Halley
Robert B.
Halley
Robert B.
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ArticleLow reservoir ages for the surface ocean from mid-Holocene Florida corals(American Geophysical Union, 2008-05-13) Druffel, Ellen R. M. ; Robinson, Laura F. ; Griffin, Sheila ; Halley, Robert B. ; Southon, John R. ; Adkins, Jess F.The 14C reservoir age of the surface ocean was determined for two Holocene periods (4908–4955 and 3008–3066 calendar (cal) B.P.) using U/Th-dated corals from Biscayne National Park, Florida, United States. We found that the average reservoir ages for these two time periods (294 ± 33 and 291 ± 27 years, respectively) were lower than the average value between A.D. 1600 and 1900 (390 ± 60 years) from corals. It appears that the surface ocean was closer to isotopic equilibrium with CO2 in the atmosphere during these two time periods than it was during recent times. Seasonal δ 18O measurements from the younger coral are similar to modern values, suggesting that mixing with open ocean waters was indeed occurring during this coral's lifetime. Likely explanations for the lower reservoir age include increased stratification of the surface ocean or increased Δ14C values of subsurface waters that mix into the surface. Our results imply that a more correct reservoir age correction for radiocarbon measurements of marine samples in this location from the time periods ∼3040 and ∼4930 cal years B.P. is ∼292 ± 30 years, less than the canonical value of 404 ± 20 years.
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ArticleEffects of 2010 Hurricane Earl amidst geologic evidence for greater overwash at Anegada, British Virgin Islands(Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2017-03-07) Atwater, Brian F. ; Fuentes, Zamara ; Halley, Robert B. ; ten Brink, Uri S. ; Tuttle, Maritia P.A post-hurricane survey of a Caribbean island affords comparisons with geologic evidence for greater overwash at the same place. This comparison, though of limited application to other places, helps calibrate coastal geology for assessment of earthquake and tsunami potential along the Antilles Subduction Zone. The surveyed island, Anegada, is 120 km south of the Puerto Rico Trench and is near the paths of hurricanes Donna (1960) and Earl (2010), which were at or near category 4 when at closest approach. The survey focused on Earl's geologic effects, related them to the surge from Hurricane Donna, and compared them further with erosional and depositional signs of southward overwash from the Atlantic Ocean that dates to 1200–1450 AD and to 1650–1800 AD. The main finding is that the geologic effects of these earlier events dwarf those of the recent hurricanes. Hurricane Earl's geologic effects at Anegada, observed mainly in 2011, were limited to wrack deposition along many of the island's shores and salt ponds, accretion of small washover (spillover) fans on the south shore, and the suspension and deposition of microbial material from interior salt ponds. Earl's most widespread deposit at Anegada, the microbial detritus, was abundantly juxtaposed with evidence for catastrophic overwash in prior centuries. The microbial detritus formed an extensive coating up to 2 cm thick that extended into breaches in beach-ridge plains of the island's north shore, onto playas that are underlain by a sand-and-shell sheet that extends as much as 1.5 km southward from the north shore, and among southward-strewn limestone boulders pendant to outcrops as much as 1 km inland. Earl's spillover fans also contrast with a sand-and-shell sheet, which was dated previously to 1650–1800, by being limited to the island's south shore and by extending inland a few tens of meters at most. These findings complement those reported in this issue by Michaela Spiske and Robert Halley (Spiske and Halley, 2014), who studied a coral-rubble ridge that lines part of Anegada's north shore. Spiske and Halley attribute the ridge to storms that were larger than Earl. But they contrast the ridge with coral boulders that were scattered hundreds of meters inland by overwash in 1200–1450.