Intense hurricane activity over the past 1500 years at South Andros Island, the Bahamas

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in E. J., Donnelly, J. P., van Hengstum, P. J., Wiman, C., Sullivan, R. M., Winkler, T. S., d'Entremont, N. E., Toomey, M., & Albury, N. Intense hurricane activity over the past 1500 years at South Andros Island, the Bahamas. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 34(11), (2019): 1761-1783, doi:10.1029/2019PA003665.Hurricanes cause substantial loss of life and resources in coastal areas. Unfortunately, historical hurricane records are too short and incomplete to capture hurricane‐climate interactions on multi‐decadal and longer timescales. Coarse‐grained, hurricane‐induced deposits preserved in blue holes in the Caribbean can provide records of past hurricane activity extending back thousands of years. Here we present a high resolution record of intense hurricane events over the past 1500 years from a blue hole on South Andros Island on the Great Bahama Bank. This record is corroborated by shorter reconstructions from cores collected at two nearby blue holes. The record contains coarse‐grained event deposits attributable to known historical hurricane strikes within age uncertainties. Over the past 1500 years, South Andros shows evidence of four active periods of hurricane activity. None of these active intervals occurred in the past 163 years. We suggest that Intertropical Convergence Zone position modulates hurricane activity on the island based on a correlation with Cariaco Basin titanium concentrations. An anomalous gap in activity on South Andros Island in the early 13th century corresponds to a period of increased volcanism. The patterns of hurricane activity reconstructed from South Andros Island closely match those from the northeastern Gulf of Mexico but are anti‐phased with records from New England. We suggest that either changes in local environmental conditions (e.g., SSTs) or a northeastward shift in storm tracks can account for the increased activity in the western North Atlantic when the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Caribbean are less active.This work was funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (to E.J.W.), National Science Foundation grant OCE‐1356708 (to J.P.D. and P.J.vH.), the Dalio Explore Foundation and the USGS Land Change Science Program (M.R.T.). We are grateful to members of WHOI Coastal Systems Group, in particular Stephanie Madsen, for their help in the processing core samples. We thank two anonymous reviewers, Matthew Lachniet, Marci Robinson (USGS) and Miriam Jones (USGS) for their helpful feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The data are available on the National Climatic Data Center (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/dataaccess/paleoclimatology‐data) and WHOI Coastal Systems Group (https://web.whoi.edu/coastal‐group/) websites

Coastal dune dynamics along the northern Curonian Spit, Lithuania : toward an integrated database

Sand dunes are the most prominent subjects of geological and geomorphological interest along the Curonian Spit - a mega-barrier that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. To date, an assessment of various parameters of migrating dunes along the spit has been based on comparative analysis of old maps or aerial and satellite images, as well as geodetic measurements. These investigations have allowed assessment of dune dynamics over a relatively short historical period (~1700s to present). The most recent detailed investigations of the Dead (Grey) Dunes along the Lithuanian part of the spit using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic susceptibility (MS) surveys, supported by a radiocarbon (14C) chronological framework of palaeosols and infrared optically stimulated luminescence (IR-OSL) ages of sand horizons, have advanced our understanding of aeolian landscape evolution. The interpretation of dune activity and stability phases has been generally based on IR-OSL dating results of the sand layers located between radiocarbon-dated palaeosols. However, the influence of soil-forming processes on the IR-OSL dating results related to possible migration of natural radioactive isotopes via aeolian sand layers has not been previously considered. Hypotheses of dune reactivation and migration caused by abrupt regional climate shifts, catastrophic forest fires, anthropogenic influence, and more local forcings have been tested. An integrated approach to dune investigations has offered an estimate of the rates of sand accumulation and key phases of aeolian dynamics during both stormy and calm periods, as well as helped to extend the record of dune evolution to the mid-Holocene. The palaeoenvironmental and palaeodynamic reconstructions of the Dead Dunes suggest that this mid-Holocene phase of dune activity was of a local character and likely did not exceed several centuries

Bedforms, coastal-trapped waves, and scour process observations from the continental shelf of the northern Black Sea

The Black Sea basin presents an ideal laboratory for investigations of morphodynamic interplay between response (morphology) and force (processes) associated with shelf sedimentation. Recent studies along the perimeter of the basin have documented the existence of a complex, heterogeneous seafloor varyingly composed of sand, gravel, silt, and clay. Side-scan sonar data are utilized to establish the spatial patterns of bedform types in the area. In addition, a benthic tripod, confi gured with an acoustic Doppler current profi ler, a rotary fanbeam sonar, and a conductivity-temperature sensor was deployed to record seabed dynamics in response to changing forcing conditions. Together, the tripod and side-scan survey data sets provide a complementary basis for deciphering the processes responsible for the observed seafloor morphology. The side-scan sonar data allows for the determination of spatial patterns of bedform length and orientation. In total, 2376 individual large sand wave bedforms were digitized in geographic information systems with mean and modal wavelengths of 72.8 and 15.7 m respectively. The correlation of near-inertial waves (velocity amplitude 12-20 cm/s and period 12-16 h) and bedform geometry suggest that the extensive sand-wave patches imaged across the shelf are affected by active modern processes and may themselves be modern features or perhaps relict features that remain active presently. Progressive vector diagrams of the nearbed mean current flow indicate a component of cross-shelf directed flow suggesting an enhanced potential for artifact preservation via cross-shelf advection of anoxic bottom waters by the near-inertial flows measured in this study. © 2011 Geological Society of America

Paleoenvironmental changes on the northeastern and southwestern Black Sea shelves during the Holocene

