Mississippi State University Scholars Junction Theses and Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1-1-2014 Influence of Coastal Processes on Speleogenesis and Landforms in the Caribbean Region Patricia Kambesis Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td Recommended Citation Kambesis, Patricia, "Influence of Coastal Processes on Speleogenesis and Landforms in the Caribbean Region" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 2706. https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/2706 This Dissertation - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Automated Template C: Created by James Nail 2013V2.1 Influence of coastal processes on speleogenesis and landforms in the Caribbean Region By Patricia N. Kambesis A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the Department of Geosciences Mississippi State, Mississippi May 2014 Copyright by Patricia N. Kambesis 2014 Influence of coastal processes on speleogenesis and landforms in the Caribbean Region By Patricia N. Kambesis Approved: ____________________________________ John E. Mylroie (Director of Dissertation) ____________________________________ Renee M. Clary (Committee Member) ____________________________________ Brenda L. Kirkland (Committee Member) ____________________________________ Arthur N. Palmer (Committee Member) ____________________________________ Michael E. Brown (Graduate Coordinator) ____________________________________ R. Gregory Dunaway Professor and Dean College of Arts & Sciences Name: Patricia N. Kambesis Date of Degree: May 17, 2014 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Major Professor: John E. Mylroie Title of Study: Influence of coastal processes on speleogenesis and landforms in the Caribbean Region Pages in Study: 236 Candidate for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Evolution of rocky coastlines is controlled by littoral, biological and fluvial processes. Resultant landforms are overprinted and/or new ones formed as a result of changes in sea level caused by glacioeustasy and/or local tectonics. On carbonate coasts, chemical erosion in the form of karstification takes on a dominant role. Type of karstification is an important factor in understanding carbonate coast evolution and landform development so it is critical to identify type of karstification. In this research, fractal indices were used to distinguish cave and thus karstification type. It was determined that fractal indices effectively differentiated cave types and the indices were used to distinguish cave types at study sites on Barbados, the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao) and the Caribbean coast of the northeast Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. This research evaluated caves located in the phreatic, epiphreatic and vadose zones of the northeast coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico to determine the relationship between the caves and to coastal processes. Three distinct coastal landforms associated with caves on the study sites were evaluated to quantify and model the interplay of littoral, fluvial and karstic processes and cave and karst development. On Barbados, the combination of surface fluvial processes, and mixing-zone and fluvial-karstic dissolution, resulted in the formation of gullies. Some gullies contained caves in their bounding walls and/or served as points of recharge to fluvial caves. Bokas of the ABC islands are distinctive geomorphic structures that formed from the interplay of fluvial, littoral and mixing zone karstification. The morphology of the bokas was a function of dominant geomorphic process. The caletas of the Yucatan Caribbean were formed by karstification processes that also produced features with mixing-zone-like morphologies but with fluvio-karstic function. The results of this research expand the Carbonate Island Karst Model (CIKM), which explains eogenetic dissolutional processes and landforms on small carbonate islands, to one that includes carbonate islands of all sizes, and carbonate continental coasts. Keywords: Coastal karst, caves and fractals, gully, boka, caleta, . DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my father, Peter Kambesis, who always told me to be fearless in whatever I chose to do. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my advisor extraordinaire, Dr. John Mylroie who first put the notion in my head of pursuing a PhD and for ultimately guiding me through the whole process – I will never be bitter! Many thanks to my committee members: Dr. Brenda Kirkland for her insights on all things carbonate, Dr. Renee Clary for her great comments and advice (and a shared appreciation for shoes!) and Dr. Art Palmer, who took time away from his busy research schedule to be a fabulous mentor and personal cave science guru. I want to express great appreciation to my fellow classmates and colleagues who helped with the fieldwork and data compilation required for this dissertation: Joan Mylroie for always being the voice of reason and giving the best compass; Jon Sumrall for his willingness to pull a survey tape into the smallest of spaces; Erik Larson for always reminding us that the numbers don’t lie; Jeanne Lambert Sumrall for keeping us all smiling; Athena Nagel for pushing the tightest of places; Ryan Travis for great field assistance; Nicole Ridlen for her enthusiasm for caving and life in general; Jason Polk for all of his spot-on advice; Eli Winkler for moral support and a gung ho caving attitude; Mike Lace for surveying and making maps of lots of small caves. Special thanks go to Jim Coke for his help, input and discussions on the great underwater caves of Quintana Roo, and to the Quintana Roo Speleological Survey for iii providing important data and information. Parts of this dissertation would not have happened without that support. Extra extra thanks to Peter Sprouse and the many cavers of Pamuul Grotto for surveying and providing data and maps of the “dry” caves of Quintana Roo, an important part of this dissertation. Financial support for this work was provided by Cave Research Foundation and the National Speleological Foundation. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .....................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 1.1 Overview ................................................................................................1 1.2 The Carbonate Island Karst Model ........................................................2 1.3 Sea Level Changes and Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages ........................6 1.4 Research Topics .....................................................................................8 1.4.1 Morphometric Analysis of Cave Patterns using Fractal Indices ............................................................................................10 1.4.2 Geologic controls on the development of caves of Quintana Roo, Mexico ...................................................................................12 1.4.3 Coastal re-entrants on carbonate coasts .........................................15 1.5 Section summary ..................................................................................16 II. MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF CAVE PATTERNS USING FRACTAL INDICES.......................................................................................20 2.1 Abstract ................................................................................................20 2.2 Introduction ..........................................................................................21 2.3 Overview ..............................................................................................25 2.3.1 Landscapes, landforms and fractal morphometry ..........................25 2.3.2 Cave patterns, cave types, and fractal morphometry .....................27 2.3.3 Euclidean versus Fractal Geometry ...............................................29 2.3.4 Fractal Indices ................................................................................31 2.3.4.1 Fractal Dimension ....................................................................32 2.3.4.2 Lacunarity ................................................................................33 2.4 Methods................................................................................................35 2.4.1 Data acquisition and image processing .........................................35 v 2.4.2 Statistics .........................................................................................37 2.5 Results ..................................................................................................38