Sea-level variation during the holocene deduced from the morphologic and stratigraphic evolution of Morgan Peninsula, Alabama, U.S.A

Journal of Sedimentary Research

Volumn 76, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 257-269

  Rodriguez, Antonio B ^a   Meyer, Craig T ^b  

^a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill   (United States)

^b Devon Energy Corporation   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EROSION; GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS; GROUND PENETRATING RADAR SYSTEMS; REFLECTION; SEA LEVEL; STRATIGRAPHY;

AVERAGE ELEVATION; GROUND PENETRATING RADAR; INTERNAL COMPLEXITY; SEA LEVEL INDICATORS; SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS; SEDIMENT SUPPLY; STORM ACTIVITIES; UPPER SHOREFACE;

BEACHES;

HOLOCENE; SEA LEVEL CHANGE;

ALABAMA; MORGAN PENINSULA; NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 33644827772     PISSN: 15271404     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2110/jsr.2006.018     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. Andrews, J., 1981, A Field Guide to Shells of the Texas Coast: Houston, Gulf Publishing Company, 176 p.
2. Bard, E., Hamelin, B., Arnold, M., Montaggioni, L., Cabioch, G., Faure, G., and Rougerie, F., 1996, Deglacial sea-level record from Tahiti corals and the timing of global meltwater discharge: Nature, v. 382, p. 241-244.
3. Bernard, H.A., and Leblanc, R.J., 1965, Resume of the Quaternary geology of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico province, in Wright, H.E., and Frey, D.G., eds., The Quaternary of the United States: Princeton, Princeton University Press, p. 137-185.
4. Blanchon, P., and Shaw, J., 1995, Reef drowning during the last deglaciation: evidence for catastrophic sea-level rise and ice-sheet collapse: Geology, v. 23, p. 4-8.
5. Blum, M.D., Carter, A.E., Zayac, T., and Goble, R., 2002, Middle Holocene sea-level and evolution of the Gulf of Mexico: Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, v. 36, p. 65-80.
6. Blum, M.D., Sivers, A.E., Zayac, T., and Goble, R., 2003, Middle Holocene sea-level and the evolution of the Gulf of Mexico coast: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions, v. 53, p. 64-77.
7. Boone, P.A., 1973, Depositional systems of the Alabama, Mississippi, and western Florida coastal zone: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions, v. 23, p. 266-277.
8. Buynevich, I.V., and Fitzgerald, D.M., 2003, High-resolution subsurface (GPR) imaging and sedimentology of coastal ponds, Maine, U.S.A.: implications for Holocene back-barrier evolution: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 73, p. 559-571.
9. Chermock, R.L., Boone, P.A., and Lipp, R.L., 1974, The environment of offshore and estuarine Alabama: Geological Survey of Alabama, Information Series 51, p. 135.
10. Crance, J.H., 1971, Description of Alabama estuarine areas - cooperative Gulf of Mexico estuarine inventory: Alabama Marine Resources Bulletin, v. 6, p. 1-85.
11. Curray, J.R., 1960, Sediments and history of Holocene transgression, continental shelf, northwest Gulf of Mexico, in Shepard, F.P., Phleger, F.B., and Van Andel, T.H., eds., Recent Sediments Northwest Gulf of Mexico: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, p. 221-226.
12. Curray, J.R., 1996, Origin of beach ridges: Comment on Tanner, W.F., 1995, Origin of beach ridges and swales, Marine Geology, v. 129, p. 149-161: Marine Geology, v. 136, p. 121-125.
13. Donoghue, J.F., and Tanner, W.F., 1992, Quaternary terraces and shorelines of the panhandle Florida region, in Fletcher, C.H., and Wehmiller, J.F., eds., Quaternary Coasts of the United States: Marine and Lacustrine Systems: SEPM, Special Publication 48, p. 233-241.
14. Douglass, S.L., 2001, State of the beaches of Alabama: 2001, University of South Alabama Report: Mobile, Alabama, Civil Engineering Department, University of South Alabama, p. 44.
