Abstract
A geophysical survey of the outer Missisippi-Alabama continental shelf revealed three types of topographic features: 1) reef-like mounds (RLM), 2) isobath-parallel ridges, and 3) shallow depressions. RLM appear to be bioherms. Their bases cluster in two isobath bands, 105 to 120 m and 74 to 82 m, implying the late Pleistocene-Holocene transgression was nonuniform. The deeper RLM probably formed during a slow sea level rise at the beginning of the deglaciation. An 11 ka BP C14 age was obtained from the summit of one, at a depth of 90 m. Depth relationships suggest the shallower RLM and most ridges formed about the time of the mid-deglacial Younger Dryas cooling episode.
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Sager, W.W., Schroeder, W.W., Laswell, J.S. et al. Mississippi-Alabama outer continental shelf topographic features formed during the late Pleistocene-Holocene transgression. Geo-Marine Letters 12, 41–48 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02092107
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02092107