Marine terrace evolution of windward Barbados

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Speed ◽  
Hai Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Overland Flow ◽  
Breaking Waves ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
Wave Impact ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
The Face ◽  
Reefal Facies ◽  
Island Slope

ABSTRACT The geomorphic evolution of southeastern windward Barbados is embodied in the development of a terraced seaward island slope on a tectonically rising scarp. The island slope is wholly erosional and a product of marine and subaerial processes. Modulation of the slope by terraces has occurred fundamentally by marine erosion at eustatic stillstands but includes morphologic additions by limestone deposition. The ongoing phase of morphologic development and island emergence began at or before ca. 700 ka. Emergence has proceeded at an increasing rate northwestward along the island’s southeastern coastline. The terraced island slope is markedly affected by post-terrace denudation. As many as eight marine terraces are preserved on the windward island slope below the planed surface of the Central Highlands, which is counted as terrace 1. Relics of an upper set of terraces are perched on the face of Second High Cliff, the ancient erosional margin of the oldest limestone capping Barbados. Second High Cliff developed by successive marine incisions over a probably long duration preceding oxygen isotope stage 9. A lower terrace set was excised in stages 9 through 5a in the siliciclastic island foundation or (and) in limestone cover of preceding terraces. Marine terrace floors extend seaward from an erosional backcliff and shoreline angle to a younger erosional cutoff. The most broadly preserved terrace floors indicate the following systematic succession of seaward profile elements: narrow upper ramp; broad upper flat; lower ramp; and on one, a lower flat. Carbonate cover is chiefly clastic on the upper ramp and flat, and chiefly reefal on the lower ramp. Most shoal-water reefal facies appear to be in fringe reef blankets. Terrace profile geometries are explained by a simple theory of wave abrasion in proportion to duration of sea level at a shoreline. At stillstands, the wave impact caused large shoreline recession and development of flats, whereas in transgression and regression, rapid sea-level change permitted only minor recession. Corresponding differences in cover facies are explained as functions of duration of breaking waves and seabed stability. Widespread post-terrace denudation is attributed to floods of upland provenance, local overland flow, and marine flooding. Riverine processes have produced channelization and a high degree of terrace preservation on the interfluves in the steeper, foundation-based northern windward region. This differs markedly from the more diffuse, shallow gullying and stripping of the limestone-covered shallow slopes of the southern region. An intensely stormy spell is suggested between stages 5e and 5c.

Formation and preservation of marine terraces during multiple sea level stands

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca C Malatesta ◽  
Noah J. Finnegan ◽  
Kimberly Huppert ◽  
Emily Carreño
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Basic Assumption ◽  
Cumulative Exposure ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
Uplift Rate ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Uplift Rates ◽  
Ca 50 ◽  
Wave Erosion ◽  
Mis 5E

