3D Modern Reef Morphologies along the Upper Slopes of the Lighthouse Reef (Belize): Potential Archive of Punctuated Sea Level Fluctuations, Using a Global Comparative Basin Analysis Approach
| dc.contributor.advisor | Droxler, André | en_US |
| dc.creator | Baykut, Tanyel | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-12-21T14:49:48Z | en_US |
| dc.date.available | 2020-12-21T14:49:48Z | en_US |
| dc.date.created | 2021-05 | en_US |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-12-18 | en_US |
| dc.date.submitted | May 2021 | en_US |
| dc.date.updated | 2020-12-21T14:49:49Z | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | In the past 500 ky, Earth has witnessed unprecedented extreme glacial/interglacial cyclic changes in climate that translated into unusually high amplitude sea-level fluctuations. During the most recent glacial to interglacial, or deglacial, transition, sea level rose ~125 m since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), or during the last 20 kyr. The Belize offshore isolated carbonate platforms, one of them the Lighthouse Reef (LR), and the Barrier Reef itself were fully exposed during the LGM, forming islands and coastlines with imposing coastal cliffs, contrasting with the thriving coral reef systems we know today. High-Resolution Multi-beam Echo Sounder (MBES) data sets were recently acquired along segments of the Lighthouse Reef leeward and windward margins, from a few meters to 400 m of water depth. Once the data sets were processed, high-resolution 3D bathymetric and slope models, and hypsometric analysis, display a series of characteristic morphological features on the LR upper slopes: (a) a marked change of slope angle at ~120-130 m at the base of a sub-vertical wall, (b) the wall itself ubiquitously occurs between ~60 and ~120 m, (c) two major terraces centered at ~77 m and ~52 m, separated by steep cliffs, and, (d) another terrace in front of the modern reef crest centered at ~20 m. The slope terraces are more developed on the leeside, while its windward margin is systematically much steeper. Because these morphologies compare well with similar ones observed along the upper slopes of atolls in the Maldives Archipelago or drowned reefs in the Great Barrier Reef and south Texas shelf edge, they are assumed to be related to well established punctuated global sea level rises. The abrupt change of the slope at ~120-130 m water depth marks where sea-level was located during the Last Glacial Maximum 21 ka. The two terraces, centered at water depths ~77 and ~52 m, most likely drowned by the fast rates of sea-level rise (m/century) during Meltwater Pulses 1-b and 1-c (11.5 and 9.5 ka). The rapid sea-level rise during MW-1d (~7.5 ka) could explain the drowning of the ~ 20 m terrace. Alternatively, these terraces could correspond to the re-occupation of older terraces formed during the sea-level stepwise lowering at sub-glacial and interglacial Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 d-c-b-a and MIS 3, following the MIS 5e interglacial sea-level highstand. | en_US |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Baykut, Tanyel. "3D Modern Reef Morphologies along the Upper Slopes of the Lighthouse Reef (Belize): Potential Archive of Punctuated Sea Level Fluctuations, Using a Global Comparative Basin Analysis Approach." (2020) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/109756">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/109756</a>. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1911/109756 | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.rights | Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Lighthouse Reef | en_US |
| dc.subject | Comparative Basin Analysis | en_US |
| dc.title | 3D Modern Reef Morphologies along the Upper Slopes of the Lighthouse Reef (Belize): Potential Archive of Punctuated Sea Level Fluctuations, Using a Global Comparative Basin Analysis Approach | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
| dc.type.dcmi | Dataset | en_US |
| dc.type.material | Text | en_US |
| thesis.degree.department | Earth Science | en_US |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Natural Sciences | en_US |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Rice University | en_US |
| thesis.degree.level | Masters | en_US |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en_US |