Measurements of the Generation and Distribution of Carbonate Sediments of Buck Island Channel, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Résumé du livre

Sediments of the Buck Island platform northeast of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, are mostly fine-grained carbonate sands composed of Halimeda, molluscs, foraminifera, and coral, ratios of which are apparently related to current and depth dynamics. Sorting is controlled by organism ecology and water depth, modified by grass-bed entrapment. This paper adds to the knowledge of sedimentation on the St. Croix northeastern coast and complements earlier lagoon sediment descriptions. Chance occurrence of severe rainstorms during a period when student research teams were present at the West Indies Laboratory of Fairleigh Dickinson University made it possible to track fresh runoff water into and out of a large lagoon facing Buck Island Channel. Fresh waters did not mix immediately with salt water. The effects of the rainfall could be tracked for 56 hours after cessation.