<p>Marine terraces are a cornerstone for the study of paleo sea level and crustal deformation. Commonly, individual erosive marine terraces are attributed to unique sea level high-stands. This stems from early reasoning that marine platforms could only be significantly widened under moderate rates of sea level rise as at the beginning of an interglacial and preserved onshore by subsequent sea level fall. However, if marine terraces are only created during brief windows at the start of interglacials, this implies that terraces are unchanged over the vast majority of their evolution, despite an often complex submergence history during which waves are constantly acting on the coastline, regardless of the sea level stand.<span> </span></p><p>Here, we question the basic assumption that individual marine terraces are uniquely linked to distinct sea level high stands and highlight how a single marine terrace can be created By reoccupation of the same uplifting platform by successive sea level stands. We then identify the biases that such polygenetic terraces can introduce into relative sea level reconstructions and inferences of rock uplift rates from marine terrace chronostratigraphy.</p><p>Over time, a terrace’s cumulative exposure to wave erosion depends on the local rock uplift rate. Faster rock uplift rates lead to less frequent (fewer reoccupations) or even single episodes of wave erosion of an uplifting terrace and the generation and preservation of numerous terraces. Whereas slower rock uplift rates lead to repeated erosion of a smaller number of polygenetic terraces. The frequency and duration of terrace exposure to wave erosion at sea level depend strongly on rock uplift rate.</p><p>Certain rock uplift rates may therefore promote the generation and preservation of particular terraces (e.g. those eroded during recent interglacials). For example, under a rock uplift rate of ca. 1.2 mm/yr, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (ca. 120 ka) would resubmerge a terrace eroded ca. 50 kyr earlier for tens of kyr during MIS 6d–e stages (ca. 190–170 ka) and expose it to further wave erosion at sea level. This reoccupation could accordingly promote the formation of a particularly wide or well planed terrace associated with MIS 5e with a greater chance of being preserved and identified. This effect is potentially illustrated by a global compilation of rock uplift rates derived from MIS 5e terraces. It shows an unusual abundance of marine terraces documenting uplift rates between 0.8 and 1.2 mm/yr, supporting the hypothesis that these uplift rates promote exposure of the same terrace to wave erosion during multiple sea level stands.</p><p>Hence, the elevations and widths of terraces eroded during specific sea level stands vary widely from site-to-site and depend on local rock uplift rate. Terraces do not necessarily correspond to an elevation close to that of the latest sea level high-stand but may reflect the elevation of an older, longer-lived, occupation. This leads to potential misidentification of terraces if each terrace in a sequence is assumed to form uniquely at successive interglacial high stands and to reflect their elevations.</p>

scholarly journals Barra de Tabatinga and Touros Formations: evidence of pleistocene hich sea-level stillstands of the Rio Grande do Norte coast

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
KENITIRO SUGUIO ◽  
ALCINA MAGNÓLIA FRANCA BARRETO ◽  
FRANCISCO HILÁRIO REGO BEZERRA
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
Upper Pleistocene ◽  
Sedimentary Structures ◽  
Partial Dissolution ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Stratigraphic Nomenclature

The Barra de Tabatinga Formation corresponds to the previous informally named Barra de Tabatinga unit, after a homonymous beach name. These marine terrace deposits occur along the present shoreline in patches between Natal and Barra de Sagi (ca. 80km). The summit of those deposits is about 7.5m above m.s.l. at Natal. They are composed of very friable clayey sandstones and conglomerates, exhibiting more-or-less conspicuous hydrodynamic sedimentary structures. The Touros Formation, after a homonymous town name, corresponds to the previous Tertiary Guamaré Formation, found by Petrobras only in subsurface. These marine terrace deposits extend, frequently as steep sea-cliffs along the present shoreline, between São Bento and Zumbi (ca. 120 km). The summit of these deposits reaches to a maximum of 20m above m.s.l., 2km to the N of Zumbi. Deposits are made-up of medium to coarse-grained sanstones, frequently well-cemented due to partial dissolution of biodetrital components. Hydrodynamic sedimentary structures, and trace fossils of Ophiomorpha nodosa, are very conspicuous. Both marine terraces, recently dated by TL and/or OSL methods, indicated Upper Pleistocene ages, and overlie unconformably the Neogene Barreiras Formation. Finally, as they fulfill all the requirements of the Brazilian Stratigraphic Nomenclature Code, as demonstrated in this paper, two new formations are formally proposed here.  

Uranium-Series Ages of Marine Terrace Corals from the Pacific Coast of North America and Implications for Last-Interglacial Sea Level History

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Muhs ◽  
George L. Kennedy ◽  
Thomas K. Rockwell
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Baja California ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Baja California Sur ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
San Nicolas Island ◽  
Uranium Series ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
The Pacific

