Infilling and flooding of the Mekong River incised valley during deglacial sea-level rise

2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1432-1444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rik Tjallingii ◽  
Karl Stattegger ◽  
Andreas Wetzel ◽  
Phung Van Phach
PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. e0229464 ◽  
Author(s):  
SongYi Paik ◽  
Dung Thi Phuong Le ◽  
Lien Thi Nhu ◽  
Bradford Franklin Mills

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soledad García-Gil ◽  
Víctor Cartelle ◽  
Castor Muñoz-Sobrino ◽  
Natalia Martínez-Carreño ◽  
Iria García-Moreiras

<p>Understanding coastal responses to relative sea level rise is key to be able to plan for future changes and develop a suitable managing strategy. The sedimentary record of the Late-Pleistocene and Holocene transgression provides a natural laboratory to study the long-term changes induced in coastal landscapes by the rapid sea level rise. As sea level rises, coastal morphology continually adapts towards equilibrium changing the landscape and reshaping the distribution of sedimentary environments.<br>The Ría de Ferrol is a confined tide-dominated incised valley located in the mesotidal passive Atlantic margin of western Galicia (NW Spain).  A multidisciplinary approach was used to identify the elements of sedimentary architecture within its sedimentary record since the Last Glacial Maximum. The sedimentary evolution was reconstructed combining seismic and sedimentary facies analysis with radiocarbon, geochemical and pollen data.<br>The Ría de Ferrol is characterised by a particular morphology with a rock-incised narrow channel in the middle of the basin (the Ferrol Strait) connecting an inner shallower sector with an outer deeper sector. The inner sector is characterised by low energetic conditions and is where the main fluvial inputs occur. The outer sector is connected to the shelf.<br>The main factor influencing the sedimentary evolution of the Ría de Ferrol incised valley was Late Pleistocene and Holocene sea-level rise. However, this evolution was modulated by the antecedent morphology, particularly once the middle strait became flooded during the Holocene transgression. Three main phases of evolution are distinguished: a fluvial valley drained by a braided river system, a tide-dominated estuary and a shallow marine basin (ria).<br>During the lowstand of the Last Glacial Maximum (ca 20 kyr BP), the ria was a fluvial valley whose sediments are mainly preserved in the inner sector. Sediments cores recovered sediments from ponds and stagnant areas, dated to be older than 10790-11170 cal yr BP.<br>During the Holocene, the basin turned into a tide-dominated estuary whose facies distribution was conditioned by the strait. The strait acted as a rock-bounded tidal inlet enhancing tidal erosion and deposition at both ends, where an ebb-tidal delta and tidal sandbanks appear. At this time, extensive tidal flats occupied most of the inner sector, dissected by estuarine channels of varied dimensions. Radiocarbon data showed ages from 8610-8910 to 5760-5940 cal yr BP.<br>An erosive episode is identified after 6 cal kyr BP with the formation of a ravinement surface. Wave and tidal energy were split by the middle strait. A wave ravinement surface is identified in the outer sector, while a coetaneous tidal ravinement surface occurs in the inner sector.<br>Slow sea-level rise after ca 4 ka BP finally forced rivers to retreat to the present position, causing the dispersion of their energy and leading to the final evolution of the area into a fully marine system.</p>


2003 ◽  
Vol 174 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Gensous ◽  
Michel Tesson

Abstract Postglacial deposits of the Rhône shelf have been studied from high-resolution seismic data and Kullenberg piston cores. They are organised into a set of transgressive units or parasequences backstepping from the outer shelf to the subaerial deltaic plain. On the deltaic plain, they are overlain by the prograding deltaic parasequences deposited at the end of the Holocene sea level rise. At regional scale, given the short time span covered by the late Quaternary deposits, tectonic subsidence has played a minor role and sediment deposition on the Rhône shelf was chiefly controlled by glacio-eustatic sea level changes (120 m between the maximum lowstand and present highstand). Progradational phases correspond to periods of reduced rate of eustatic sea level rise while the flooding surfaces bounding the regressive units form during periods of increasing rate of sea level rise and landward shoreline migration. At local scale, location, geometry, nature of deposits, and lateral variations of the stratigraphic pattern are controlled by the interaction between eustasy and local factors as sediment supply, antecedent morphology and ocean dynamics. Seaward of the Rhône river, terrigenous input was important during deglaciation and transgressive deposits extend continuously from the outer shelf to the inner shelf along the retreating path of the paleo-Rhône river mouth. Laterally, on either side of the Rhône incised valley, because of the reduced sediment supply, parasequences only develop on the outer shelf and inner shelf : the combination of the very low inherited gradient of the mid/outer shelf and a very high rate of sea level rise favoured a very rapid migration of the shoreline from outer to inner shelf. Ocean dynamics has been controlled, as in present time, by the E to SE prevailing waves that are the only ones which can develop on an extended fetch. The westward alongshore drift accounted for the development of parasequences west of the incised valley. The sandy material needed for the construction of the outershelf parasequence was supplied by wave-reworking and westward long-shore drift of deposits from the Rhône delta front and the uppermost forced regressive unit. The decreasing sand content of parasequences from outer shelf to inner shelf results from flattening of the equilibrium river profile that led to a decrease in competence and a change in the character of the sediment caliber (relative increase of suspension load). The underlying Pleistocene depositional sequences comprise both lowstand prograding units, that characterize most of the Mediterranean shelves, and intercalated units which are analogs of the postglacial transgressive deposits here presented.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Burstein ◽  
John Goff ◽  
Sean Gulick ◽  
Christopher Lowery ◽  
Patricia Standring ◽  
...  

Understanding how barrier islands respond to factors such as variations in sediment supply, relative sea-level rise, and accommodation is valuable for preparing coastal communities for future impacts of climate change. Increasingly, the underlying antecedent topography has been observed to have a significant control on the evolution of the barrier island system by providing increased elevation, decreased accommodation, and sediment supply for the barrier to rework and anchor upon. However, less attention has been focused on how back barrier sediments respond to this decreased accommodation, and how this may affect barrier island evolution. Additionally, the control in which the geometry of the underlying valley itself has on the initiation of barrier islands is poorly understood. Here we examine the stratigraphic framework of the Trinity River incised valley, offshore Galveston, Texas in order to investigate the role of antecedent topography in the evolution of an ancient barrier island system. We present high-resolution imaging of the Trinity incised valley fill using over 1200 km2 of 3D seismic, <700 km of 2D envelope and full waveform chirp data, along with 2 piston cores, 4 gravity cores, 1 platform boring, with associated grain size, foraminiferal, and radiocarbon data. We find that the geometry and elevation of the underlying antecedent topography plays a central role in the evolution of the barrier island system, promoting both initiation and stabilization. This study provides a methodology to investigate the evolution of a relict barrier island system where little to none of the barrier is preserved. With this methodology, we revise the established Holocene paleoshoreline model for the Trinity incised valley.


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