Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
Department
Chemistry
Additional Departmental Affiliation
Geography and Geology
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
Carbonate platforms, such as the Bahamas, formed through deposition and sea level fluctuations. These platforms contain records of rapid interglacial climate change and are useful in studying the impacts of climate change on similar tropical carbonate environments. Blue holes are dissolution lakes that may be beneficial for understanding climate change and anthropogenic impact. A δ13C and δ18O study was conducted on lake sediment core samples from Watling’s Blue Hole and Blue Hole Five on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. These lakes are located in a failed housing development and Watling’s Blue Hole was once part of an early 19th century plantation which modified the landscape of the surrounding watershed. These lakes are hydrologically connected to the ocean and are tidally influenced: seawater enters through karstic bedrock, while surface water is fresher because of rainwater inputs. Watling’s Blue Hole Site 2 has the older basal date of ~6,870 cal. yr. BP while Blue Hole Five Site 3 basal date was ~5,340 cal. yr. BP. These cores differed compositionally and may be a result of the anthropogenic impact, at least in the very top of the cores. The similarities and differences between Watling’s Blue Hole and Blue Hole Five aid in understanding the impact of anthropogenic and climate change on carbonate platforms as these characteristics vary throughout the Holocene.
Advisor(s) or Committee Chair
Dr. Cathleen Webb
Disciplines
Chemistry | Geology
Recommended Citation
Flynn, Elaine D., "Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Study of Carbonates from Watling's Blue Hole and Blue Hole Five, San Salvador, Bahamas" (2013). Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 427.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/427