AbstractFew of the marine terraces along the Pacific coast of North America have been dated using uranium-series techniques. Ten terrace sequences from southern Oregon to southern Baja California Sur have yielded fossil corals in quantities suitable for U-series dating by alpha spectrometry. U-series-dated terraces representing the ∼80,000 yr sea-level high stand are identified in five areas (Bandon, Oregon; Point Arena, San Nicolas Island, and Point Loma, California; and Punta Banda, Baja California); terraces representing the ∼125,000 yr sea-level high stand are identified in eight areas (Cayucos, San Luis Obispo Bay, San Nicolas Island, San Clemente Island, and Point Loma, California; Punta Bands and Isla Guadalupe, Baja California; and Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur). On San Nicolas Island, Point Loma, and Punta Bands, both the ∼80,000 and the ∼125,000 yr terraces are dated. Terraces that may represent the ∼105,000 sea-level high stand are rarely preserved and none has yielded corals for U-series dating. Similarity of coral ages from midlatitude, erosional marine terraces with coral ages from emergent, constructional reefs on tropical coastlines suggests a common forcing mechanism, namely glacioeustatically controlled fluctuations in sea level superimposed on steady tectonic uplift. The low marine terrace dated at ∼125,000 yr on Isla Guadalupe, Baja California, presumed to be tectonically stable, supports evidence from other localities for a +6-m sea level at that time. Data from the Pacific Coast and a compilation of data from other coasts indicate that sea levels at ∼80,000 and ∼105,000 yr may have been closer to present sea level (within a few meters) than previous studies have suggested.

scholarly journals Upper-plate deformation of Late Pleistocene marine terraces in the Trinidad, California, coastal area, southern Cascadia subduction zone

Geosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 1323-1341 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Scott Padgett ◽  
Harvey M. Kelsey ◽  
David Lamphear
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Coastal Area ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Cascadia Subduction Zone ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
Plate Deformation ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Sea Cliff

Abstract Forming at sea level, uplifted shore platforms serve as long-term geodetic markers. The spatial distribution and elevation of marine terrace sequences offer insight into regional tectonics. In the Trinidad coastal area (California, USA), active tectonic processes reflect upper-plate deformation above the southern extent of the Cascadia subduction megathrust. A set of five uplifted and deformed Late Pleistocene marine terraces is preserved in the Trinidad region and provides an opportunity to analyze regional uplift, folding, and faulting. Using lidar imagery embedded within a GIS, we employ a surface classification model (SCM) that identifies uplifted marine terraces on the basis of their micro-topographical characteristics, i.e., low slope and low roughness. The SCM-based identification of marine terraces both supplements and verifies existing field mapping. We demonstrate the utility of the SCM, which can be applied to a variety of surface terrain analysis investigations that seek to identify smooth and/or rough terrain features, e.g., terraces and fault scarps. Age assignments for the five marine terraces, which range from 80 ka to <500 ka, are based on paleo–sea cliff geomorphology and soil development trends. Specifically, the steepest, highest, and most prominent paleo–sea cliff, which is associated with terrace number 3, is correlated to the long-duration sea-level highstand centered at 125 ka (marine isotope stage 5e), exemplifying a novel method in relative age assignment for Pleistocene geomorphic features. Based on these age assignments, the average maximum uplift rates in the Trinidad coastal area are ∼1.0 m/k.y., and the average long-term uplift rate diminishes westward to ∼0.4 – 0.5 m/k.y. on the downthrown side of the Trinidad fault. Based on analysis of deformation using the high-resolution lidar imagery of the marine terraces, the Trinidad hanging-wall anticline represents a fault propagation fold that ceased to be active when the associated reverse fault, the Trinidad fault, daylighted to the surface ca. 80–100 ka. Based on deformation tilts of a marine terrace with an assigned age of 200 ka, the Trinidad anticline has accommodated at least 1 km of shortening in the last 200 k.y., which represents at least 2% of the convergence of the Juan de Fuca plate relative to North America over the same time period. Overall, both the hanging wall and the footwall of the Trinidad fault show long-term positive rock uplift, which implies that the Trinidad anticline and fault are contained within the hanging wall of a deeper structure. Therefore, the Trinidad fault likely splays off of the Cascadia subduction zone megathrust or off of a deeper thrust fault that splays off of the megathrust.

