The Sedimentology of Cay Sal Bank - an Incipiently Drowned Carbonate Platform
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Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations HCNSO Student Work 4-30-2019 The edimeS ntology of Cay Sal Bank - an Incipiently Drowned Carbonate Platform Luis Ramirez [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd Part of the Geology Commons, Marine Biology Commons, and the Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons Share Feedback About This Item NSUWorks Citation Luis Ramirez. 2019. The Sedimentology of Cay Sal Bank - an Incipiently Drowned Carbonate Platform. Master's thesis. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (503) https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd/503. This Thesis is brought to you by the HCNSO Student Work at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Thesis of Luis Ramirez Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science M.S. Marine Environmental Sciences Nova Southeastern University Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography April 2019 Approved: Thesis Committee Major Professor: Sam Purkis, Ph.D Committee Member: Bernhard Riegl, Ph.D Committee Member: Robert Madden, Ph.D This thesis is available at NSUWorks: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd/503 HALMOS COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES AND OCEANOGRAPHY The Sedimentology of Cay Sal Bank, an Incipiently Drowned Carbonate Platform By Luis F. Ramirez Submitted to the Faculty of Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science with a specialty in: Marine Environmental Science Nova Southeastern University May 2019 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Science: Marine Environmental Science Luis F. Ramirez Nova Southeastern University Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography May 2019 Committee Approval ______________________________ Dr. Sam Purkis, Major Professor _____________________________ Dr. Bernhard Riegl, Committee Member _____________________________ Dr. Robert Madden, Committee Member ______________________________ Table of Contents Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………1 Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….2 Keywords………………………………………………………………………………..2 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...3 1.1 Objectives……………………………………………………………………5 1.2 Grain Texture Analysis………………………………………………………6 1.2.1 Grain Size and Sorting……………………………………………..6 1.3 Quantification of Grain Components………………………………………………...11 1.3.1 Clasts……………………………………………………………….11 1.3.2 Skeletal Fragments…………………………………………………11 1.3.3 Ooids……………………………………………………………….12 1.3.4 Peloids……………………………………………………………...12 1.3.5 Aggregate Grains…………………………………………………..12 1.4 Geochemical Analysis…………………………………………………………….....13 1.4.1 Mineralogy………………………………………………………....14 1.4.2 Isotopes…………………………………………………………….15 1.4.3 Oxygen Isotopes………………………………………………….16 1.4.4 Carbon Isotopes…………………………………………………..17 2. Methods…………………………………………………………………………….. 18 2.1 Study Area and Setting……………………………………………………..18 2.2 Database of Sediment Samples from the Great Bahama Bank…………….19 2.3 Field Collection of Surficial Sediment atop the Cay Sal Bank…………….21 2.4 Grain Size Analysis and Facies Classification……………………………..22 2.5 Petrographic Analysis………………………………………………………26 2.5.1 Loose Sediment Counts…………………………………………..26 2.5.2 Thin Section Counts……………………………………………...27 3. Results………………………………………………………………………………..31 3.1 Facies………………………………………………………………………..31 3.1.1 Great Bahama Bank……………………………………………….33 3.1.2 Cay Sal Bank………………………………………………………36 3.2 Comparison between Depositional Types…………………………………...39 3.3 Mineralogy…………………………………………………………………..40 3.3.1 Great Bahama Bank……………………………………………….40 3.3.2 Cay Sal Bank……………………………………………………..43 3.4 Stable Isotopes of Carbonates……………………………………………...45 3.4.1 Great Bahama Bank………………………………………………45 3.4.2 Cay Sal Bank……………………………………………………...48 3.5 Sediment Composition………………………………………………………50 3.5.1 Great Bahama Bank……………………………………………….50 3.5.2 Cay Sal Bank………………………………………………………53 3.6 Relationships between Mineralogy, Isotopes, and Fauna Categories…….....55 4. