Origin of a high latitude carbonate beach : Mt. Desert Island, Maine

Leonard, Jay; Cameron, Barry

'Modern carbonate sand, anomalous because of its cold temperate climatic setting, occurs on Sand Beach in Newport Cove in Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island, Maine. The carbonate concentration varies both temporally and specially with an average value of approximately 70%. The origin and recent accumulation of this beach and cove system's sediment is directly related to such factors as: (1) the lack of terrigenous clastic sediment influx into this area, (2) a large rocky intertidal zone which affords ample surfaces for a large population of attached skeletal invertebrates, (3) the summer burial by normal seasonal sand movements of juveniles living on 'winter-exposed' boulders, (4) the lack of longshore movement in a pocket beach system, and (5) the comminutation of shells by strong offshore wave components developed by severe winter storms. Sand Beach and other reported high-latitude calcareous beaches indicate that the distribution of 'cold-winter' carbonate sediments is more widespread than once thought, although they are not ubiquitous. If lithified and preserved in the stratigraphic record, a large proportion of these coastal calcareous sediments would be classified as impure limestones. Perhaps typical paleo-environmental, especially paleoclimatic, interpretations of such occurrences may be spurious, i.e., tropical to sub-tropical instead of temperate.' Field studies of the Sand Beach area were conducted monthly from January 1971 through February 1972. In addition to the routine monthly trips, four weeks of extensive intertidal sampling and nearshore subtidal SCUBA sampling were performed during the summer of 1971. /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /MOUNT DESERT ISLAND/Sand Beach

Origin of a high latitude carbonate beach : Mt. Desert Island, Maine

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