Tectonic uplift rate in the northern coast of the South China sea: insight from the 10Be exposure dating of marine terrace in southeastern China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Liang ◽  
Ke Zhang ◽  
Zihao Chen ◽  
Ping Huang ◽  
Zhongyun Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
South China ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
Uplift Rate ◽  
Southeastern China ◽  
Exposure Dating ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Uplift Rates

&lt;p&gt;Along the northern coast of the South China Sea in southeastern China, marine terraces preserved on the widespread Cretaceous granite and recorded both Quaternary uplift and sea-level oscillation. However, because sediments or materials for dating are usually absent, it is difficult to date these paleo-shoreline, which cause great difficulties in early exploration. Fortunately, as great progress on terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating, it is possible to yield the exposure age of marine terrace and to calculate the uplift rate along coastal line. This study focuses on two typical sequences of preserved marine terraces lying on the coastal line adjacent the Taiwan Strait in southeastern China. These two sequences of marine terraces (denoted as NZS and HJC site, respectively) both locate on the footwall (uplifting wall) of normal NE-SW trending fault (the Coastal Normal Fault) but on separated blocks subdivided by a normal NW-SE fault. At least 5 terraces and 2 terraces developed on granite at HJC and NZS site, respectively. In particularly, T1 and T3 terrace at HJC site and T1 terrace at NZS site present typical abrasion wave-cut platform with preserved sea stacks. Hence, we collected both profile and surface quarts samples on these well-preserved marine terraces for &lt;sup&gt;10&lt;/sup&gt;Be exposure dating and yielded exposure ages of 51.0&amp;#177;1.9 ka, 66.2&amp;#177;2.9 ka in T1 and T3 terrace at HJC site, and 87.9&amp;#177;3.5 ka in T1 terrace at NZS site. After subtracting eustatic sea-level changes from the relative sea-level curve, we measure high uplift rates of 1.13 mm/a at HJC site and 1.04 mm/a at NZS site during late Pleistocene. The similar uplift rates in different faulting blocks suggest that surface uplift can be directly linked to NE-SW fault system. Low difference of uplift rate between tow site suggest relative vertical motion of tow faulting blocks could be adjust by NW-SE faults. The regional uplift with high uplift rates is likely corresponding to the major collision between Luzon arc and the Chinese continental margin. However, because the contribution of by isostasy, e.g. surface erosion or ice-volume variation in Quaternary, remains uncertain, the calculated uplift rate maybe overestimated.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Influence of the Spatial Pressure Distribution of Breaking Wave Loading on the Dynamic Response of Wolf Rock Lighthouse

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Darshana T. Dassanayake ◽  
Alessandro Antonini ◽  
Athanasios Pappas ◽  
Alison Raby ◽  
James Mark William Brownjohn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Response ◽  
Pressure Distribution ◽  
Distinct Element ◽  
Breaking Waves ◽  
Breaking Wave ◽  
Wave Loading ◽  
Wave Impact ◽  
Pressure Distributions ◽  
Impact Area ◽  
The Impact

The survivability analysis of offshore rock lighthouses requires several assumptions of the pressure distribution due to the breaking wave loading (Raby et al. (2019), Antonini et al. (2019). Due to the peculiar bathymetries and topographies of rock pinnacles, there is no dedicated formula to properly quantify the loads induced by the breaking waves on offshore rock lighthouses. Wienke’s formula (Wienke and Oumeraci (2005) was used in this study to estimate the loads, even though it was not derived for breaking waves on offshore rock lighthouses, but rather for the breaking wave loading on offshore monopiles. However, a thorough sensitivity analysis of the effects of the assumed pressure distribution has never been performed. In this paper, by means of the Wolf Rock lighthouse distinct element model, we quantified the influence of the pressure distributions on the dynamic response of the lighthouse structure. Different pressure distributions were tested, while keeping the initial wave impact area and pressure integrated force unchanged, in order to quantify the effect of different pressure distribution patterns. The pressure distributions considered in this paper showed subtle differences in the overall dynamic structure responses; however, pressure distribution #3, based on published experimental data such as Tanimoto et al. (1986) and Zhou et al. (1991) gave the largest displacements. This scenario has a triangular pressure distribution with a peak at the centroid of the impact area, which then linearly decreases to zero at the top and bottom boundaries of the impact area. The azimuthal horizontal distribution was adopted from Wienke and Oumeraci’s work (2005). The main findings of this study will be of interest not only for the assessment of rock lighthouses but also for all the cylindrical structures built on rock pinnacles or rocky coastlines (with steep foreshore slopes) and exposed to harsh breaking wave loading.