15. Fairbanks, R.G., 1989, A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation: Nature, v. 342, p. 637-642.
16. FitzGerald, D.M., Baldwin, C.T., Ibrahim, N.A., and Humphries, S.M., 1992, Sedimentologic and morphologic evolution of a beach-ridge barrier along an indented coast: Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, in Fletcher, C.H., and Wehmiller, J.F., eds., Quaternary Coasts of the United States: Marine and Lacustrine Systems: SEPM, Special Publication 48, p. 65-75.
17. FitzGerald, D.M., Kulp, M., Penland, S., Flocks, J., and Kindinger, J., 2004, Morphologic and stratigraphic evolution of muddy ebb-tidal deltas along a subsiding coast: Barataria Bay, Mississippi River delta: Sedimentology, v. 51, p. 1157-1178.
18. Frazier, D.E., 1974, Depositional episodes: their relationship to Quaternary framework in the northwestern portion of the Gulf Basin: Austin, The University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geologic Circular, 74-1, 28 p.
19. Garcia, A.W., 1977, Dauphin Island littoral transport calculations: US Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station, Miscellaneous Paper H-77-11, p. 12.
20. Hampson, G.J., 2000, Discontinuity surfaces, clinoforms, and facies architecture in a wave-dominated, shoreface-shelf parasequence: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 70, p. 325-340.
21. Hampson, G.J., and Storms, J.E.A., 2003, Geomorphological and sequence stratigraphic variability in wave-dominated, shoreface-shelf parasequences: Sedimentology, v. 50, p. 667-701.
22. Harris, M.S., Gays, P.T., Kindinger, J.L., Flocks, J.G., Krantz, D.E., and Donovan, P., 2005, Quaternary geomorphology and modern coastal development in response to an inherent geologic framework: an example from Charleston, South Carolina: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 21, p. 49-64.
23. Hayne, M., and Chappell, J., 2001, Cyclone frequency during the last 5000 years at Curacoa Island, north Queensland, Australia: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 168, p. 207-219.
24. Helland-Hansen, W., and Martinsen, O.J., 1996, Shoreline trajectories and sequences: description of variable depositional-dip scenarios: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 66, p. 670-688.
25. Honeycutt, M.G., and Krantz, D.E., 2003, Influence of antecedent geology on spatial variability in shoreline change, Bethany Beach, Delaware: Proceedings of the International Conference on Coastal Sediments, CD-ROM.
26. Jol, H.M., Lawton, D.C., and Smith, D.G., 2002, Ground penetrating radar: 2-D and 3-D subsurface imaging of a coastal barrier spit, Long Beach, WA, USA: Geomorphology, v. 53, p. 165-181.
27. Kamola, D.L., and Van Wagoner, J.C., 1995, Stratigraphy and facies architecture of parasequences with examples from the Spring Canyon Member, Blackhawk Formation, Utah, in Van Wagoner, J.C., and Bertram, G.T., eds., Sequence Stratigraphy of Foreland Basin Deposits: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 64, p. 27-54.
28. Kindinger, J.L., Balson, P.S., and Flocks, J.G., 1994, Stratigraphy of the Mississippi-Alabama shelf and the Mobile River incised-valley system, in Dalrymple, R.W., Boyd, R., and Zaitlin, B.A., eds., Incised-Valley Systems: Origin and Sedimentary Sequences: SEPM, Special Publication 51, p. 83-95.
29. Lambert, W.J., Aharon, P., and Rodriguez, A.B., 2003, An assessment of the late Holocene record of severe storm impacts from Lake Shelby, Alabama: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions, v. 53, p. 443-452.
30. Liu, K.-B., and Fearn, M.L., 1993, Lake-sediment record of late Holocene hurricane activities from coastal Alabama: Geology, v. 21, p. 793-796.
31. Liu, K.-B., and Fearn, M.L., 2000, Reconstruction of prehistoric landfall frequencies of catastrophic hurricanes in northwestern Florida from lake sediment records: Quaternary Research, v. 54, p. 238-245.
