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