none 10.2110/pec.01.70.0017 Society for Sedimentary Geology Society for Sedimentary Geology 860 45764253 761353 2026061617232117300 10.2110 2026-06-16T21:23:46Z 2010-11-22T14:37:34Z 11 Robert N. Ginsburg Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University ofMiami, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy., Miami, FL 33149, U.S.A. Results of the Bahamas Drilling Project Abstract Subsurface Geology of a Prograding Carbonate Platform Margin, Great Bahama Bank: Results of the Bahamas Drilling Project - This volume will be of special interest to carbonate sedimentologists, geochemists, petroleum geologists, engineers, and seismologists. It addresses fundamental aspects of prograding carbonate platforms in a Neogene example from Great Bahama Bank. A remarkable seismic profile, which imaged the prograding margin, provided the seismic stratigraphic framework. Two continuouslycored and logged borings on the profile produced the ground truth for testing and characterizing processes: lithologies and ages of sequence boundaries; influence of sea level fluctuations on progradation, controls on impedance contrasts in carbonates; fluid flow through the submerged margin; log responses of different lithologies; and the origin, ages and depositional environments of the platform top and prograding clinothems. The new findings on diagenesis are of special interest, including complete mineral stabilization in seawater, early burial dolomitization related to sequence boundaries and how diagenesis controls sonic velocity and permeability. 2001 1565760778 9781565761926 SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology 10.2110/pec.01.70 https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/books/edited-volume/1113/Subsurface-Geology-of-a-Prograding-Carbonate http://ebooks.geoscienceworld.org/lookup/doi/10.2110/pec.01.70 Carrie Manfrino Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy., Miami, Florida 33149, U.S.A. Current address: Kean University, Department of Geology, Union, New Jersey 07893, U.S.A., ckievman@turbo.kean.edu Robert N. Ginsburg Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy., Miami, Florida 33149, U.S.A. Abstract: Two continuous core borings 8.5 km apart on the leeward margin of Great Bahama Bank provided a special opportunity to interpret the depositional history during the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene. The upper ca. 200 m of the borings presented in this paper show seaward progradation of the margin with overall shallowing. At the base of this succession are skeletal grainstones and packstones that accumulated on the proximal slope of the margin. These are succeeded by thick intervals of reefal and coral-bearing deposits that in turn are capped by nonskeletal grainstones similar to the modern sediments in the interior of the Bahama Banks. Reefal and coral-bearing limestones produce about half of the leeward progradation. In both borings, the major episodes of coral growth began on unconsolidated sediments and show indications of upward shallowing according to the interpretations of Budd and Manfrino (this volume). In Clino, the seaward boring, the major episode of reef growth was terminated by deposition of fine-grained sediment mixed with coral floatstone; in Unda, the bankward boring, reef demise was the result of subaerial exposure. In Unda, the post-reefal deposits, termed the layered cap, are largely a succession of packstones and grainstones of peloids and skeletal debris, which are interpreted as platform-top accumulations similar to those of the Holocene. Thirteen discontinuity horizons, which are distinct breaks in sedimentation and have numerous features indicative of subaerial exposure, are used to divide this interval into sea -level flooding events (rising sea level and highstands) and periods of exposure (falling sea level and lowstands) during the Pleistocene and Late Pliocene. In Clino, above the major episodes of reef development, corals and skeletal grainstones and packstones continued to be the major component of aggradation. Nonskeletal packstones and grainstones from the platform interior are present only in the uppermost 20 m. Ten discontinuity horizons, which indicate falling sea level and sea-level lowstands, are identified in the Late Pleistocene. Two magnetostratigraphic datums provide the primary dating for this upper succession (McNeill et al., this volume). Three factors show that reef development occurred first in Unda during a period of relative rise of sea level: (1) correlating the top of the Olduvai between the two borings, (2) coral