Four paleoceanographic events are distinguished during the Holocene based on changes in macro- and microfossil assemblages studied from three sediment cores (Ak 521, 522, 2571) from the outer northeast shelf and from core MAR02-45 situated on the southwest shelf of the Black Sea, west to the Bosphorus. The lithology and fossils were previously studied from cores Ak 521 and Ak 522 and MAR02-45. However, high resolution ostracod analyses from the AMS-14C dated core, Ak 2571, allowed for a revision of the taxonomy and paleoecological interpretation of this microfaunal group on the NE shelf. Downcore changes in the relative abundance of the polyhaline ostracods are found to be contemporaneous in all three cores from the NE shelf. As a result, centennial-millennial scale fluctuations of the bottom-water salinity are resolved in the area. A broader scale examination of paleoenvironmental changes between the NE and SW shelves is also made and the surface to bottom salinity gradient is discussed. An uncalibrated radiocarbon based chronology is used throughout this paper to facilitate comparison with the regional chronostratigraphy of marine transgression and regressions in the Black Sea. The calibrated ages corrected for the changes in reservoir age through the Holocene are also provided. The first paleoceanographic event is associated with the pulse of Mediterranean water previously established at about 9.8–9.3 ka BP. This event is clearly observed in the SW region but not on the NE shelf due to a hiatus in the longest core, Ak 521. The second event is represented on both the NE and SW shelves as a replacement of brackish benthic fauna and surface phytoplankton with marine ones between 8.4 and 6.9 ka BP, indicating a gradual increase in salinity. The third event is marked by opposing trends in surface and bottom-water salinity changes. On the NE shelf, bottom-water salinity rose to modern values by ∼ 6.5 ka BP and then decreased within the interval ∼6.4–5.3 ka BP as recorded by the ostracod assemblages. On the SW shelf, surface-water salinity reached modern values by 5.6 ka BP and remained constant until present day as inferred from the dinoflagellate cyst assemblages. The fourth event is marked by a recurring increase in bottom-water salinity to modern values indicated by the polyhaline ostracod assemblages at ∼ 5.3 ka BP in the NE region, after which only minor salinity fluctuations are observed

Ground Penetration Radar in Geotechnics. Advantages and Limitations

The use of the Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) in geotechnics presents great potential, but also relevant difficulties. This technique allows the acquisition of field data in a fast and versatile way, facilitating the interconnection between the geological studies, the geophysical characterization, the mechanical exploration and the geotechnical zoning. The depth and accuracy of data acquisition easily adapts to various situations ranging from a few centimetres to several tens of meters, changing to antennas with lower frequency. This near surface and non-destructive test method can be used almost anywhere. The continuity of the information obtained with the GPR complements the discreet and localized information obtained with the mechanical exploration. The validation of the local geological conditions using direct mechanical exploration together with the GPR imaging allows the confirmation of the parameters obtained by techniques of different nature, that once validated can allow the interpretation of areas and volumes with improved accuracy. In favourable conditions the use of the GPR can greatly help the direct mechanical exploration but the interpretation must always be done with great care and based on a good knowledge of the site characteristics. The interpretation of the GPR has in most cases many uncertainties. The research developed aimed at increasing the geotechnical characterization efficiency, using complementary techniques in order to reduce the costs and the time required to perform the geotechnical studies, ensuring that the information obtained is suitable and sufficient for the intended purposes. In a few case studies the GPR was used conjugated with trenches and the Dynamic Probing Super Heavy (DPSH) test, and allowed to enhance the individual information of each technique, increasing reliability, taking into account the importance of the geology of each site. In the geotechnical study for the rehabilitation of an ancient Villa, requiring the construction of a small auditorium in the basement and an underground garage in the garden, the GPR and the DPSH successfully allowed to define the geotechnical zoning of the surface soils and of the depth of the sandstone bedrock, as the local information obtained by the DPSH allowed to validate the GPR imaging. The presence of buried pipes and of an underground water tank were also identified by a GPR grid. In karst areas the interpretation of the GPR can be complex due to the irregular geological interface between the limestone and the residual soils filling the dissolution zones. In aeolian sands the layers structure and the change in grain size are usually well identified with the GPR imaging, which can be validated by the geological reconnaissance and the mechanical exploration. Besides the natural variation of the electromagnetic properties of the ground mass, unexpected causes like tree roots, uncontrolled fill or even previous excavations can difficult a clear interpretation of the GPR data

1,050 years of Hurricane Strikes on Long Island in The Bahamas

Sedimentary records of past hurricane activity indicate centennial-scale periods over the past millennium with elevated hurricane activity. The search for the underlying mechanism behind these active hurricane periods is confounded by regional variations in their timing. Here, we present a new high resolution paleohurricane record from The Bahamas with a synthesis of published North Atlantic records over the past millennium. We reconstruct hurricane strikes over the past 1,050 years in sediment cores from a blue hole on Long Island in The Bahamas. Coarse-grained deposits in these cores date to the close passage of seven hurricanes over the historical interval. We find that the intensity and angle of approach of these historical storms plays an important role in inducing storm surge near the site. Our new record indicates four active hurricane periods on Long Island that conflict with published records on neighboring islands (Andros and Abaco Island). We demonstrate these three islands do not sample the same storms despite their proximity, and we compile these reconstructions together to create the first regional compilation of annually resolved paleohurricane records in The Bahamas. Integrating our Bahamian compilation with compiled records from the U.S. coastline indicates basin-wide increased storminess during the Medieval Warm Period. Afterward, the hurricane patterns in our Bahamian compilation match those reconstructed along the U.S. East Coast but not in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. This disconnect may result from shifts in local environmental conditions in the North Atlantic or shifts in hurricane populations from straight-moving to recurving storms over the past millennium