A. CONRAD NEUMANN AND RESULTS OF THE PO' BOY DRILLING PROJECT, 1990-1994

Conrad Neumann's Bahamian research program in the early 1990's saw the emergence of digital technologies with the development of the GPS constellation for improved navigation on Great Bahama Bank, the transition from analog to digital geophysical profiling capabilities, and evolution of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a means to visualize research results. During this episode of Conrad's career (the Po' Boy Drilling Project), initial attempts to map the Holocene/Pleistocene (H/P) unconformity across northern Great Bahama Bank were undertaken in order to demonstrate potential differential flooding of the bank-top by post-glacial sea-level rise. A digital terrain map of the H/P unconformity was derived from interpreted analog and digitized seismic reflection profiles, ingested into GIS and synchronized with Neumann's renowned Bermuda sea-level curve to create a computer animation showing the pace and magnitude of post-glacial inundation of the northern Great Bahama Bank top. In addition to this effort, Conrad's research group was among the earliest to attempt resurveys of seismic profiles using GPS navigation techniques. In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew (1992), Neumann and his associates resurveyed a number of seismic profiles on northern Great Bahama Bank in an effort to document potential changes in sediment geometry induced by the hurricane as it passed over the shallow bank-top. Using recognizable geomorphic features on the H/P unconformity and their location relative to the overlying Holocene sediment sheet, it was determined that little if any large-scale sediment redistribution occurred as a result of the storm's passage over the bank-top. Subsequent studies by others (notably Gene Rankey at the U. of Miami) have found similar results elsewhere in the Bahamas. Finally, the Po' Boy Drilling Project obtained a number of rock cores from selected locations across the northern bank top to assess the age of remnant eolianites at Hens & Chickens Rocks and the Gingerbread Grounds.