32. McBride, R.A., Anderson, L.C., Tudoran, A., and Roberts, H.H., 1999, Holocene stratigraphic architecture of a sand-rich shelf and the origin of linear shoals: northeastern Gulf of Mexico, in Bergman, K.M., and Snedden, J.W., eds., Isolated Shallow Marine Sand Bodies; Sequences, Stratigraphic Analysis and Sedimentologic Interpretation: SEPM, Special Publication 64, p. 95-126.
33. Menard, H.W., 1967, Transitional types of crust under small ocean basins: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 72, p. 3061-3073.
34. Mitchum, R.M., and Van Wagoner, J.C., 1991, High-frequency sequences and their stacking patterns: sequence stratigraphic evidence of high-frequency eustatic cycles: Sedimentary Geology, v. 70, p. 131-160.
35. Moore, L.J., Jol, H.M., Kruse, S., Vanderburgh, S., and Kaminsky, G.M., 2004, Annual layers revealed by GPR in the subsurface of a prograding coastal barrier, southwest Washington, U.S.A.: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 74, p. 690-696.
36. Morton, R.A., Paine, J.G., and Blum, M.D., 2000, Responses of stable bay-margin and barrier-island systems to Holocene sea-level highstands, western Gulf of Mexico: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 70, p. 478-490.
37. Muller, R.A., and Stone, G.W., 2001, A climatology of tropical storm and hurricane strikes to enhance vulnerability prediction for the southeast U.S. coast: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 17, p. 949-956.
38. Neal, A., 2004, Ground-penetrating radar and its use in sedimentology: principles, problems and progress: Earth-Science Reviews, v. 66, p. 261-330.
39. Nelson, H.F., and Bray, E.E., 1970, Stratigraphy and history of the Holocene sediments in the Sabine-High Island area, Gulf of Mexico, in Morgan, J.P., ed., Deltaic Sedimentation, Modern and Ancient: SEPM, Special Publication 15, p. 48-77.
40. Otvos, E.G., 1972, Pre-Sangamon beach ridges along the northeastern Gulf Coast - fact or fiction?: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions, v. 22, p. 223-228.
41. Otvos, E.G., 1985, Coastal Evolution - Louisiana to Northwest Florida: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Annual Meeting Field Trip Guidebook: New Orleans, New Orleans Geological Society, 91 p.
42. Otvos, E.G., 1991, Houston Ridge, SW Louisiana - end link in the Late Pleistocene Ingleside barrier chain? Prairie Formation newly defined: Southeastern Geology, v. 31, p. 235-249.
43. Otvos, E.G., 1997, Northeastern Gulf Coastal Plain Revisited: Neogene and Quaternary Units and Events Old and New Concepts: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Annual Meeting, Field Trip Guidebook: New Orleans, New Orleans Geological Society, 143 p.
44. Otvos, E.G., 1999, Quaternary coastal history, basin geometry and assumed evidence for hurricane activity, northeastern Gulf of Mexico coastal plain: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 15, p. 438-443.
45. Otvos, E.G., 2000, Beach ridges - definitions and significance: Geomorphology, v. 32, p. 83-108.
46. Otvos, E.G., 2002, Discussion of "Prehistorical landfall frequencies of catastrophic hurricanes..." (Liu and Fearn 2000): Quaternary Research, v. 57, p. 425-428.
47. Otvos, E.G., 2004, Holocene Gulf levels: recognition issues and an updated sea-level curve: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 20, p. 680-699.
48. Otvos, E.G., 2005, Coastal barriers, Gulf of Mexico: Holocene evolution and chronology: Journal of Coastal Research, Rhodes Fairbridge Festschrift Volume, Special Issue 42, p. 141-163.
49. Otvos, E.G., and Howat, W.E., 1992, Late Quaternary coastal units and marine cycles: correlations between northern Gulf sectors: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions, v. 42, p. 571-585.
