The standard academic story for Carolina Bays is aeolian action — winds swirling shallow ponds into ellipses, often tied to the Aleutian Low. Chris Cottrell argues that requires every bay to have held standing water long enough to reshape, with no transition phases. He compares them to thermokarst lakes near the Arctic Ocean in Alaska, but notes lidar of those lacks the raised rims bays have. On lidar, bays are only 1-2 m deep with flat floors and rims of about 2 m — so highways and houses cross them unnoticed. 🛰️
Researchers' wind-and-pond model for Carolina Bays challenged using USGS lidar data
Key facts
- The dominant academic explanation for the bays is aeolian action, with prevailing winds attributed to the Aleutian Low swirling shallow ponds into elliptical basins
- Chris Cottrell argues this requires assuming every bay held standing water long enough to be reshaped, with no transition phases
- Cottrell compares the bays to thermokarst (thermocirclet) lakes near the Arctic Ocean in Alaska, where seasonal thaw of permafrost and ocean winds form elongated, oriented basins
- Cottrell argues the coastal plain of the Carolinas never had permafrost, with the possible exception of the Appalachian highlands and even southern Virginia being questionable
- He notes lidar imagery of such thermokarst basins lacks the raised rims characteristic of Carolina Bays
- Lidar for the whole continental US is compiled by Michael Davis and offered free at cyranos.org with an 'Ovoid Basin Survey', using a colour palette that repeats every 10 metres plus hillshading
- On lidar the bays are only about 1-2 metres deep with extremely flat floors and rims of roughly 2 metres, so residential development and highways cross them unnoticed
Sources
Interpreting the Geomorphology of Carolina Bays as ...papers.ssrn.com
by CW Cottrell · Cited by 5 — Cottrell, Christopher William and Zamora, Antonio, Interpreting the Geomorphology of Carolina Bays as Secondary Impact Structures. Available ...
(PDF) Interpreting the Geomorphology of Carolina Bays as ...researchgate.net
NC 4.0 Authors: Christopher Cottrell at Camden County Schools. This study examines the Carolina Bays and Nebraska Rainwater Basins, using high- ...
17 What Geologists Won't Say About the Carolina Baysmusic.youtube.com
What if thousands of mysterious oval-shaped craters across the U.S. weren't formed by wind and water — but by a massive cosmic impact?
Interpreting the Geomorphology of Carolina Bays as ...journals.bilpubgroup.com
Interpreting the Geomorphology of Carolina Bays as Secondary Impact Structures. Authors. Christopher Cottrell. Department of Secondary Science ...
Christopher COTTRELL | Geoscience Educator | Master of ...researchgate.net
My main area of research is into alternative hypotheses for the formation of the Carolina Bays and other elliptical depressions found around North America.
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