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Optically stimulated luminescence age controls on late Pleistocene and Holocene coastal lithosomes, North Carolina, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David Mallinson ,
Kevin Burdette ,
Shannon Mahan  and
George Brook
David Mallinson*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
Kevin Burdette
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L8
Shannon Mahan
Affiliation:
Luminescence Dating Laboratory, USGS Federal Facility, Denver, CO 80225, USA
George Brook
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:mallinsond@ecu.edu (D. Mallinson).
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Abstract

Luminescence ages from a variety of coastal features on the North Carolina Coastal Plain provide age control for shoreline formation and relative sea-level position during the late Pleistocene. A series of paleoshoreline ridges, dating to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a and MIS 3 have been defined. The Kitty Hawk beach ridges, on the modern Outer Banks, yield ages of 3 to 2 ka. Oxygen-isotope data are used to place these deposits in the context of global climate and sea-level change. The occurrence of MIS 5a and MIS 3 shorelines suggests that glacio-isostatic adjustment (GIA) of the study area is large (ca. 22 to 26 m), as suggested and modeled by other workers, and/or MIS 3 sea level was briefly higher than suggested by some coral reef studies. Correcting the shoreline elevations for GIA brings their elevation in line with other sea-level indicators. The age of the Kitty Hawk beach ridges places the Holocene shoreline well west of its present location at ca. 3 to 2 ka. The age of shoreline progradation is consistent with the ages of other beach ridge complexes in the southeast USA, suggesting some regionally contemporaneous forcing mechanism.

Keywords

Optically stimulated luminescenceCoastal geologyQuaternary sea levelPaleoshorelineGlacio-isostasy
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 69 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 97 - 109
Copyright
Elsevier Inc.

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