliani, C.E., Rona, E., (1969). Caribbean cores P6304-8 and P6304-9: new analysis of absolute chronology. A reply. Science 166, 1551 1552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoyt, J.H., Hails, J.R., (1967). Pleistocene shoreline sediments in coastal Georgia: deposition and modification. Science 155, 1541 1543.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaufman, A., (1964). 230Th-234U dating of Carbonates from Lakes Lahontin and Bonneville. Ph.D. thesis Columbia University, N.Y.Google Scholar
Konishi, K., Schlanger, S.O., Omura, A., (1970). Neotectonic rates in the central Ryukyu Islands derived from 230Th coral ages. Marine Geology 9, 225 240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ku, T.L., Kimmel, M.A., Easton, W.H., O'Neil, T.J., (1974). Eustatic sea level 120,000 years ago on Oahu, Hawaii. Science 183, 959 962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Land, L.S., Mackenzie, F.T., Gould, S.J., (1967). The Pleistocene history of Bermuda. Geological Society of America Bulletin 78, 993 1006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, W.S., Somayajulu, B.L.K., (1974). Age determinations of fossil corals using 230Th/234 and 230Th/227. Journal of Geophysical Research 79, 5065 5068.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, A.C., (1966). Observations on coastal erosion in Bermuda and measurements of the boring rate of the sponge, Cliona lampa. Limnology and Oceanography 11, 92 108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, A.C., (1968). Elevated Pleistocene Sea Level Features in the Bahamas (Abstract). Fifth Caribbean Geological Congress St. Thomas, V. I..Google Scholar
Neumann, A.C., (1972). Elevated Pleistocene sea-level features in the Bahamas. Quaternaria 15, 73.Google Scholar
Newell, N.D., (1965). Warm interstadial interval in Wisconsin Stage of the Pleistocene. Science 148, 1488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osmond, J.K., Carpenter, J.R., Windom, H.L., (1965). 230Th/234 age of the Pleistocene corals and oolites of Florida. Journal of Geophysical Research 70, 1843 1847.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephenson, T.A., Stephenson, A., (1972). Life Between Tidemarks on Rocky Shores. W. H. Freeman and Co, San Francisco 425.Google Scholar
Thomson, J., (1971). Natural Radioactive Series Dating of Pleistocene Organic Material. Ph.D thesis University of Glasgow 213.Google Scholar
Thurber, D.L., Broecker, W.S., Blanchard, R.L., Potratz, H.A., (1965). Uranium series ages of Pacific atoll coral. Science 149, 55 58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vacher, H.L., (1970). Coarse and fine structure of the Bermuda eustatic curve: significance to coastal plain stratigraphy (abs.). Geological Society of America, Abstracts 2, 245.Google Scholar
Vacher, H.L., (1972). Coastal dunes of Younger Bermuda. Coates, D.R., Coastal Geomorphology: Publications in Geomorphology State Univ. of N.Y. at Binghamton 355 391.Google Scholar
Veeh, H.H., Chappell, J.M.A., (1970). Astronomical theory of climatic change: support from New Guinea. Science 167, 862.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed