Bottom sediment types of the northern insular shelf of Puerto Rico; Punta Penon to Punta Salinas
No abstract available.
Puerto Rico↗
Geology topics
O. H. Pilkey
Publications and source records attributed to O. H. Pilkey.
Mud transportation on a steep shelf, Rio de La Plata shelf, Puerto Rico
Hurricanes David (August 29-30, 1979) and Frederick (September 2-5, 1979) caused major flooding of the Rio de La Plata in northern Puerto Rico. A thin mud layer was deposited across the narrow insular shelf adjacent to the river mouth. Within 5 months, fair-weather shelf-winnowing processes moved the mud layer entirely from the shelf, 0.5 to 2 km to the shelf break at the 50-m contour and beyond. The process of mud movement is termed 'mud hopping.' ?? 1982 A. M. Dowden, Inc.
Geo-Marine Letters↗
The Georgia Embayment continental shelf: stratigraphy of a submergence.
The Holocene-Pleistocene sediment veneer is thin, generally less than 4m thick. Lagoon sediments deposited during the last regression or the Holocene transgression occur in patches on the inner and central shelf. During each transgression or submergence, the surficial sand sheet is recharged with a new biogenic carbonate fraction along with the addition of small amounts of clastic sediments derived from 'overrun' estuaries and erosion of underlying Tertiary sediments. The stratigraphy based on the vibracores supports the concept of cross-shelf migration of the shore face-barrier island systems in response to rising sea level. -from Authors
Geological Society of America Bulletin↗
Diagenetic changes in the elemental composition of unrecrystallized mollusk shells
The Mg, Sr, Mn, Fe, Na and K contents were determined for 230 apparently unrecrystallized mollusk shells (gastropods and bivalves) ranging in age from late Cretaceous to Holocene. Consistent differences between the Holocene and fossil shells with respect to concentrations of all these elements are attributed to postburial diagenetic changes. Fossil-Holocene shell comparisons are made on the intergeneric level, a more severe test of compositional differences than was previous work involved with few species. The observed differences re-emphasize the need for extreme caution in the use of the many geochemical tools which assume that no compositional changes have taken place prior to recrystallization of calcareous materials. ?? 1979.
Chemical Geology↗
Relationship between physical condition of the carbonate fraction and sediment environments: Northern Puerto Rico shelf
Each of three sediment types recognizable on the northern Puerto Rico shelf and beaches is characterized by calcareous material in different physical condition. Dark terrigenous sand is accumulating at a relatively rapid rate and has a carbonate fraction containing fresh-appearing angular particles. The pure-carbonate skeletal-sand sediment type has a much lower rate of deposition, and its old-appearing calcareous particles have a dull surface luster. The third sediment type, a mixture of the first two, is largely from beaches and is characterized by highly polished, very well-rounded grains. Differences in length of sea-floor exposure and intensity of abrasion appear to be responsible for the variable physical condition of the carbonate fractions. We suggest that on other shelves having less distinctive sedimentary regimes, the physical condition of the carbonate grains could be used to interpret present shelf processes.
Puerto Rico↗
Late Wisconsinan sea levels on the Southeast U.S. Atlantic shelf based on in-place shoreline indicators
A new interpretation of late Pleistocene sea levels on the U.S. Atlantic continental shelf is based on in-place lagoonal and salt-marsh sediments obtained from vibra-cores. These data show sea levels during the last Wisconsinan transgression were about 30 meters shallower than is indicated by existing sea-level curves.
U.S. Atlantic continental shelf↗