Flandrian relative sea level changes in the Ythan Valley, Northeast Scotland

Smith, David E.; Cullingford, R. A.; Brooks, C. L.

doi:10.1002/esp.3290080504

Cited by 41 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Following many studies of Holocene tsunami deposits (e.g., Smith et al, 1983;Minoura and Nakata, 1994;Nanayama et al, 2003;Witter et al, 2009;Chagué-Goff et al, 2012;Sawai et al, 2012), we explored the Tsunami Ramp (site T) and Drained Lake (site D) sites for potential tsunami deposits (potential deposits consist of probable and possible deposits, as discussed in the following) with handheld gouge (25 mm diameter) and Russian (50 mm diameter) corers (methods reviewed by Nelson, 2015;Fig. 3).…”

Section: Identifying Tsunami Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tsunami recurrence in the eastern Alaska-Aleutian arc: A Holocene stratigraphic record from Chirikof Island, Alaska

et al. 2015

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Despite the role of the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust as the source of some of the largest earthquakes and tsunamis, the history of its pre-twentieth century tsunamis is largely unknown west of the rupture zone of the great (magnitude, M 9.2) 1964 earthquake. Stratigraphy in core transects at two boggy lowland sites on Chirikof Island's southwest coast preserves tsunami deposits dating from the postglacial to the twentieth century. In a 500-m-long basin 13-15 m above sea level and 400 m from the sea, 4 of 10 sandy to silty beds in a 3-5-m-thick sequence of freshwater peat were probably deposited by tsunamis. The freshwater peat sequence beneath a gently sloping alluvial fan 2 km to the east, 5-15 m above sea level and 550 m from the sea, contains 20 sandy to silty beds deposited since 3.5 ka; at least 13 were probably deposited by tsunamis. Although most of the sandy beds have consistent thicknesses (over distances of 10-265 m), sharp lower contacts, good sorting, and/or upward fining typical of tsunami deposits, the beds contain abundant freshwater diatoms, very few brackish-water diatoms, and no marine diatoms. Apparently, tsunamis traveling inland over low dunes and boggy lowland entrained largely freshwater diatoms. Abundant fragmented diatoms, and lake species in some sandy beds not found in host peat, were probably transported by tsunamis to elevations of >10 m at the eastern site. Single-aliquot regeneration optically stimulated luminescence dating of the third youngest bed is consistent with its having been deposited by the tsunami recorded at Russian hunting outposts in 1788, and with the second youngest bed being deposited by a tsunami during an upper plate earthquake in 1880. We infer from stratigraphy, 14 C-dated peat deposition rates, and unpublished analyses of the island's history that the 1938 tsunami may locally have reached an elevation of >10 m. As this is the first record of Aleutian tsunamis extending throughout the Holocene, we cannot estimate source earthquake locations or magnitudes for most tsunami-deposited beds. We infer that no more than 3 of the 23 possible tsunamis beds at both sites were deposited following upper plate faulting or submarine landslides independent of megathrust earthquakes. If so, the Semidi segment of the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust near Chirikof Island probably sent high tsunamis southward every 180-270 yr for at least the past 3500 yr.

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Section: Identifying Tsunami Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tsunami recurrence in the eastern Alaska-Aleutian arc: A Holocene stratigraphic record from Chirikof Island, Alaska

et al. 2015

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“…Smith et al, 1982;1983;Shennan et al, 1993;1994;1995). At present very little published information on Holocene relative sea-level changes exists for much of northern and northwest Scotland, towards the periphery of the area of isostatic uplift.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Holocene relative sea-level changes on the margin of a glacio-isostatically uplifted area: an example from northern Caithness, Scotland

Dawson

Smith

1997

The Holocene

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Evidence is presented for Holocene relative sea-level changes on the margin of a glacio-isostatically uplifted area: the lower Wick River valley, northern Caithness, Scotland. Lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic analyses of intercalated clastic and organic sediments disclose evidence for a rapid rise of relative sea level from at least as low as -3.6 m to +1.5 m O.D. during the mid-Holocene, culminating between c. 6900 and c. 5900 BP. This is correlated with the Main Postglacial Transgression, identified widely in eastern Scotland. Following a subsequent regression, the sediments record two further marine transgressions beginning at c. 4400 and c. 1200 BP. The presence of late-Holocene estuarine deposits as the highest Holocene marine sediments is a situation only recorded to date at one other site in mainland Scotland. The coastal sediment sequence also indicates evidence for a palaeotsunami that occurred at between c. 7300 and c. 7000 BP and was associated with the Second Storegga Slide, one of the world's largest submarine sediment slides, located on the continental slope west of Norway.

