Kemp, Andrew C. and Kegel, Jessica J. and Culver, Stephen J. and Barber, Donald C. and Mallinson, David J. and Leorri, Eduardo and Bernhardt, Christopher E. and Cahill, Niamh and Riggs, Stanley R. and Woodson, Anna L. and Mulligan, Ryan P. and Horton, Benjamin P. (2017) Extended late Holocene relative sea-level histories for North Carolina, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews, 160. pp. 13-30. ISSN 0277-3791

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Abstract

We produced ∼3000-year long relative sea-level (RSL) histories for two sites in North Carolina (USA) using foraminifera preserved in new and existing cores of dated salt-marsh sediment. At Cedar Island, RSL rose by ∼2.4 m during the past ∼3000 years compared to ∼3.3 m at Roanoke Island. This spatial difference arises primarily from differential GIA that caused late Holocene RSL rise to be 0.1–0.2 mm/yr faster at Roanoke Island than at Cedar Island. However, a non-linear difference in RSL between the two study regions (particularly from ∼0 CE to ∼1250 CE) indicates that additional local- to regional-scale processes drove centennial-scale RSL change in North Carolina. Therefore, the Cedar Island and Roanoke Island records should be considered as independent of one another. Between-site differences on sub-millennial timescales cannot be adequately explained by non-stationary tides, sediment compaction, or local sediment dynamics. We propose that a period of accelerating RSL rise from ∼600 CE to 1100 CE that is present at Roanoke Island (and other sites north of Cape Hatteras at least as far as Connecticut), but absent at Cedar Island (and other sites south of Cape Hatteras at least as far as northeastern Florida) is a local-to regional-scale effect of dynamic ocean and/or atmospheric circulation.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Foraminifera; Gulf Stream; Tidal-range change; Salt marsh;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Mathematics and Statistics Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > Hamilton Institute
Item ID:	11372
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.01.012
Depositing User:	Niamh Cahill
Date Deposited:	17 Oct 2019 15:51
Journal or Publication Title:	Quaternary Science Reviews
Publisher:	Elsevier
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	https://www.sciencedirect.com
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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