A Giant Sediment Trap in the Florida Keys

Authors

  • Eugene A. Shinn
  • Christopher D. Reich
  • Stanley D. Locker
  • Albert C. Hine

Abstract

Aerial photography, high-resolution seismic profiling, coring and jet probing have revealed a large sediment-filled sinkhole in the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo, Florida. The 600-m-diameter feature straddles coral reef and carbonate-sand facies and contains >55 m of marine lime sand and aragonite mud. Bulk 14C age determinations of mud from a 30-m sediment core indicate infilling rates exceeding 20 m/ka between 3 and 5.6 ka. The total thickness and nature of the sediment near the base of the sinkhole are not known

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Published

1996-10-23