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Late Holocene sea-level changes and isostasy in western Denmark

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

W. Roland Gehrels ,
Katie Szkornik ,
Jesper Bartholdy ,
Jason R. Kirby ,
Sarah L. Bradley ,
William A. Marshall ,
Jan Heinemeier  and
Jørn B.T. Pedersen
W. Roland Gehrels*
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK
Katie Szkornik
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK
Jesper Bartholdy
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark
Jason R. Kirby
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK
Sarah L. Bradley
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
William A. Marshall
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK
Jan Heinemeier
Affiliation:
AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Århus, DK-8000 Århus C, Denmark
Jørn B.T. Pedersen
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +44 1752 233054. E-mail address:wrgehrels@plymouth.ac.uk (W.R. Gehrels).
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Abstract

Cores and exposed cliff sections in salt marshes around Ho Bugt, a tidal embayment in the northernmost part of the Danish Wadden Sea, were subjected to 14C dating and litho- and biostratigraphical analyses to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes and to establish a late Holocene relative sea-level history. Four stages in the late Holocene development of Ho Bugt can be identified: (1) groundwater-table rise and growth of basal peat (from at least 2300 BC to AD 0); (2) salt-marsh formation (0 to AD 250); (3) a freshening phase (AD 250 to AD 1600?), culminating in the drying out of the marshes and producing a distinct black horizon followed by an aeolian phase with sand deposition; and (4) renewed salt-marsh deposition (AD 1600? to present). From 16 calibrated AMS radiocarbon ages on fossil plant fragments and 4 calibrated conventional radiocarbon ages on peat, we reconstructed a local relative sea-level history that shows a steady sea-level rise of 4 m since 4000 cal yr BP. Contrary to suggestions made in the literature, the relative sea-level record of Ho Bugt does not contain a late Holocene highstand. Relative sea-level changes at Ho Bugt are controlled by glacio-isostatic subsidence and can be duplicated by a glacial isostatic adjustment model in which no water is added to the world's oceans after ca. 5000 cal yr BP.

Keywords

DiatomsForaminiferaGlacio-isostasyHo BugtNorth SeaWadden SeaSalt marsh
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , September 2006 , pp. 288 - 302
Copyright
University of Washington

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