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“…Table 5 lists both radiocarbon and calibrated dates with their altitude ranges. The table does not include the two dates used by Smith et al (1983) which are now considered in error: one from the Ythan (site 5 here), now believed to refer to a later transgression (Smith et al 2000) and one from the Montrose Basin (index point 69, site 14) believed to be in error following the observations of Shennan et al (1983). The regressive contact dates for the culmination are compared with distance along the minor axis of the Main Postglacial Shoreline quadratic trend surface ellipse, as for the rate of rise data, and are plotted in Fig.…”

Section: Culmination Of the Mid-holocene Risementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Morrison et al (1981) reasoned that radiocarbon dates from conformable contacts below and above the 'wedge' as close to the inland limit as possible, but where the minerogenic layer was at least 30 cm thick to avoid contamination of the transgressive contact date, would closely bracket the culmination and by implication date the Main Postglacial Shoreline, and Smith et al (1983) examined such dates as were then available across a range of Main Postglacial Shoreline altitudes, maintaining that the event was time-transgressive, a circumstance to be expected in glacio-isostatically affected areas, following Wright (1934). However, Haggart (1988b) doubted that diachroneity had been proven and recently it has been shown that two of the regressive contact dates used by Smith et al (1983) may be in error (Smith et al 2000).…”

Section: Culmination Of the Mid-holocene Risementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Site 4 (index points 22-33) comprises data from river-bank exposures in lower Strathearn, taken from Cullingford et al (1980Cullingford et al ( , 1989. Site 5 (index points 34-42) comprises data from the landward margin of the carselands in the lower Ythan valley, taken from Smith et al (1983Smith et al ( , 1999 and site 6 (index points 43-47) comprises data from a small area of carseland on the northern shore of the Dornoch Firth at Creich, taken from Smith et al (1992). Graphs of relative sea-level change for the six sites, each of which includes at least three radiocarbon-dated sea-level index points dating the early to mid-Holocene relative sealevel rise, based on both radiocarbon and calibrated dates (excluding those index points considered problematical, see below) are shown in Fig.…”

Section: Relative Sea-level Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relative sea‐level trends during the early–middle Holocene along the eastern coast of mainland Scotland, UK

Smith¹,

Firth²,

Cullingford³

2002

Boreas

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2002 (June): Relative sea-level trends during the early-middle Holocene along the eastern coast of mainland Scotland, UK. Boreas, Vol. 31, pp. 185-202. Oslo. ISSN 0300-9483.Previously published radiocarbon-dated horizons relating to early and middle Holocene relative sea-level change along the eastern coast of mainland Scotland are examined and trends determined. The data are modied to ensure comparability and are compared against the pattern of glacio-isostatic uplift in the area. Results show that the rate of relative sea-level rise during the Main Postglacial Transgression in the middle Holocene becomes greater towards the edge of the uplifted area, whilst the age of the Main Postglacial Shoreline becomes younger in the same direction. Linear and quadratic regression analyses disclose trends which indicate that at the 0 m HWMOST isobase of the Main Postglacial Shoreline the rate of relative sea level rise between c. 8400 and c. 7000 14 C years BP (c. 9500 to c. 7900 cal. BP) was 5-11 mm/radiocarbon year or 6-11 mm/calibrated year, whilst at the same isobase the Main Postglacial Shoreline was reached between 5500 and 6100 14 C years BP (between 6300 and 7000 cal. BP). The relative sea-level changes identi ed are compatible with a rising sea surface level offshore, which may have involved three episodes, possibly related to regional and wider deglaciation.

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Flandrian relative sea level changes in the Ythan Valley, Northeast Scotland

Cited by 41 publications

References 8 publications

Tsunami recurrence in the eastern Alaska-Aleutian arc: A Holocene stratigraphic record from Chirikof Island, Alaska

Tsunami recurrence in the eastern Alaska-Aleutian arc: A Holocene stratigraphic record from Chirikof Island, Alaska

Holocene relative sea-level changes on the margin of a glacio-isostatically uplifted area: an example from northern Caithness, Scotland

Relative sea‐level trends during the early–middle Holocene along the eastern coast of mainland Scotland, UK

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