Flank Margin Cave Development in Carbonate Talus Breccia Facies: An Example from Cres Island, Croatia

Plava Grota, Cres Island, Croatia, is a flank margin cave developed in a coastal setting in talus breccia facies. The internal cave geometry of small entrances, intersecting adjacent chambers, remnant dissolutional bedrock pillars, and low arches matches diagnostic features used to separate flank margin caves from epigenic stream caves on one hand, and sea caves on the other. Plava Grota is found, along with adjacent smaller caves, solely in a breccia facies that is most probably of Pleistocene age. This breccia is comprised of clasts derived from diagenetically mature, or telogenetic, Cretaceous carbonate rocks. The clasts are loosely cemented by vadose calcite cements. The breccia facies provide a three-dimensional porosity and permeability structure that behaves hydraulically in a manner similar to the high primary porosity and permeability of young eogenetic carbonate rocks in settings such as the Bahamas or Puerto Rico, and the many flow paths found in highly-tectonized telogenetic carbonate rocks in New Zealand. Plava Grota is the first described flank margin cave from the coastal carbonate rocks of the Adriatic Sea. According to present sea-level position in relation to the cave, fresh-water springs in and adjacent to the cave, general tectonic subsidence of the area and Quaternary eustatic sea-level fluctuations, we propose the hypotheses that the cave was primarily formed during the MIS 5e sea-level highstand

Flank Margin Cave Development in Telogenetic Limestones of New Zealand

Coastal limestone outcrops, typically with advanced levels of diagenetic maturity (i.e., are telogenetic carbonates), were ex­amined on NorthIsland (Raglan Harbour, Kawhia Harbour, Napier, and Waipu Cove) and SouthIsland (Pohara, Paturau River, Punakaiki, Kakanui, and Kaikoura), New Zealand, to de­termine if flank margin caves, produced by mixing dissolution, were present. In coastal settings, caves in carbonate rock can be the outcome of pseudokarst process, primarily wave erosion, as well as karst processes not associated with freshand sea-water mixing suchas epikarst features and conduit-flow stream caves. Flank margin caves were successfully differentiated from other cave types by the following criteria: phreatic dissolutional mor­phologies at the wall rock and chamber scales; absence of high-velocity, turbulent-flow wall sculpture and sediment deposits; and lack of integration of adjacent caves into a continuous flow path. The active tectonics of New Zealand creates a variable sea-level situation. The relatively short time of sea-level stability lim­its the size of the New Zealand flank margin caves compared to tectonically-stable environments, suchas the Bahamas, where glacioeustasy alone controls sea-level stability. Uplift events can be identified as slow and steady when the flank margin caves are uniformly elongated in the vertical direction, and episodic when the flank margin caves show widening and tube develop­ment at discrete horizons that cut across rock structure. New Zealand flank margin caves contain information on uplift dura­tion and rates independent of other commonly used measures, and therefore can provide a calibration to other methods

Quaternary glacial cycles: Karst processes and the global CO2 budget

Extensive research has been conducted investigating the relationship between karst processes, carbonate deposition and the global carbon cycle. However, little work has been done looking into the relationship between glaciations, subsequent sea level changes, and aerially exposed land masses in relation to karstic processes and the global carbon budget. During glaciations sea-level exposed the world’s carbonate platforms. With the sub-aerial exposure of the platforms, karst processes can occur, and the dissolution of carbonate material can commence, resulting in the drawdown of CO2 from the atmosphere as HCO3−. Furthermore, the material on the platform surfaces is primarily aragonite which is more readily soluble than calcite allowing karst processes to occur more quickly. During glaciations arctic carbonates and some of the temperate carbonates are blanketed in ice, effectively removing those areas from karst processes. Given the higher solubility of aragonite, and the extent of carbonate platforms exposed during glaciations, this dissolution balances the CO2 no longer taken up by karst processes at higher latitudes that were covered during the last glacial maximum The balance is within 0.001 GtC / yr, using soil pCO2 (0.005 GtC/yr assuming atmospheric pCO2) which is a difference of <1% of the total amount of atmospheric CO2 removed in a year by karst processes. Denudation was calculated using the maximum potential dissolution formulas of Gombert (2002). On a year to year basis the net amount of atmospheric carbon removed through karstic processes is equivalent between the last glacial maximum and the present day, however, the earth has spent more time in a glacial configuration during the Quaternary, which suggests that there is a net drawdown of atmospheric carbon during glaciations from karst processes, which may serve as a feedback to prolong glacial episodes. This research has significance for understanding the global carbon budget during the Quaternary.Keywords: Karst, Global Carbon Budget, Quaternary, Last Glacial Maximum, Carbonate Dissolution.DOI: 10.3986/ac.v42i2-3.66

