Five intense (category 3 or greater) hurricanes occurring in 1635, 1638, 1815, 1869, and 1938 have made landfall on the New England coast since European settlement. Historical records indicate that four of these hurricanes (1635, 1638, 1815, and 1938) and hurricane Carol, a strong category 2 storm in 1954, produced significant storm surges (Ͼ3 m) in southern Rhode Island. Storm surges of this magnitude can overtop barrier islands, removing sediments from the beach and nearshore environment and depositing overwash fans across back-barrier marshes, lakes, and lagoons. In a regime of rising sea level, accumulation of marsh, lake, or lagoon sediments on top of overwash deposits will preserve a record of overwash deposition. We examined the record of overwash deposition at Succotash salt marsh in East Matunuck, Rhode Island, and tested the correlation with historical records of intense storms. Aerial photographs taken after hurricanes in 1954 and 1938 show overwash fans deposited at the site. Analysis of 14 sediment cores from the back-barrier marsh confirmed the presence of these fans
Fritz, Sherilyn C.; Baker, P. A.; Tapia, Pedro M.; Spanbauer, Trisha L.; and Westover, Karlyn S., "Evolution of the Lake Titicaca basin and its diatom flora over the last ~ 370,000 years" (2012). Papers in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. 392.
Stone, Jeffery R.; Westover, Karlyn S.; and Cohen, Andrew S., "Late Pleistocene paleohydrography and diatom paleoecology of the central basin of Lake Malawi, Africa" (2011). Papers in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. 279.
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