Luminescence dating of delta sediments: Novel approaches explored for the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta

Chamberlain, E. L.; Wallinga, Jakob; Reimann, Tony; Goodbred, S. L.; Steckler, Michael S.; Shen, Zhixiong; Sincavage, R.

doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2017.06.006

Cited by 43 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 78 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The average fill thickness (i.e., depth to sand) is ~5 m, which has infilled over a 16 to 26-year period based on historical imagery (Figure 4; S4), yielding average vertical accretion rates of 19-31 cm/yr. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dates from the base of several tidal channel fills help refine these vertical accretion rates to 12-18 cm/yr (samples 009 and 010 from Chamberlain et al, 2017). Historical observations report similar sedimentation rates for infilling channels in the Indian portion of the tidal deltaplain (~15 cm/yr; Addams Williams, 1919).…”

Section: Impacts To Tidal Prism and Sediment Depocentersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread infilling of tidal channels and navigable waterways in the human-modified tidal deltaplain of southwest Bangladesh

Wilson

Goodbred

Small

et al. 2017

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

129

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wilson, C, et al. 2017 Widespread infilling of tidal channels and navigable waterways in the human-modified tidal deltaplain of southwest Bangladesh. Elem Sci Anth, 5: 78. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.263 RESEARCH ARTICLEWidespread infilling of tidal channels and navigable waterways in the human-modified tidal deltaplain of southwest Bangladesh Since the 1960s, ~5000 km 2 of tidal deltaplain in southwest Bangladesh has been embanked and converted to densely inhabited, agricultural islands (i.e., polders). This landscape is juxtaposed to the adjacent Sundarbans, a pristine mangrove forest, both well connected by a dense network of tidal channels that effectively convey water and sediment throughout the region. The extensive embanking in poldered areas, however, has greatly reduced the tidal prism (i.e., volume of water) transported through local channels. We reveal that >600 km of these major waterways have infilled in recent decades, converting to land through enhanced sedimentation and the direct blocking of waterways by embankments and sluice gates. Nearly all of the observed closures (~98%) have occurred along the embanked polder systems, with no comparable changes occurring in channels of the Sundarbans (<2% change). We attribute most of the channel infilling to the local reduction of tidal prism in poldered areas and the associated decline in current velocities. The infilled channels account for ~90 km 2 of new land in the last 40-50 years, the rate of which, ~2 km 2 /yr, offsets the 4 km 2 /yr that is eroded at the coast, and is equivalent to ~20% of the new land produced naturally at the Ganges-Brahmaputra tidal rivermouth. Most of this new land, called 'khas' in Bengali, has been reclaimed for agriculture or aquaculture, contributing to the local economy. However, benefits are tempered by the loss of navigable waterways for commerce, transportation, and fishing, as well as the forced rerouting of tidal waters and sediments necessary to sustain this low-lying landscape against rising sea level. A more sustainable delta will require detailed knowledge of the consequences of these hydrodynamic changes to support more scientifically-grounded management of water, sediment, and tidal energy distribution.

show abstract

Section: Impacts To Tidal Prism and Sediment Depocentersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread infilling of tidal channels and navigable waterways in the human-modified tidal deltaplain of southwest Bangladesh

Wilson

Goodbred

Small

et al. 2017

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

129

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In contrast, some systems may bleach sediment by more than one process. For example, sediment in a deltaic system may experience bleaching by sunlight exposure of grains deposited on subaerial surfaces such as bars and by in‐transport bleaching when grains are suspended in a flow (Chamberlain et al, ; Chamberlain, Törnqvist, et al, , Chamberlain, Wallinga, et al, ). Understanding how bleaching occurs serves to define what information one can obtain from the luminescence signal.…”

Section: Luminescence and Its Characteristics In Geomorphic Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Luminescence as a Sediment Tracer and Provenance Tool

Gray

Jain

Sawakuchi

et al. 2019

Reviews of Geophysics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Luminescence holds unique potential as a sediment tracer and provenance method. The tracer application of luminescence has key advantages including ease of measurement, relatively low cost, and applicability to geologically ubiquitous quartz and feldspar sand and silt. These advantages can help answer fundamental questions about geomorphology, sediment transport, sediment production, and the tectonic/climatic controls on source‐to‐sink sedimentary systems. There is a notable body of research on luminescence as a sediment tracer. These tracer methods range from identifying source locations based on unique luminescence characteristics, to observing changes in luminescence characteristics with transport, to using residual luminescence to infer rates of transport. Previous applications of luminescence include provenance and quantification of fluvial transport rate, tracing of coastal longshore drift, estimations of mixing rates in soil or sediment, and provenance of wind‐blown deposits. The few studies that compare luminescence methods with nonluminescence tracer methods show good agreement. However, more work is needed to test the application of luminescence tracers in sediments. Future research directions should focus on comparing luminescence‐based with nonluminescence tracer methods. Furthermore, research is needed on the effects of specific geomorphic processes on luminescence characteristics and residual doses. While there is significant potential for future research, luminescence is already a useful sediment tracer and provenance tool applicable to a wide range of geomorphic environments.