Sedimentology, faunal content and pollen record of Middle Pleistocene palustrine and lagoonal sediments from the Peri-Adriatic basin, Abruzzi, eastern central Italy

2016 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierluigi Pieruccini ◽  
Claudio Di Celma ◽  
Federico Di Rita ◽  
Donatella Magri ◽  
Giorgio Carnevale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Freshwater Wetlands ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Vegetation Development ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽  
Open Forest ◽  
Facies Succession

AbstractA 25 m-thick outcrop section exposed at Torre Mucchia, on the sea-cliff north of Ortona, eastern central Italy, comprises a rare Middle Pleistocene succession of shallow-water and paralic sediments along the western Adriatic Sea. An integrated study of the section, including facies and microfacies analyses, and characterization of paleobiological associations (mollusks, fishes, ostracods, foraminifers and pollen), enable a detailed reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions during deposition. The shallow-water deposits include a transgressive, deepening- and fining-upward shoreface to offshore-transition facies succession overlain by a regressive shoreface-foreshore sandstone body with an erosive base and a rooted and pedogenically altered horizon at the top that imply deposition during sea-level fall. This forced regressive unit is overlain by paralic strata forming a transgressive succession comprising palustrine carbonates and back-barrier lagoonal mudstones. The palustrine carbonates exhibit some of the typical features encountered in palustrine limestones deposited within seasonal freshwater wetlands (marl prairies). Following the sea-level rising trend, the freshwater marshes were abruptly replaced by a barrier-lagoon system that allowed deposition of the overlying mud-rich unit. Within these deposits, the faunal assemblages are consistent with a low-energy brackish environment characterized by a relatively high degree of confinement. The pollen record documents the development of open forest vegetation dominated by Pinus and accompanied by a number of mesophilous and thermophilous tree taxa, whose composition supports a tentative correlation with Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 17. The new pollen record from Torre Mucchia improves our understanding of the vegetation development in the Italian Peninsula during the Middle Pleistocene and sheds new light on the role played by the most marked glacial periods in determining the history of tree taxa.

Palynology of Oxygen Isotope Stage 6 and Substage 5e from the Cover Beds of a Marine Terrace, Taranaki, New Zealand

1990 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Royd Bussell
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Tree Ferns ◽  
Glacial Stage ◽  
Marine Platform ◽  
Organic Deposits

AbstractCover beds on uplifted Quaternary marine terraces in the Taranaki-Wanganui area of New Zealand include organic deposits which yield abundant pollen. In the west at Ohawe, marine shore platform deposits are overlain by laterally extensive lignites and laharic breccia, interbedded with alluvium and capped by tephra-rich loess. Following a time of presumably interglacial marine deposition on the platform, a long period of glacial climate is suggested by pollen floras dominated by grass and shrubland taxa. Trees were sparse, but the abundance of podocarps, Nothofagus, and tree ferns increased during at least one interval, suggesting minor climatic amelioration. Near the top of the section, a major change in regional vegetation is recorded by a dominance of pollen derived from podocarp-hardwood forest taxa, including Ascarina, interpreted as indicating a fully interglacial climate. The marine platform, previously assigned to oxygen isotope substage 5e, is now placed in stage 7. The overlying deposits were deposited during glacial stage 6, while interglacial substage 5e is recorded by sediment and pollen assemblages near the top of the section.

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