Temporal and Spatial Variability of Ooid Sand Shoals: Comparison of Mississippian of Kentucky and Quaternary of Bahamas

M. R. Boardman

An examination of the lithology and topography of Andros Island, Bahamas, reveals it is a Pleistocene ooid sand shoal. A comparison with Joulters Cays (a modern ooid sand shoal directly to the north) shows that much of the original depositional topography is preserved through at least one cycle of sea level highstand and lowstand. Both the Pleistocene and the Holocene ooid sand bodies are a few kilometers to tens of kilometers wide. The total vertical relief of a single episode of Quaternary ooid sand deposition is more than 10 m and includes accumulation in tidal channels, shallow flat areas, and eolian dunes. Today, much of Andros Island is within 2 m of present sea level and is the site of a belt several kilometers wide consisting of muddy tidal flat sediments overlyin an exposure surface. The site of ooid sand deposition and shoal complex formation is not continuous along shorelines, especially windward margins, but shifts abruptly along the margins of platforms as a result of minor fluctuations of sea level. Thus, it should be expected that ooid sand shoals (ancient and modern) should be in direct lateral and vertical contact with lagoons, tidal flats, and reefs.

The Mississippian Slade Formation contains many of the features of Quaternary ooid sand accumulation: abrupt vertical and lateral gradations between oolitic grainstones, packstones, and lime mudstones, vertical relief of individual oolitic sedimentary packages up to 30 m (perhaps with eolian dunes) and numerous exposure surfaces of varying intensities. These characteristics suggest that this formation represents a time of rapid fluctuations of relative sea level and abrupt shifts in the sites of ooid sand shoal complexes. The time necessary to create individual sand units with up to 10 m of vertical relief is as short as 5,000 years.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91023©1989 AAPG Eastern Section, Sept. 10-13, 1989, Bloomington, Indiana.