@article {2759,
	title = {Holocene sedimentation in a blue hole surrounded by carbonate tidal flats in The Bahamas: Autogenic versus allogenic processes},
	journal = {Marine Geology},
	volume = {419},
	year = {2020},
	month = {Jan-01-2020},
	pages = {106051},
	abstract = {The sediment in North Atlantic blue holes preserves paleoclimate records. However, accurate paleoclimate reconstructions require an improved understanding of allogenic versus autogenic processes controlling blue hole sedimentation. Here we provide a detailed case study of the Holocene stratigraphy within Freshwater River Blue Hole, which is currently surrounded by carbonate tidal flats in the northern Bahamas (Abaco Island). During the Holocene, concomitant coastal aquifer elevation and relative sea-level rise controlled internal blue hole depositional environments. The general Holocene facies succession observed is: (i) basal detrital and freshwater peat, (ii) palustrine to lacustrine marl, (iii) algal sapropel, and finally (iv) bedded carbonate mud. During the middle Holocene when groundwater levels were lower, small changes in accommodation space that were inherited from the bedrock surface below (<1 m) were able to promote significant lateral facies changes. Multiple cores are needed to characterize these lateral facies changes. Hydrographic characteristics of the coastal aquifer (e.g., vertical position, stratification, salinity) relative to the blue hole benthos exert a fundamental control on (a) benthic flora and meiofauna (e.g., charophytes, ostracodes, foraminifera, gastropods) and (b) organic matter production and preservation from pelagic productivity. Over the last 5000 years, water column stratification in Freshwater River Blue Hole was interrupted on millennial to sub-decadal timescales , which are potentially linked to changing aquifer recharge and rainfall. Lastly, historical intense hurricanes passing closely to the west of the site may have promoted deposition of coarse beds at the site. However, the lack of carbonate tidal flat microfaunal remains (foraminifera: Peneroplis) within these coarse intervals indicates that Freshwater River Blue Hole does not preserve a reliable record of hurricane-induced overwash deposition from the carbonate tidal flats during the last 2300 years.},
	keywords = {Carbonate tidal flats, carbonates, North Atlantic Bahamas, sinkhole},
	issn = {00253227},
	doi = {10.1016/j.margeo.2019.106051},
	url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0025322719301811},
	author = {van Hengstum, Peter J. and Winkler, Tyler S. and Tamalavage, Anne E. and Sullivan, Richard M. and Little, Shawna N. and MacDonald, Dana and Donnelly, Jeffrey P. and Albury, Nancy A.}
}
@article {2753,
	title = {Drought in the northern Bahamas from 3300 to 2500 years ago},
	journal = {Quaternary Science Reviews},
	volume = {186},
	year = {2018},
	month = {Jan-04-2018},
	pages = {169 - 185},
	abstract = {Intensification and western displacement of the North Atlantic Subtropical High (NASH) is projected for this century, which can decrease Caribbean and southeastern American rainfall on seasonal and annual timescales. However, additional hydroclimate records are needed from the northern Caribbean to understand the long-term behavior of the NASH, and better forecast its future behavior. Here we present a multi-proxy sinkhole lake reconstruction from a carbonate island that is proximal to the NASH (Abaco Island, The Bahamas). The reconstruction indicates the northern Bahamas experienced a drought from \~{}3300 to \~{}2500 Cal yrs BP, which coincides with evidence from other hydroclimate and oceanographic records (e.g., Africa, Caribbean, and South America) for a synchronous southern displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and North Atlantic Hadley Cell. The specific cause of the hydroclimate change in the northeastern Caribbean region from \~{}3300 to 2500 Cal yrs BP was probably coeval southern or western displacement of the NASH, which would have increased northeastern Caribbean exposure to subsiding air from higher altitudes.},
	issn = {02773791},
	doi = {10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.02.014},
	url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379117306273},
	author = {van Hengstum, Peter J. and Maale, Gerhard and Donnelly, Jeffrey P. and Albury, Nancy A. and Onac, Bogdan P. and Sullivan, Richard M. and Winkler, Tyler S. and Tamalavage, Anne E. and MacDonald, Dana}
}
@article {2754,
	title = {Organic matter sources and lateral sedimentation in a Bahamian karst basin (sinkhole) over the late Holocene: Influence of local vegetation and climate},
	journal = {Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology},
	volume = {506},
	year = {2018},
	month = {Jan-10-2018},
	pages = {70 - 83},
	abstract = {Karst basins (e.g., blueholes, sinkholes) accumulate well-preserved sedimentary successions that provide transformative paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental information. However, the sedimentary processes within these basins are not yet fully understood. Here we present stable carbon isotopic values (δ13Corg) and C:N ratios of bulk organic matter in well-dated sediment cores from Blackwood Sinkhole (Abaco, The Bahamas) to investigate the changing flux of organic matter into the sinkhole during the late Holocene. The provenance of preserved organic matter changed through the late Holocene between three primary sources, as determined by three-endmember mixing modeling: wetland organic matter from the adjacent epikarst surface, authigenic primary productivity in the oligohaline meteoric lens, and terrestrial organic matter from the surrounding landscape. Expansion of wetlands on the adjacent epikarst surface played a critical role by increasing the flux of wetland organic matter to the sinkhole, especially during the last 1000 years. Hurricanes and regional rainfall may have mediated organic matter delivery to the benthos, either through hampering wetland development (prior to 1000 cal yr BP) or by changing dissolved nutrient concentrations available in the basin for primary producers. These results demonstrate that organic matter provenance in karst basins is not constant through time, and is significantly dependent upon both landscape vegetation on the epikarst surface and changing hydrographic conditions that impacts nutrient availability to primary producers.},
