Walker, Jennifer S and Li, Tanghua and Shaw, Timothy A and Cahill, Niamh and Barber, Donald C and Brain, Matthew J and Kopp, Robert E and Switzer, Adam D and Horton, Benjamin P (2023) A 5000-year record of relative sea-level change in New Jersey, USA. The Holocene, 33 (2). pp. 167-180. ISSN 0959-6836

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Abstract

Stratigraphic data from salt marshes provide accurate reconstructions of Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) change and necessary constraints to models of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA), which is the dominant cause of Late-Holocene RSL rise along the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast. Here, we produce a new Mid- to Late-Holocene RSL record from a salt marsh bordering Great Bay in southern New Jersey using basal peats. We use a multi-proxy approach (foraminifera and geochemistry) to identify the indicative meaning of the basal peats and produce sea-level index points (SLIPs) that include a vertical uncertainty for tidal range change and sediment compaction and a temporal uncertainty based on high precision Accelerator Mass Spectrometry radiocarbon dating of salt-marsh plant macrofossils. The 14 basal SLIPs range from 1211 ± 56 years BP to 4414 ± 112 years BP, which we combine with published RSL data from southern New Jersey and use with a spatiotemporal statistical model to show that RSL rose 8.6 m at an average rate of 1.7 ± 0.1 mm/year (1σ) from 5000 years BP to present. We compare the RSL changes with an ensemble of 1D (laterally homogenous) and site-specific 3D (laterally heterogeneous) GIA models, which tend to overestimate the magnitude of RSL rise over the last 5000 years. The continued discrepancy between RSL data and GIA models highlights the importance of using a wide array of ice model and viscosity model parameters to more precisely fit site-specific RSL data along the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	sea-level change; New Jersey; USA;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Mathematics and Statistics
Item ID:	16951
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221131696
Depositing User:	Niamh Cahill
Date Deposited:	20 Feb 2023 16:09
Journal or Publication Title:	The Holocene
Publisher:	Sage Publications
Refereed:	Yes
URI:
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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