Postglacial Change in Sea Level in the Western North Atlantic Ocean

Redfield, Alfred C.

doi:10.1126/science.157.3789.687

Cited by 91 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The younger dates from Northumberland Strait indicate that in addition to eustatic sea level rise crustal subsidence of the land has taken place. A similar movement has also been described by Grant for the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and for more southerly areas of the Atlantic Shelf by Redfield ( 1967), Emery and Garrison ( 1967), Newman and March ( 1968), and others.…”

Section: Radiocarbon Age Determinationsmentioning

confidence: 60%

Geomorphological Development and Post-Pleistocene Sea Level Changes, Northumberland Strait, Maritime Provinces

Kranck¹

1972

Can. J. Earth Sci.

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Radiocarbon dates, continuous seismic reflection lines, echograms, bottom sediments, and surface topography are used to establish the geomorphological development and post-Pleistocene sea level changes in Northumberland Strait. The oldest recognizable topography is a pre-Pleistocene drainage system eroded into the bedrock. During the post-Pleistocene marine transgression four terraces were formed. Their ages and spatial distribution reflect the combined effect of postglacial sea level changes and crustal movement. After glacial withdrawal the strait was occupied by two estuaries separated by an isthmus. In the west, the sea initially covered much of the present land which had not yet recovered from glacial depression. Between about 13 000 and 7088 years B.P. glacial rebound caused temporary regression of the shoreline until rise in sea level again became the dominant force. In the east, rise in sea level always kept pace with any rebound, and has gradually enlarged and deepened the submerged area; Northumberland Strait became a continuous body of water about 5000 years B.P. when the isthmus to Prince Edward Island was breached. Comparison with sea level curves from other areas of the world indicate that Northumberland Strait has been subsiding during the last 7000 years. The rate of subsidence appears to have been greater in the western part of the strait than in the eastern. It is suggested that this part of the Maritime Provinces lies between areas of positive and negative crustal movement.Le dCveloppement gComorphologique du Pas de Northumberland et les variation post-PlCistockne du niveau de la mer dans cette rCgion ont Ct C Ctablis aux moyens de dates au radiocarbone, de profils continus de riflection seismique, d'Cchogrammes, et d'etudes des saiments du fond et de la topographie de surface. La plus ancienne topographie que l'on puisse reconnaitre est un systkme de drainage prC-PlCistockne, incis dans la roche de fond. Pendant la transgression marine post-PlCistocbne, quatre terrasses ont Ct C formks. Leur 5ge et leur distribution dans l'espace tCmoignent de l'effet combink d'une variation eustatique post-glaciaire et de mouvements de la croQte. Aprks le retrait des glaces, le pas fut occupC par deux estuaires, sCparCs par un isthme. A l'ouest, la majeure partie du terrain actuel, n'ayant pas encore rtcupCrC de son abaissement sous le poids des glaces, Ctait ennoyCe sous la mer. Entre environ 13 000 et 7000 ans B.P., le reMvement isostatique provoqua le retrait temporaire de la mer, jusqu'h ce que la montee eustatique des eaux redevint le facteur prkdominant. A l'est, la montCe du niveau de la mer s'est toujours maintenue au pas avec tout relkvement isostatique et graduellement a permis un Clargissement et un aprofondissement des rdgions submergkes. Le Pas de Northumberland est devenu un Ctendu d'eau continu vers 5000 ans B.P., au moment oh l'isthme menant h l'ile du Prince-Edouard fut CbrkchC. Des comparaisons des courbes eustatiques avec celles venant d'autres rCgions du monde indiquent que le Pas de North...

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Section: Radiocarbon Age Determinationsmentioning

confidence: 60%

Geomorphological Development and Post-Pleistocene Sea Level Changes, Northumberland Strait, Maritime Provinces

Kranck¹

1972

Can. J. Earth Sci.

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“…Compared to recent rates of land surface subsidence on farmed islands in the Delta (0.5-3.0 cm year −1 ; Deverel 1993, 1995;Deverel and Leighton 2009), estimated rates of vertical accretion are quite low. However, in comparison to other peatland types, estimated vertical accretion rates for the Delta are greater than some millennial rates in inland boreal regions (e.g., 0.05 cm year −1 over 6,000 year from Zoltai and Johnson 1984;0.04-0.06 cm year −1 over 1,200 years from Robinson and Moore 1999) and within millennial rates in salt marshes in the northeastern USA (e.g., 0.11-0.25 cm year −1 over the past 4,000-5,000 years ;Bloom 1964;Redfield 1967;Bartberger 1976;Keene 1971). In comparison to other tidal freshwater marshes, mean accretion rates in this study are very similar to those measured in a Pamunkey River marsh in Virginia, USA (0.15-0.17 cm year −1 over 3,500 years; Neubauer 2008), greater than "pre-Colonial" sedimentation in a Delaware River marsh in NJ, USA (0.04 cm year −1 ; between approximately 2,000 and 300 years BP; Orson et al 1990), and greater than rates in a marsh in the Patuxent River estuary in MD, USA (0.04-0.08 cm year −1 , between approximately 1,000 and 1,400 years BP; Khan and Brush 1994).…”