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………….61 4.1 Facies Distribution…………………………………………………………..62 4.2 On Non-skeletal types – Ooids, Peloids, and Grapestones………………….63 4.2.1 Ooids………………………………………………………………63 4.2.2 Peloids……………………………………………………………..63 4.2.3 Grapestones………………………………………………………..66 4.3 Geochemistry………………………………………………………………..67 4.3.1 Isotopes……………………………………………………………67 4.3.2 Mineralogy………………………………………………………...68 4.4 Nutrient Paradox?..........................................................................................69 5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………73 6. References…………………………………………………………………………….75 7. Appendix……………………………………………………………………………...80 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my main advisor, Dr. Purkis, for his guidance throughout this thesis project. The research skills pertinent towards this thesis and other projects during my time as a graduate student will prove to be invaluable, and I will be able to transfer this knowledge towards my career. I would like to thank Dr. Riegl for his advice, expertise, and knowledge in this area of carbonate geology. I would like to thank the Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, for collecting the samples which made this thesis project possible. I would like to thank the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami for providing the mineralogical and isotopic data measurement 1 ABSTRACT Sediment on Cay Sal Bank (CSB) is characterized by its coarse-grain size, poor sorting, predominance of skeletal fragments, and relatively depleted 18O isotope values. CSB is an incipiently drowned platform in close proximity to the Great Bahama Bank (GBB), a carbonate platform which is not incipiently drowned and characterized by fine-grained, non-skeletal sediment. The GBB has locally well-developed oolitic grainstone facies and coral reef margins, which are both lacking on CSB. Platform-top water depths on the GBB are typically 10 m or less, but CSB depth ranges between 7 and 30 m. CSB is devoid of mud, whereas mud-supported depositional texture on GBB comprises 28% of the dataset. Dominant non-skeletal grains are grapestones and pelletoids, and the latter display evidence of micritization. Non-skeletal types on GBB are primarily grapestones and ooids. Surficial sediments from both platforms are primarily composed of aragonite, but high-magnesium calcite is slightly more prevalent on CSB. Similar to other incipiently drowned platforms in the Caribbean, CSB has been subject to rapid Holocene flooding. Common features between these three platforms are a thin sedimentary cover, a dominance of Halimeda plates, and micritized cryptocrystalline grains. Increased nutrient levels have been shown to be related to platform drowning as well as the reduction of coral and algal growth on Serranilla Bank, but rapid Holocene flooding has been more likely for CSB, and appears to be in the second of a three-stage drowning process, ultimately culminating in carbonate platform “turn off”, preventing further carbonate and reef development at the level of GBB. Keywords: carbonates, Bahamas, isolated carbonate platform, petrographic analysis 2 1. INTRODUCTION Calcium carbonate sediments of marine origin constitute approximately one-quarter of the global sedimentary record. Often termed biogenic carbonates, these sediments are most commonly derived from the skeletal fragments of marine organisms. Through purely abiotic means, else mediated by bacterial action, carbonates are also produced in non-skeletal forms, such as cements, coatings, and lime mud precipitated directly from the water column (Purkis et al., 2017). Since marine carbonate detritus is formed so vigorously in the photic zone, and has been so into deep geologic time, marine carbonates serve as excellent time-markers of information pertaining to paleoenvironmental conditions including oscillations of sea level. Because of their prodigious production of skeletal detritus, carbonate platforms in tropical to subtropical zones constitute some of the most complete archives of past climate on Earth. Great Bahama Bank, for instance, has been accumulating carbonate uninterrupted for at least 65 million years (Ma), the Maldives archipelago for 50 Ma, and so on. Isolated carbonate platforms comprise shallow-water depositional environments, free from the input of siliciclastic sediment, that range from tens to hundreds of kilometers in width and are separated by deep water from continental landmasses. The Bahamas Archipelago is one of the best studied examples, and consists of an arcuate chain of platforms: the Great Bahama Bank (GBB), Little Bahama Bank (LBB) and Cay Sal Bank (CSB). All of these platforms have aggraded to present-day sea level and flanked by deep channels and reentrants - Exuma Sound, Tongue of the Ocean, the Providence and Santaren channels, and the Straits of Florida (Fig. 1). These deep bodies of water effectively isolate the Bahamas platforms from any siliciclastic or terrigenous input, allowing pure carbonate sediments to accumulate. The GBB has been studied for several decades, and initiatives concerning sediment and facies types of the Great Bahama Bank have been elaborated by Illing (1954), Newell and Rigby (1957), Cloud (1962) and Purdy (1963). Subsequent studies by Bathurst (1974) Enos (1974), Reijmer