Holocene deltaic sequence in the Saloum estuary, Senegal

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josiane Ausseil-Badie ◽  
J.Paul Barusseau ◽  
Cyr Descamps ◽  
E. H. Salif Diop ◽  
Pierre Giresse ◽  
...  

AbstractThe 2250 km2 Saloum delta, south of Dakar, Senegal, consists of a Holocene sedimentary sequence deposited during five evolutionary stages: submerged postglacial ria, funnel-like estuary, barred estuary, cuspate delta, and reverse estuary. The passage from one stage to another was marked by the deposition of sedimentary units consisting of shelly sands, silty or sandy clays, and an extensive thick green mud. Muds in the lower strata, dating between 6130 and 3500 yr B.P., were deposited on a subtidal mudflat, while fine sands and silty clays characterize intertidal deposits. A drastic change in sedimentation patterns, resulting in the accumulation of a series of beach barriers, likely was associated with a major climatic change. The regional climate was then very dry, and silt and sand were trapped in the water behind the barriers in two stages, from 1990 to 1510 and 1020 to 600 yr B.P. Each event was accompanied by construction of shell middens that demonstrate the presence of humans who exploited newly available shallows and banks. Relative sea level did not change significantly between 6000 yr B.P. and the present. Morphological and sedimentological changes observed in the late Holocene sequences were apparently induced by a constraining climatic background.

2006 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Roland Gehrels ◽  
Katie Szkornik ◽  
Jesper Bartholdy ◽  
Jason R. Kirby ◽  
Sarah L. Bradley ◽  
...  

AbstractCores and exposed cliff sections in salt marshes around Ho Bugt, a tidal embayment in the northernmost part of the Danish Wadden Sea, were subjected to 14C dating and litho- and biostratigraphical analyses to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes and to establish a late Holocene relative sea-level history. Four stages in the late Holocene development of Ho Bugt can be identified: (1) groundwater-table rise and growth of basal peat (from at least 2300 BC to AD 0); (2) salt-marsh formation (0 to AD 250); (3) a freshening phase (AD 250 to AD 1600?), culminating in the drying out of the marshes and producing a distinct black horizon followed by an aeolian phase with sand deposition; and (4) renewed salt-marsh deposition (AD 1600? to present). From 16 calibrated AMS radiocarbon ages on fossil plant fragments and 4 calibrated conventional radiocarbon ages on peat, we reconstructed a local relative sea-level history that shows a steady sea-level rise of 4 m since 4000 cal yr BP. Contrary to suggestions made in the literature, the relative sea-level record of Ho Bugt does not contain a late Holocene highstand. Relative sea-level changes at Ho Bugt are controlled by glacio-isostatic subsidence and can be duplicated by a glacial isostatic adjustment model in which no water is added to the world's oceans after ca. 5000 cal yr BP.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam C. Jones ◽  
G. Lynn Wingard ◽  
Bethany Stackhouse ◽  
Katherine Keller ◽  
Debra Willard ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Schomacker ◽  
Wesley R. Farnsworth ◽  
Ólafur Ingólfsson ◽  
Lis Allaart ◽  
Lena Håkansson ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Shubhra Sharma ◽  
Gaurav Chauhan ◽  
Anil Dutt Shukla ◽  
Romi Nambiar ◽  
Ravi Bhushan ◽  
...  

Abstract The relict intertidal deposits from the Kharod River Estuary, Gulf of Kachchh, and the distal end of Kori Creek are used to infer the Mid- to Late Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) change in western India. Employing sedimentology, geochemistry, palynology, ichnology, and optical and radiocarbon dating, the study suggests the dominance of fluvial activity between 16.5 ± 1.6 and 9.9 ± 0.7 ka. After ~7 ka (7.3 ± 0.4, 6.8 ± 0.5 ka), the sea level showed a positive tendency until 4.7 ± 0.2 ka. The tectonically corrected Mid-Holocene RSL change is estimated as 1.45 ± 0.33 m between ~7 and ~5 ka. The study suggests that the Mid-Holocene RSL high was due to the meltwater contribution from the Himalayan cryosphere, with subordinate contribution from glacio-isostatic adjustment and crustal subsidence. The Late Holocene tectonically corrected RSL change at ~1 ka (1.1 ± 0.1 ka and 1045 ± 175 cal yr BP) is estimated as 0.53 ± 0.43 m. This is ascribed to monsoon wind-driven tidal ingression that might have affected the tidal amplitude positively. The study suggests that the Mid-Holocene RSL change did not play a deterministic role in the abandonment of the Harappan coastal settlements.


1990 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Donoghue

AbstractTrends are discernible in the estimates of late Holocene rates of sedimentation and sea-level rise for the Chesapeake Bay. During most of the Holocene Epoch sedimentation rates and relative sea-level rise were equal, within the limits of measurement, at approximately 1 mm yr−1. Sedimentation rates measured over the past century, however, are nearly an order of magnitude higher, while the rate of relative sea-level rise for the Chesapeake Bay now averages 3.3 mm yr−1, as measured on long-term tide gauge records. When the acceleration in these rates occurred is uncertain, but it appears to have been confined to the past millennium, and probably to the past few centuries. The rapid sedimentation rates recorded during historic time may be a temporary disequilibrium that has resulted from a recent acceleration in the rate of relative sea-level rise.


2014 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen M. Simon ◽  
Thomas S. James ◽  
Donald L. Forbes ◽  
Alice M. Telka ◽  
Arthur S. Dyke ◽  
...  

AbstractThirty-six new and previously published radiocarbon dates constrain the relative sea-level history of Arviat on the west coast of Hudson Bay. As a result of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) following deglaciation, sea level fell rapidly from a high-stand of nearly 170 m elevation just after 8000 cal yr BP to 60 m elevation by the mid Holocene (~ 5200 cal yr BP). The rate of sea-level fall decreased in the mid and late Holocene, with sea level falling 30 m since 3000 cal yr BP. Several late Holocene sea-level measurements are interpreted to originate from the upper end of the tidal range and place tight constraints on sea level. A preliminary measurement of present-day vertical land motion obtained by repeat Global Positioning System (GPS) occupations indicates ongoing crustal uplift at Arviat of 9.3 ± 1.5 mm/yr, in close agreement with the crustal uplift rate inferred from the inferred sea-level curve. Predictions of numerical GIA models indicate that the new sea-level curve is best fit by a Laurentide Ice Sheet reconstruction with a last glacial maximum peak thickness of ~ 3.4 km. This is a 30–35% thickness reduction of the ICE-5G ice-sheet history west of Hudson Bay.


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