Insight into the late Holocene sea-level changes in the NW Atlantic from a paraglacial beach-ridge plain south of Newfoundland

Billy, Julie; Robin, Nicolas; Hein, Christopher J.; Certain, R.; FitzGerald, Duncan M.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.07.033

Cited by 40 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Individual ridges record a certain period of beach sedimentary and erosional processes. A sequence of beach ridges thus provides an archive of coastal evolution (Tamura, ) that has been utilized as records of sea‐level, climate, catastrophic events and shoreline history (Shepherd, ; Mason et al ., ; van Heteren et al ., ; Buynevich et al ., ; Brooke et al ., ,b; Tamura et al ., , ; Billy et al ., ; Hein et al ., ). Beach ridges occur on various wave‐dominated or wave‐influenced coasts globally and vary geographically (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coarse‐sand beach ridges at Cowley Beach, north‐eastern Australia: Their formative processes and potential as records of tropical cyclone history

et al. 2017

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Storm surges generated by tropical cyclones have been considered a primary process for building coarse-sand beach ridges along the north-eastern Queensland coast, Australia. This interpretation has led to the development of palaeotempestology based on the beach ridges. To better identify the sedimentary processes responsible for these ridges, a high-resolution chronostratigraphic analysis of a series of ridges was carried out at Cowley Beach, Queensland, a meso-tidal beach system with a >3 m tide range. Optically stimulated luminescence ages indicate that 10 ridges accreted seaward over the last 2500 to 2700 years. The ridge crests sit +3Á5 to 5Á1 m above Australian Height Datum (ca mean sea-level). A ground-penetrating radar profile shows two distinct radar facies, both of which are dissected by truncation surfaces. Hummocky structures in the upper facies indicate that the nucleus of the beach ridge forms as a berm at +2Á5 m Australian Height Datum, equivalent to the fair-weather swash limit during high tide. The lower facies comprises a sequence of seaward-dipping reflections. Beach progradation thus occurs via fair-weather-wave accretion of sand, with erosion by storm waves resulting in a sporadic sedimentary record. The ridge deposits above the fair-weather swash limit are primarily composed of coarse and medium sands with pumice gravels and are largely emplaced during surge events. Inundation of the ridges is more likely to occur in relation to a cyclone passing during high tide. The ridges may also include an aeolian component as cyclonic winds can transport beach sand inland, especially during low tide, and some layers above +2Á5 m Australian Height Datum are finer than aeolian ripples found on the backshore. Coarse-sand ridges at Cowley Beach are thus products of fair-weather swash and cyclone inundation modulated by tides. Knowledge of this composite depositional process can better inform the development of robust palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from the ridges.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coarse‐sand beach ridges at Cowley Beach, north‐eastern Australia: Their formative processes and potential as records of tropical cyclone history

et al. 2017

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“…The limit between the dune and the beach has been proved to successfully mark sea-level changes1819224041. Preferably, the identification of this limit should be done with support of GPR data to resolve the internal barrier stratigraphy and spatially map the transition between dune and beach sediments1841.…”

Section: Sea-level Indicators and Coastal Barriersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Preferably, the identification of this limit should be done with support of GPR data to resolve the internal barrier stratigraphy and spatially map the transition between dune and beach sediments1841. Examples in the literature describe this transition as a remarkably smooth plane related to a grain-size shift from sand and gravel beach sediments to dune sand18, or as onlap terminations related to the welding of berms onto the beach224041. The use of the dune-beach contact as sea-level indicator showed a very good agreement with more traditional methods184041.…”

Section: Sea-level Indicators and Coastal Barriersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples in the literature describe this transition as a remarkably smooth plane related to a grain-size shift from sand and gravel beach sediments to dune sand18, or as onlap terminations related to the welding of berms onto the beach224041. The use of the dune-beach contact as sea-level indicator showed a very good agreement with more traditional methods184041. Still, the identification of these indicators may present some limitations due to the inherent ambiguity in determining the limit between the dune and the beach because both settings may not present contrasting grain sizes37, and the indicators may have large vertical uncertainties related to the variability of the relative water level, particularly during storms42.…”