50. Parker, R.H., 1960, Ecology and distributional patterns of marine macro-invertebrates, northern Gulf of Mexico, in Shepard, F.P., ed., Recent Sediments, Northwest Gulf of Mexico: Tulsa, Oklahoma, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, p. 302-337.
51. Parkinson, R.W., 1989, Decelerating Holocene sea-level rise and its influence on southwest Florida coastal evolution: a transgressive/ regressive stratigraphy: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 59, p. 960-972.
52. Robbin, D.M., 1984, A new Holocene sea level curve for the Upper Florida Keys and Florida reef tract, in Gleason, P.J., ed., Environments of South Florida, Present and Past: Miami, Miami Geological Society, p. 437-458.
53. Rodriguez, A.B., Anderson, J.B., Siringan, F.P., and Taviani, M., 2004, Holocene evolution of the east Texas coast and inner continental shelf: along-strike variability in coastal retreat rates: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 74, p. 405-421.
54. Scholl, D.W., Craighead, F.C., and Stuiver, M., 1969, Florida submergence curve revisited: its relation to coastal sedimentation rate: Science, v. 163, p. 562-564.
55. Smith, D.A., Meyers, R.A., and Jol, H.M., 1999, Sedimentology of an upper-mesotidal (3.7 m) Holocene barrier, Willapa Bay, SW Washington, U.S.A.: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 69, p. 1290-1296.
56. Smith, W.E., 1986, Geomorphology of coastal Baldwin County, Alabama: Tuscaloosa, Geological Survey of Alabama, Bulletin 124, 86 p.
57. Stapor, F.W.J., Mathews, T.D., and Lindfors-Kearns, F.E., 1987, Episodic barrier island growth in southwestern Florida: a response to fluctuating Holocene sea level?: Miami Geological Society, Memoir 3, p. 149-202.
58. Storms, J.E.A., 2003, Event-based stratigraphic simulation of wave-dominated shallow-marine environments: Marine Geology, v. 199, p. 83-100.
59. Storms, J.E.A., and Hampson, G.J., 2005, Mechanisms for forming discontinuity surfaces within shoreface-shelf parasequences: sea level, sediment supply, or wave regime?: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 75, p. 67-81.
60. 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program: Radiocarbon, v. 35, p. 215-230.
61. Swanson, V.E., and Palacas, J.G., 1965, Humate coastal sands of northern Florida: U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 1214, 29 p.
62. Tanner, W.F., 1995, Origin of beach ridges and swales: Marine Geology, v. 129, p. 149-161.
63. Törnqvist, T.E., Gonzalez, J., Newsom, L., Van Der Borg, K., and De Jong, A.F.M., 2002, Reconstructing "background" rates of sea-level rise as a tool for forecasting coastal wetland loss, Mississippi delta: American Geophysical Union, EOS, Transactions, v. 83, p. 525, 530-531.
64. Törnqvist, T.E., Gonzalez, J.L., Newsom, L., Van Der Borg, K., De Jong, A.F.M., and Kurnik, C.W., 2004, Deciphering Holocene sea-level history on the U.S. Gulf Coast: a high-resolution record from the Mississippi Delta: Geological Society of America, Bulletin, v. 116, p. 1026-1039.
65. Toscano, M.A., and Lundberg, J., 1998, Early Holocene sea-level record from submerged fossil reefs on the southeast Florida margin: Geology, v. 26, p. 255-258.
66. 14C dates from Acropora palmata framework and intertidal mangrove peat: Coral Reefs, v. 22, p. 257-270.
67. van Heteren, S., and van de Plassche, O., 1997, Influence of relative sea-level change and tidal-inlet development on barrier-spit stratigraphy, sandy neck, Massachusetts: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 67, p. 350-363.
68. van Heteren, S., Huntley, D.J., van de Plassche, O., and Lubberts, R.K., 2000, Optical dating of dune sand for the study of sea-level change: Geology, v. 28, p. 411-413.
69. Van Wagoner, J.C., Mitchum, R.M., Jr., Campion, K.M., and Rahman-Ian, V.D., 1990, Siliciclastic Sequence Stratigraphy in Well Logs, Core, and Outcrops: Concepts for High-Resolution Correlation of Time and Facies: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Methods in Exploration Series 7, 55 p.