	keywords = {Caribbean, Karst, Mixing model, Stable isotopes, Subtropical landscape},
	issn = {00310182},
	doi = {10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.06.014},
	url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018218300683},
	author = {Tamalavage, Anne E. and van Hengstum, Peter J. and Louchouarn, Patrick and Molodtsov, Sergey and Kaiser, Karl and Donnelly, Jeffrey P. and Albury, Nancy A. and Fall, Patricia L.}
}
@article {2491,
	title = {The intertropical convergence zone modulates intense hurricane strikes on the western North Atlantic margin},
	journal = {Scientific Reports},
	volume = {6},
	year = {2016},
	month = {Jan-04-2016},
	abstract = {Most Atlantic hurricanes form in the Main Development Region between 9{\textdegree}N to 20{\textdegree}N along the northern edge of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Previous research has suggested that meridional shifts in the ITCZ position on geologic timescales can modulate hurricane activity, but continuous and long-term storm records are needed from multiple sites to assess this hypothesis. Here we present a 3000 year record of intense hurricane strikes in the northern Bahamas (Abaco Island) based on overwash deposits in a coastal sinkhole, which indicates that the ITCZ has likely helped modulate intense hurricane strikes on the western North Atlantic margin on millennial to centennial-scales. The new reconstruction closely matches a previous reconstruction from Puerto Rico, and documents a period of elevated intense hurricane activity on the western North Atlantic margin from 2500 to 1000 years ago when paleo precipitation proxies suggest that the ITCZ occupied a more northern position. Considering that anthropogenic warming is predicted to be focused in the northern hemisphere in the coming century, these results provide a prehistoric analog that an attendant northern ITCZ shift in the future may again return the western North Atlantic margin to an active hurricane interval.},
	keywords = {Climate-change impacts, Forest ecology, Ocean sciences, Palaeoclimate},
	doi = {10.1038/srep21728},
	url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/srep21728http://www.nature.com/articles/srep21728.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/srep21728.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/srep21728},
	author = {van Hengstum, Peter J. and Donnelly, Jeffrey P. and Fall, Patricia L. and Toomey, Michael R. and Albury, Nancy A. and Kakuk, Brian}
}
@article {2499,
	title = {Late Holocene sedimentation and hydrologic development in a shallow coastal sinkhole on Great Abaco Island, The Bahamas},
	journal = {Quaternary International},
	volume = {317},
	year = {2013},
	month = {Jan-12-2013},
	pages = {118 - 132},
	abstract = {It remains poorly understood how sea level drives environmental change and hydrographic development in coastal karst basins (underwater caves, sinkholes, blueholes, etc.) over millennial timescales. It was previously hypothesized that coastal karst basins (CKBs) transition from vadose, to littoral, then anchialine, and finally submarine environments as sea-level rise inundates coastal karst landscapes, but the initial flooding event of CKBs remains challenging to sample. Runway Sinkhole hosts a modern anchialine ecosystem located \~{}225 m from Great Abaco Island coastline in The Bahamas, and its shallow water depth (\~{}1.8 mbsl) permits an investigation into the early environmental evolution and hydrographic development in a CKBs after inundation by sea-level rise. Four sediment cores were collected from Runway Sinkhole, and late Holocene environmental change was reconstructed with benthic foraminiferal paleoecology, organic matter geochemistry (OM\%, δ13Corg, and C:N), X-radiography, and radiocarbon dating. Despite some uncertainties associated with the chronology, it appears that Holocene sea-level rise initially flooded Runway Sinkhole and created a littoral environment at least by \~{}3.9 ka, whereafter a detrital peat deposit accumulated in the sinkhole. This detrital peat had a high organic matter content (mean 88\%), a δ13Corg value indicative of organic matter derived from C3 plants including mangroves (-28{\textperthousand}), and an unknown calcareous microfossil suggestive of a non-marine habitat in the sinkhole. A shift to carbonate sand deposition, organic matter with more marine-influenced δ13Corg values (-23{\textperthousand}), and expansion of euryhaline (Bolivina striatula, Elphidium poeyanum, and Triloculina bermudezi) and anchialine (Physalidia simplex and Conicospirillina exleyi) benthic foraminifera at \~{}1.2 ka marks the onset of modern anchialine environmental conditions at the sediment{\textendash}water interface (\~{}1.8 mbsl). These results suggest that relative sea-level rise in the Bahamas forced environmental change in Runway sinkhole at \~{}1.2 ka, and indicate that peat deposits in coastal sinkholes must be verified as in-situ before being utilized as sea-level indicators.},
	issn = {10406182},
	doi = {10.1016/j.quaint.2013.09.032},
	url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618213007507http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S1040618213007507?httpAccept=text/xmlhttp://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S1040618213007507?httpAccept=text/plain},
	author = {Kovacs, Shawn E. and van Hengstum, Peter J. and Reinhardt, Eduard G. and Donnelly, Jeffrey P. and Albury, Nancy A.}
}