Section: Sea-level Indicators and Coastal Barriersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coastal barrier stratigraphy for Holocene high-resolution sea-level reconstruction

Costas

Ferreira

Plomaritis

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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The uncertainties surrounding present and future sea-level rise have revived the debate around sea-level changes through the deglaciation and mid- to late Holocene, from which arises a need for high-quality reconstructions of regional sea level. Here, we explore the stratigraphy of a sandy barrier to identify the best sea-level indicators and provide a new sea-level reconstruction for the central Portuguese coast over the past 6.5 ka. The selected indicators represent morphological features extracted from coastal barrier stratigraphy, beach berm and dune-beach contact. These features were mapped from high-resolution ground penetrating radar images of the subsurface and transformed into sea-level indicators through comparison with modern analogs and a chronology based on optically stimulated luminescence ages. Our reconstructions document a continuous but slow sea-level rise after 6.5 ka with an accumulated change in elevation of about 2 m. In the context of SW Europe, our results show good agreement with previous studies, including the Tagus isostatic model, with minor discrepancies that demand further improvement of regional models. This work reinforces the potential of barrier indicators to accurately reconstruct high-resolution mid- to late Holocene sea-level changes through simple approaches.

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“…Coastal ridge and swale systems, composed predominantly of relict wave‐built beach ridges and/or aeolian foredune ridges, are found in association with progradational shorelines around the world (Tamura, ). The morphology of these elongate, shore‐parallel to subparallel features preserve paleoenvironmental signatures which have been used to infer changes in shoreline position (Mason, ), coastal sediment delivery rates and textures (Bristow & Pucillo, ; Hein et al, ), relative sea level (Billy et al, ; Hede et al, ; Long et al, ), and storm frequency (Buynevich et al, ; Costas et al, ). Subsequently, ridge proxies could be useful in predicting future changes to the coastal zone in response to autogenic forcings, climate change, and anthropogenic interventions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing Coastal Sediment Budgets From Beach‐ and Foredune‐Ridge Morphology: A Coupled Field and Modeling Approach

Ciarletta

Shawler²,

Tenebruso

et al. 2019

JGR Earth Surface

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Preserved beach and foredune ridges may serve as proxies for coastal change, reflecting alterations in sea level, wave energy, or past sediment fluxes. In particular, time‐varying shoreface sediment budgets have been inferred from the relative size of foredune ridges through application of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating to these systems over the last decades. However, geochronological control requires extensive field investigation and analysis. Purely field‐based studies might also overlook relationships between the mechanics of sediment delivery to the shoreface and foredune ridges, missing insights about sensitivity to changes in sediment budget. We therefore propose a simple geomorphic model of beach/foredune‐ridge and swale morphology to quantify the magnitude of changes in cross‐shore sediment budget, employing field measurements of ridge volume, ridge spacing, elevation, and shoreline progradation. Model behaviors are constrained by the partitioning of sediment fluxes to the shoreface and foredune ridge and can be used to reproduce several cross‐shore patterns observed in nature. These include regularly spaced ridges (“washboards”), large singular ridges, and wide swales with poorly developed ridges. We evaluate our model against well‐preserved ridge and swale systems at two sites along the Virginia Eastern Shore (USA): Fishing Point, for which historical records provide a detailed history of shoreline progradation and ridge growth, and Parramore Island, for which a relatively more complex morphology developed over a poorly constrained period of prehistoric growth. Our results suggest this new model could be used to infer the sensitivity of field sites across the globe to variations in sediment delivery.

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Insight into the late Holocene sea-level changes in the NW Atlantic from a paraglacial beach-ridge plain south of Newfoundland

Cited by 40 publications

References 81 publications

Coarse‐sand beach ridges at Cowley Beach, north‐eastern Australia: Their formative processes and potential as records of tropical cyclone history

Coarse‐sand beach ridges at Cowley Beach, north‐eastern Australia: Their formative processes and potential as records of tropical cyclone history

Coastal barrier stratigraphy for Holocene high-resolution sea-level reconstruction

Reconstructing Coastal Sediment Budgets From Beach‐ and Foredune‐Ridge Morphology: A Coupled Field and Modeling Approach

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