Hanert, EmmanuelDeleersnijder, EricDobbelaere, ThomasThomasDobbelaere2025-05-142025-05-142025-05-142018https://hdl.handle.net/2078.2/6195The Great Bahama Bank, as a flat-topped, isolated carbonate platform, is at the origin of much understanding about processes of carbonate sedimentation and geological models. Yet, one of the main questions remains the origin of most of carbonate muds on the platform. Most of it (50-75%) is expected to originate from inorganic and/or bio-induced drifting patches of fined-grained aragonite: the so-called whitings. Although many models have been devised to try to explain their formation mechanism, whitings have remained a sedimentological enigma for the last 80 years. In this study, we simulated hydrodynamics on the Great Bahama Bank using a high resolution 2D model (SLIM) over a full year with and without wetting-drying methods. We then analyzed the results of these simulations to try to explain whitings seasonal pattern through two main axes. Firstly, we studied bottom-sediment resuspension through monthly means and standard deviations of the current velocity norm on the shelf break. Secondly, water exchanges between off-platform and platform-top waters have been investigated by the mean of Lagrangian particle tracking, computation of monthly mean volume flow rates through the platform margin as well as calculation of the age of waters on the bank. We show that whitings occurrence area corresponds to a zone with relatively larger mean and standard deviation of current velocity norm. Therefore, bottom-sediments are likely to be resuspended in the water column and then serve as nucleation points for aragonite precipitation. Regarding water exchanges, although no explanation of enhanced whitings frequency during winter months is found, a new setup is proposed to increase physical accuracy of our model as well as a new approach to get more relevant information from volume flow rates calculation.Computational engineeringModelingOceanographyGeologytext::thesis::master thesisthesis:14835