Section: Vertical Accretionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peat Accretion Histories During the Past 6,000 Years in Marshes of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, CA, USA

Drexler

Fontaine

Brown

2009

Estuaries and Coasts

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The purpose of this study was to determine how vertical accretion rates in marshes vary through the millennia. Peat cores were collected in remnant and drained marshes in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of California. Cubic smooth spline regression models were used to construct age-depth models and accretion histories for three remnant marshes. Estimated vertical accretion rates at these sites range from 0.03 to 0.49 cm year −1 . The mean contribution of organic matter to soil volume at the remnant marsh sites is generally stable (4.73% to 6.94%), whereas the mean contribution of inorganic matter to soil volume has greater temporal variability (1.40% to 7.92%). The hydrogeomorphic position of each marsh largely determines the inorganic content of peat. Currently, the remnant marshes are keeping pace with sea level rise, but this balance may shift for at least one of the sites under future sea level rise scenarios.

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“…Redfield (1967) and Neumann (1969Neumann ( , 1971Neumann ( , 1972 ascertained the course of the Holocene sea level rise by using depths of peat/bedrock interfaces as well as 14C-ages of peat. Kuhn (1984) and Meischner et ai.…”

Section: Pleistocene Sea Level Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marine and meteoric diagenesis of submarine pleistocene carbonates from the Bermuda Carbonate Platform

Vollbrecht

1990

Carbonates Evaporites

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The tectonically stable Bermuda Carbonate Platform has undergone repeated emersions and submersions in the course of the Pleistocene sea-level changes. Shallow seismic reflection profiling and high-energy vibration coring gave access to Pleistocene carbonates that are presently situated below sea level. A study of their diagenesis was undertaken in order to document the changes occuring in various diagenetic environments, to check a, possible correlation between the state of diagenetic preservation and stratigraphic age, and to estimate the odds for a complete diagenetic imaging of a sediment's pore-water history. For the purpose of comparison, several samples from the modern Bermuda Islands were analysed as well.As indicated by their biogenic constituents, the submarine Pleistocene carbonates were chiefly composed of aragonite and high-Mg-calcite at the onset of diagenesis, whereas they now commonly appear as mixtures of aragonite and low-Mg-calcite. Marine cements (five kinds of high-Mgcalcite cement, three kinds of aragonite cement) are, as a rule, restricted to the intraparticle pore space. Meteoric influence inflicted neomorphism, cementation with low-Mg-calcite (several kinds of cement) and solution on the marine carbonates. These are characterized by patchy lithification, abundant preserved pore space and incomplete mineralogical stabilization. Furthermore, especially in lagoonal sediments, burrow or root structures have been preferentially cemented. Indicators of karst and calichification are common. High-Mg-calcite is usually the first mineral to disappear under meteoric influence; aragonite is more stable. Intensely altered carbonates consist entirely of low-Mg-calcite, whereas dolomite does not occur at all.Diagenetic indications of meteoric-phreatic alteration are generally uncommon, but support the idea of fresh-water lenses that are largely restricted to the proximity of the present islands. Most of the carbonates, however, have received their decisive diagenetic imprints in the meteoricvadose environment.The diagenetic record within the carbonates is incomplete. Only one pore-water change is recorded, from a marine to a meteoric environment. Undoubted post-meteoric marine cements are absent from the studied Pleistocene material except for some intensely Iithified littoral deposits on the present islands. Obviously, the diagenetic potential of the marine environment was too small to compete with the meteoric environment. Under these circumstances, a reconstruction of pore-water history based on diagenetic sequences is deceptive.

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Postglacial Change in Sea Level in the Western North Atlantic Ocean

Cited by 91 publications

References 12 publications

Geomorphological Development and Post-Pleistocene Sea Level Changes, Northumberland Strait, Maritime Provinces

Geomorphological Development and Post-Pleistocene Sea Level Changes, Northumberland Strait, Maritime Provinces

Peat Accretion Histories During the Past 6,000 Years in Marshes of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, CA, USA

Marine and meteoric diagenesis of submarine pleistocene carbonates from the Bermuda Carbonate Platform

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