Coastal evolution in Senegal and Mauritania at 103, 102 and 101-year scales: Natural and human records

Tidal flat sedimentation during the last millennium in the northern area of Tidra Island, Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania

“…Elouard et al (in Barusseau et al 1995) show comparable shifts in sea-level but their reconstruction is not exactly isochronal with the curve from Einsele et al (1974). A more recent and thus more reliable study by Barusseau et al (1995) suggests in contrast, that there is only one significant sea-level highstand around 5000 yr BP followed by one major regression to the modern level until 3000 yr BP (Fig. 3).…”

“…Due to the young ages and the inflections of the calibration curve in this time period, the 2r-range of the calibrated ages was used. The Elouard et al (1977); C - Barusseau et al (1995). Simplified after Barusseau et al (1995). negative conventional radiocarbon age for sample ''LV-7, 102 cm'' is interpreted as ''modern'' (meaning within the time span 1945-1963 A.D.).…”

Late Holocene morphodynamics in the littoral zone of the Iwik Peninsula area (Banc d'Arguin — Mauritania)

“…During the Late Holocene, man-made deposits (Neolithic shellmiddens) were formed, directly superimposed on a variety of sedimentary ridges induced by contemporaneous littoral processes (Barusseau et al, 1995). Links between human occupation and changing environments have been demonstrated at countless sites (Giresse et al, 1993;Brooks et al, 2003;Berger et al, 2005;Brooks, 2006;Kuper and Kröpelin, 2006;Vernet, 2007;Barusseau et al, 2007).…”

“…In the lower parts of the plain, marine mollusc shells are scattered on the flat ground, some of them in life position suggesting an abandoned lagoon bottom. As formerly recognized in the Baie de Saint-Jean region (Barusseau et al, 1995), the vertical distribution of sands is homogeneous and no mud layer occurrences are displayed. Along the present marine boundary, sand flats are protected from the high tide by a backshore sand barrier/dune rarely higher than 1 m. In the bay sheltered by Cap Iwik, the sand-flat altitude slowly rises northeastward, though always within range of the tide, as testified by numerous current foreshore tidal marks far inland.…”

Positive precipitation–evaporation budget from AD 460 to 1090 in the Saloum Delta (Senegal) indicated by mollusk oxygen isotopes

“…The area between the channels consists of mangrove islands interconnected by a dense network of smaller channels (Simier et al, 2004). The estuary was an open bay 6000 years ago and was progressively filled with sediments to reach, between 2000 and 1500 BP a geomorphology similar to the modern one with large mangrove islands and beach barriers (Ausseil-Badie et al, 1991;Barusseau et al, 1995;Diara and Barusseau, 2006). A last infilling phase took place between 1500 BP and 600 BP.…”