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Quantifying the Contribution of Sediment Compaction to late Holocene Salt-Marsh Sea-Level Reconstructions, North Carolina, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Matthew J. Brain ,
Andrew C. Kemp ,
Benjamin P. Horton ,
Stephen J. Culver ,
Andrew C. Parnell  and
Niamh Cahill
Matthew J. Brain*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Institute of Hazard Risk and Resilience, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
Andrew C. Kemp
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
Benjamin P. Horton
Affiliation:
Institute of Coastal and Marine Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA Division of Earth Sciences and Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore
Stephen J. Culver
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
Andrew C. Parnell
Affiliation:
School of Mathematical Sciences (Statistics), University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Niamh Cahill
Affiliation:
School of Mathematical Sciences (Statistics), University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:matthew.brain@durham.ac.uk (M.J. Brain).
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Abstract

Salt-marsh sediments provide accurate and precise reconstructions of late Holocene relative sea-level changes. However, compaction of salt-marsh stratigraphies can cause post-depositional lowering (PDL) of the samples used to reconstruct sea level, creating an estimation of former sea level that is too low and a rate of rise that is too great. We estimated the contribution of compaction to late Holocene sea-level trends reconstructed at Tump Point, North Carolina, USA. We used a geotechnical model that was empirically calibrated by performing tests on surface sediments from modern depositional environments analogous to those encountered in the sediment core. The model generated depth-specific estimates of PDL, allowing samples to be returned to their depositional altitudes. After removing an estimate of land-level change, error-in-variables changepoint analysis of the decompacted and original sea-level reconstructions identified three trends. Compaction did not generate artificial sea-level trends and cannot be invoked as a causal mechanism for the features in the Tump Point record. The maximum relative contribution of compaction to reconstructed sea-level change was 12%. The decompacted sea-level record shows 1.71 mm yr− 1 of rise since AD 1845.

Keywords

Post-depositional loweringTump PointSalt-marsh peat
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 41 - 51
Copyright
University of Washington

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