Holocene Carbonates of the Great Bahamas Bank

Introduction

This section is designed to be an introduction to the geology of the Holocene shallow water carbonate sediments exposed over the Great Bahamas Bank. While all geologic occurences of carbonate and clastic sediments have a "unique" character imposed by the specifics of the depositional setting for that location and time, they also carry many common signals. This gallery of photographs should help you identify common and different signals for the carbonates you can see in the Holocene and the ancient. Most of these photographs were taken by Christopher Kendall while making field observations of the Great Bahamas carbonate shelf and reef margin complex, probably the most well known and most thoroughly studied Holocene carbonate platforms of the world. These carbonates have accumulated here from the Late Triassic to present day on the western margin of the Atlantic since the inception of the ocean body, responding to changing sea level and productivity.

Most of the materials and text used on this site are based on the publications and the compendium of information assembled by Christopher Kendall and colleagues he has worked with over the years. Many of the maps and diagrams presented in the below are from the publications linked to the page. There are also a number of spectacular photographic images taken from outer space that have been downloaded from NASA.

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001 Gulf Florida & Bahamas	002 Florida & Bahamas	003 Bahamas Platform	004 Bahamas Andros Exumas & Togo	005 Bahamas Location Seismic
006 Bahamas Andros,Exumas & Togo Seismic	007 Eustatic Sea level Late Cenozoic	008 West Andros Channel Seismic	009 West Andros Seismic Line	010 Bahamas Seismic backstripped
011 Bahamas Topography	012 Bahamas Facies	013 North Andros	014 Bahamas General Bathymetry	015 Whtings Bahamas
015a Bahamas Whiting	016 Bahamas Whitings
016a Whtings Bahamas	017 Whitings Little Bahamas	018 Tongue of Ocean Bahamas	019 Bahamas Margin Slope	020 Bahamas Slopes James 1979
021 Bahamas Slopes James 1979	022 Bahamas Slopes James 1979	023 Slope Fan Bahamas Crevello	024 Slope margin Carbonates	025 Map Joulters Cay Bahamas
026 Joulters Cay Harris	027 Joulters Cay From South Bahamas	028 Map Joulters Cay Bahamas	029 Joulters Cay From South Bahamas	030 Joulters Cay South Tidal Flat Bahamas
031 Joulters Cay Ooids Offshore Bahamas	032 Ooid Bar Joulters Cay Bahamas	033 Burrowing Anemone Bahamas	034 Sand Carb Joulter Ooid Shoals	035 North of Joulters Cay Ooids Bahamas
036 Ooids Joulters	037 Ooid factory	038 Hierarchy of Grains Rim	039 Hierarchy of Grains Ramp	040 Hierarchy of Facies
041 View West Joulters	042 View West Joulters	043 View West Joulters	044 Thallasia Callianasa Flats	045 Halimeda on on Callianasa Mound
046 Callianasa inflow Burrows	047 Callianasa Burrowing Shrimp	048 Joulters Kay Beach Ridge Accretion	049 Cross Section Joulters Cay Ooids Bahamas Harris	051 Cross Section Joulters Cay Ooids Bahamas Harris
052 Cross Section Joulters Cay Ooids Bahamas Harris	053 South Side Channel Joulters Bahamas	054 South Side Channel Joulters Bahamas	055 Soft Stromatolite Channel S Joulters Bahamas	056 Joulters Mangrove & Algal Flats
057 Joulters Algal Flats with cementation	058 Cemented Dunes Joulters Cay	058 Scytonema Blue Green Algae Joulters Cay	059 Cemented Dunes Joulters Cay	060 Cemented Dunes Joulters Cay
061 Bubble Ooid Sand Before Cementation Joulters Cay	062 Cemented Dunes Joulters Cay	063 Erosion of Cemented Dunes Joulters Cay	064 North End Joulters Cay	065 Berry Islands Grapestone Area
066 North End Joulters Cay	067 Berry Islands Grapestone Area	069 Berry Islands Grapestones	070 Grapestone Factory	071 Micritization

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