show abstract

“…1). Using recently proposed and tested methods (Chamberlain et al, 2018b) to analyze archival data, we compare the residual quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) doses of sand and silt sampled within the modern Mississippi River channel (Muñoz et al, 2018;Chamberlain et al, 2018b;Chamberlain, 2017) to those estimated from sand of multi-century to millenniumaged Mississippi Delta mouth bar (Chamberlain et al, 2018a) and overbank (Shen et al, 2015) deposits. Further insight into OSL bleaching is obtained by reanalyzing the burial ages Figure 1.…”

Section: E L Chamberlain and J Wallinga: Seeking Enlightenment Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1), active from ∼ 1.6 to ∼ 0.6 ka (Törnqvist et al, 1996;Shen et al, 2015;Chamberlain et al, 2018a), which has been extensively OSL dated for geologic research and therefore provides a valuable archive of data to explore bleaching of the quartz OSL signal. During its millennium of activity, the Lafourche distributary network constructed 6000-8000 km 2 of new land through progradation into a shallow bay (Chamberlain et al, 2018a), while the upstream portion of the system aggraded via deposition primarily from episodically active crevasse channel networks (Shen et al, 2015). These crevasse channels operated as shallow offtakes, siphoning suspended material from the axial distributary channels (Esposito et al, 2017).…”

Section: Mississippi Delta Stratigraphy and Osl Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These crevasse channels operated as shallow offtakes, siphoning suspended material from the axial distributary channels (Esposito et al, 2017). Relatively coarse and homogenous mouth bar sand deposits characterize the prograded portion of the subdelta (Chamberlain et al, 2018a). A patchwork of generally finer-grained crevasse splay and natural levee deposits, which may overlie progradational facies or peat, characterizes the near-channel overbank depositional environment (Törnqvist et al, 2008;Shen et al, 2015;Esposito et al, 2017;Mehta and Chamberlain, 2018).…”

Section: Mississippi Delta Stratigraphy and Osl Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Seeking enlightenment of fluvial sediment pathways by optically stimulated luminescence signal bleaching of river sediments and deltaic deposits

Chamberlain

Wallinga

2019

Earth Surf. Dynam.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Reconstructing sediment pathways in fluvial and deltaic systems beyond instrumental records is challenging due to a lack of suitable methods. Here we explore the potential of luminescence methods for such purposes, focusing on bleaching of the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) signal of quartz sediments in a large fluviodeltaic system across time and space. We approach this by comparing residual doses of sand and silt from the modern Mississippi River channel with estimated residual doses of sand isolated from Late Holocene Mississippi Delta mouth bar and overbank deposits. Further insight is obtained from a comparison of burial ages of paired quartz sand and silt of Mississippi Delta overbank deposits. In contrast to some previous investigations, we find that the bleaching of the OSL signal is at least as likely for finer sediment as for coarser sediment of the meandering Mississippi River and its delta. We attribute this to the differences in light exposure related to transport mode (bedload vs. suspended load). In addition, we find an unexpected spatiotemporal pattern in OSL bleaching of mouth bar sand deposits. We suggest this may be caused by changes in upstream pathways of the meandering channel belt(s) within the alluvial valley or by distributary channel and coastal dynamics within the delta. Our study demonstrates that the degree of OSL signal bleaching of sand in a large delta can be highly time- and/or space-dependent. Silt is shown to be generally sufficiently bleached in both the modern Mississippi River and associated paleo-deposits regardless of age, and silt may therefore provide a viable option for obtaining OSL chronologies in megadeltas. Our work contributes to initiatives to use luminescence signals to fingerprint sediment pathways within river channel networks and their deltas and also helps inform luminescence dating approaches in fluviodeltaic environments.

show abstract

Luminescence dating of delta sediments: Novel approaches explored for the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta

Cited by 43 publications

References 78 publications

Widespread infilling of tidal channels and navigable waterways in the human-modified tidal deltaplain of southwest Bangladesh

Widespread infilling of tidal channels and navigable waterways in the human-modified tidal deltaplain of southwest Bangladesh

Luminescence as a Sediment Tracer and Provenance Tool

Seeking enlightenment of fluvial sediment pathways by optically stimulated luminescence signal bleaching of river sediments and deltaic deposits

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About