Quantifying the contribution of sediment compaction to late Holocene salt-marsh sea-level reconstructions, North Carolina, USA

Brain, M.J.; Kemp, A.C.; Horton, B.P.; Culver, S.J.; Parnell, A.C.; Cahill, N.

doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2014.08.003

Quantifying the contribution of sediment compaction to late Holocene salt-marsh sea-level reconstructions, North Carolina, USA Thumbnail

Authors

Dr Matthew Brain matthew.brain@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

A.C. Kemp

B.P. Horton

S.J. Culver

A.C. Parnell

N. Cahill

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.

Citation

Brain, M., Kemp, A., Horton, B., Culver, S., Parnell, A., & Cahill, N. (2015). Quantifying the contribution of sediment compaction to late Holocene salt-marsh sea-level reconstructions, North Carolina, USA. Quaternary Research, 83(1), 41-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2014.08.003

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Jan 20, 2017
Publication Date	2015-01
Deposit Date	Aug 20, 2014
Publicly Available Date	Sep 18, 2014
Journal	Quaternary Research
Print ISSN	0033-5894
Publisher	Academic Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	83
Issue	1
Pages	41-51
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2014.08.003
Keywords	Post-depositional lowering, Tump Point, Salt-marsh peat.

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Copyright Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Quaternary Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Quaternary Research, 83/1, 2015, 10.1016/j.yqres.2014.08.003.