assemblages, and (3) interpretations of depositional environments. Coral assemblages in Unda include Pliocene species, whereas those in Ciino are largely Pleistocene to recent (Budd and Manfrino, this volume). A drop in sea level produced a downshift of major reef growth of some tens of meters (and as much as 100 m) to Clino. Another relative rise of sea level allowed for reefal aggradation. This offlap succession of reefal deposits confirms the pre-drilling model of margin evolution developed from seismic stratigraphy (Eberli and Ginsburg, 1989). The downshift in reef development during the Late Pliocene have been coincident with the onset of Northern Hemisphere ice accumulation as inferred from the deep-sea isotope record. These results confirm and expand on the role of reefs and sea-level fluctuations in the architecture of Great Bahama Bank. Reefs make a major contribution to leeward progradation, a circumstance that adds support to considering the Neogene Bank an atoll-Like structure. It is estimated that the margin shifted seaward some 10 km in approximately two million years. This episodic progradation was controlled by a hierarchy of sea-level fluctuations during the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene. Major episodes of sea-level rise allowed for aggrading reef development; higher-frequency cycles of sea-level fluctuation in the Pleistocene are recorded in the alternations of subaerial exposure and accumulation of coral-bearing limestones in Clino and the nonskeletal grainstones and packstones of Unda. The ten alternations in the Upper Pleistocene (above the Brunhes/Matnyama boundary) interval matches the number of sea-level oscillations (glacial and interglacial stages) inferred from the oxygen isotope record in the deep sea. 2001 17 39 10.2110/pec.01.70.0017 https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/books/edited-volume/1113/chapter/10551940/Pliocene-to-Pleistocene-Depositional-History-of https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/3795519/9781565761926_ch02.pdf http://ebooks.geoscienceworld.org/lookup/doi/10.2110/pec.01.70.0017 Controls on Carbonate Platform and Basin Development: SEPM Ahr 203 1989 10.2110/pec.89.44.0203 Sedimentary and tectonic controls on the development of an early Mississippian carbonate ramp, Sacramento Mountains area, New Mexico Journal of Sedimentary Research Aurell B65 170 1995 10.1306/D426820C-2B26-11D7-8648000102C1865D Pleistocene shallowing-upward sequences in New Providence, Bahamas Evolution of a carbonate platform Beach 600 1982 Depositional and diagenetic history of Pliocene-Pleistocene carbonates of Northwestern Great Bahama Bank American Association of Petroleum Geologists Beach 64 1634 1980 10.1306/2F9196D9-16CE-11D7-8645000102C1865D Facies succession of Pliocene-Pleistocene carbonates, Northwestern Great Bahama Bank Sedimentology Beier 34 991 1987 10.1111/j.1365-3091.1987.tb00588.x Petrographic and geochemical analysis of caliche profiles in a Bahamian Pleistocene dune Geology Boardman 14 28 1986 10.1130/0091-7613(1986)14<28:BRTQFI>2.0.CO;2 Banktop responses to Quaternary fluctuations in sea level recorded in periplatform sediments Controls on Carbonate Platform and Basin Development Bosellini 3 1989 10.2110/pec.89.44.0003 Dynamics of Tethyan carbonate platforms Science Broecker 149 58 1965 10.1126/science.149.3679.58 Uranium-series dating of corals and oolites from Bahaman and Florida Keys limestones Journal of Paleontology Budd 42 951 1994 10.1017/S0022336000026585 Stratigraphic distributions of genera and species of Neogene to Recent Caribbean reef corals Third International Coral Reef Symposium, Proceedings Cant 9 1977 Role of coral deposits in building the margins of the Bahama Banks Geology and Hydrology of Carbonate Islands Carew 91 1997 Geology of the Bahamas Quaternary Research Cerling 25 63 1986 10.1016/0033-5894(86)90044-X An isotopic study of paleosol carbonates from Olduvai Gorge Geological Society of America Chen 103 82 1991 10.1130/0016-7606(1991)103<0082:PCOTLI>2.3.CO;2 Precise chronology of the last interglacial period: 234U-230Th data from fossil coral reefs in the Bahamas 4th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas, Proceedings Curran 107 1989 Comparative morphologic analysis and geochronology for the development and decline of two Pleistocene coral reefs, San Salvador and Great Inagua Islands, Bahamas Geological Society of America Curran 344 1995 Terrestrial and Shallow Marine Geology of the Bahamas and Bermuda Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. 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