Bones of Puffinus Lherminieri Lesson (Aves: Procellaridae) and Two Other Vertebrates from Cueva del Agua, Mona Isalnd, Puerto Rico (West Indies)

From a dive in Cueva del Agua, Mona Island, Puerto Rico, twelve un-mineralized bones of Puffinus Lherminieri Lesson, one of Cyclura stejnegeri Stejneger, and one of Moormops blainvilii Leach were collected. The subfossil evidence confirms that P. Lherminieri was a common species on Mona Island. Cyclura stejnegeri and M. blainvilii probably became trapped and died in the pool chamber

Magnetostratigraphy of Cueva Del Aleman, Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico and the Species Duration of Audobon\u27s Shearwater

Magnetostratigraphic analysis of deposits exposed in Cueva del Aleman shows two reversed and two normal chronozones. The lower normal polarity event is observed in a clastic dike and probably predates initial cave formation. Sediments deposited inside the cave proper show a R-N-R sequence and probably date to at least 1.8 Ma. A fossiliferous clastic dike contains normal polarity with an overlying reversed magnetozone. Audubon’s Shearwater (bird) bones occur in the dike, which is tentatively correlated with the lower N polarity zone predating cave formation. If this correlation is correct, the Audubon’s Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri) range can be extended back to at least 1.8 Ma, the Olduvai subchron

Blow Hole Cave: An Unroofed Cave on San Salvador Island, the Bahamas, and its Importance for Detection of Paleokarst Caves on Fossil Carbonate Platforms

Prispevek obravnava podobnosti v razvoju krasa kvartarne karbonatne platforme na otoku San Salvador in devonske karbonatne platforme na platoju Krásná na Moravskem. Za obe območji so značilne jame, katerih nastanek lahko razložimo s "flank margin" modelom in so nastale v območju sladkovodnih leč med obdobji relativno visoke morske gladine, v času relativno stabilne halokline, kar potrjujejo različne študije jamskih zapolnitev. V obeh primerih so jamske sedimentne zapolnitve genetsko primerljive - obalni in eolski sedimenti ter breče.The comparative study of a Quaternary carbonate platform (San Salvador Island, the Bahamas) and a Devonian Carbonate Platform (Krásná Elevation, Moravia) indicates a great similarity in karst evolution. Caves on both sites are interpreted as flank margin caves associated with a freshwater lens and halocline stabilised during sea-level highstands. The sedimentary fill of both caves is genetically comparable - beach and aeolian sediments with bodies of breccias

Geology of New Providence Island, Bahamas: A Field Trip Guide

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Geology of Cat Island, Bahamas: A Field Trip Guide

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Pleistocene and Holocene Carbonate Environments on San Salvador Island, Bahamas: A Field Trip Guide

Although isolated and small in size, San Salvador Island is in many ways a unique place - an all carbonates setting on a small, tectonically stable platform, surrounded by deep oceanic waters, and an historical footnote as the widely accepted first landing site of Christopher Columbus in the New World in 1492. Columbus\u27 stay here was brief, and the major events of subsequent history largely have passed San Salvador by. This is not a tourist island; the natural beauty, floras, and faunas of the Bahamas are well preserved here. The overview theme of this series of field excursions on San Salvador will be interpretation of paleodepositional environments for the well-exposed Pleistocene and Holocene carbonate rocks that cap the island and recognition of modem analogues from the varied carbonate environments found on the island and its surrounding shelf. Questions of sea level history, diagenetic change, and the surficial processes operating on carbonate island terranes also will be considered. Our trip will begin with a low-attitude overflight to view features of the main Bahama platform enroute to San Salvador, which lies just beyond the eastern edge of the platform. The field trip leaders all have been working on San Salvador and elsewhere in the Bahamas for the past decade. We have experienced the good and the bad - a pleasant tropical climate, warm and alive marine waters, a generally unspoiled setting, and the friendly Bahamian people, along with sometimes fierce no-see-um attacks, sun-burnt skin, and unexpected soakings from tropical storms. Throughout, the experiences have been rewarding and the challenges of geologic interpretation great. We look forward to sharing some of our findings and experiences with you. Welcome to the Bahamas and San Salvador Island! See other Smith authored Field Trip Guides of Gerace Research Centre