Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Mylroie, John E.

Committee Member

Rodgers, John C.

Committee Member

Cooke III, William H.

Date of Degree

5-17-2014

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Geology

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

Sinkhole collapse is a common karst land-use risk around the world. In the Bahamas cover-collapse sinkholes do not exist because soil cover is thin; almost all collapse is due to cave ceiling failure. The most common cave types in the Bahamas are flank margin caves and banana holes. Flank margin caves have three entrance types: dissolution pit, side breach, or ceiling collapse. Both side breach and ceiling collapse are the result of mass erosional forces; pits by focused dissolution. It was previously proposed that slope was a controlling factor in Bahamian cave collapse. This study demonstrated that 7.5 minute topographic maps cannot resolve slopes accurately enough to predict potential collapse locations. Field surveys with 1 m contours allowed for a more concise slope range in which each entrance type preferentially occurred; collapse breaches and pits were common on gentle slopes and side breaches on steep slopes.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17966

Comments

Flank Margin||flank||margin||caves||karst||cave collapse||collapse||land development

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