Brain, Matthew J and Kemp, Andrew C. and Horton, Benjamin P. and Culver, Stephen J. and Parnell, Andrew and Cahill, Niamh (2015) Quantifying the contribution of sediment compaction to late Holocene salt-marsh sea-level reconstructions, North Carolina, USA. Quaternary Research, 83 (1). pp. 41-51. ISSN 0033-5894

Preview

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Salt-marsh sediments provide accurate and precise reconstructions of late Holocene relative sea-level changes. However, compaction of salt-marsh stratigraphies can cause post-depositional lowering (PDL) of the samples used to reconstruct sea level, creating an estimation of former sea level that is too low and a rate of rise that is too great. We estimated the contribution of compaction to late Holocene sea-level trends reconstructed at Tump Point, North Carolina, USA. We used a geotechnical model that was empirically calibrated by performing tests on surface sediments from modern depositional environments analogous to those encountered in the sediment core. The model generated depth-specific estimates of PDL, allowing samples to be returned to their depositional altitudes. After removing an estimate of land-level change, error-in-variables changepoint analysis of the decompacted and original sea-level reconstructions identified three trends. Compaction did not generate artificial sea-level trends and cannot be invoked as a causal mechanism for the features in the Tump Point record. The maximum relative contribution of compaction to reconstructed sea-level change was 12%. The decompacted sea-level record shows 1.71 mm yr− 1 of rise since AD 1845.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Post-depositional lowering; Tump Point; Salt-marsh peat;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Mathematics and Statistics
Item ID:	14573
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2014.08.003
Depositing User:	Niamh Cahill
Date Deposited:	29 Jun 2021 16:02
Journal or Publication Title:	Quaternary Research
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
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

Repository Staff Only(login required)

Item control page

Downloads

Origin of downloads