TY - JOUR T1 - Complex coastal change in response to autogenic basin infilling: An example from a sub-tropical Holocene strandplain JF - Sedimentology Y1 - 2016 A1 - Hein, Christopher J. A1 - FitzGerald, Duncan M. A1 - de Souza, Luis H. P. A1 - Georgiou, Ioannis Y. A1 - Buynevich, Ilya V. A1 - Klein, Antonio H. da F. A1 - de Menezes, ão Thadeu A1 - Cleary, William J. A1 - Scolaro, Thelma L. ED - Mohrig, David AB - Thick bay-fill sequences that often culminate in strandplain development serve as important sedimentary archives of land–ocean interaction, although distinguishing between internal and external forcings is an ongoing challenge. This study employs sediment cores, ground-penetrating radar surveys, radiocarbon dates, palaeogeographic reconstructions and hydrodynamic modelling to explore the role of autogenic processes – notably a reduction in wave energy in response to coastal embayment infilling – in coastal evolution and shoreline morphodynamics. Following a regional 2 to 4 m highstand at ca 5·8 ka, the 75 km2 Tijucas Strandplain in southern Brazil built from fluvial sediments deposited into a semi-enclosed bay. Holocene regressive deposits are underlain by fluvial sands and a Pleistocene transgressive–regressive sequence, and backed by a highstand barrier-island. The strandplain is immediately underlain by 5 to 16 m of seaward-thickening, fluvially derived, Holocene-age, basin-fill mud. Several trends are observed from the landward (oldest) to the seaward (youngest) sections of the strandplain: (i) the upper shoreface and foreshore become finer and thinner and shift from sand-dominated to mud-dominated; (ii) beachface slopes decrease from >11° to ca 7°; and (iii) progradation rates increase from 0·4 to 1·8 m yr−1. Hydrodynamic modelling demonstrates a correlation between progressive shoaling of Tijucas Bay driven by sea-level fall and sediment infilling and a decrease in onshore wave-energy transport from 18 to 4 kW m−1. The combination of allogenic (sediment supply, falling relative sea-level and geology) and autogenic (decrease in wave energy due to bay shoaling) processes drove the development of a regressive system with characteristics that are rare, if not unique, in the Holocene and rock records. These findings demonstrate the complexities in architecture styles of highstand and regressive systems tracts. Furthermore, this article highlights the diverse internal and external processes and feedbacks responsible for the development of these intricate marginal marine sedimentary systems. VL - 63 UR - http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/sed.12265 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Evidence for a transgressive barrier within a regressive strandplain system: Implications for complex coastal response to environmental change JF - Sedimentology Y1 - 2013 A1 - Hein, Christopher J. A1 - FitzGerald, Duncan M. A1 - Cleary, William J. A1 - ALBERNAZ, MARCIO B. A1 - De MENEZES, JOAO THADEU A1 - Klein, Antonio H. da F. AB - Clastic, depositional strandplain systems have the potential to record changes in the primary drivers of coastal evolution: climate, sea-level, and the frequency of major meteorological and oceanographic events. This study seeks to use one such record from a southern Brazilian strandplain to highlight the potentially-complex nature of coastal sedimentological response to small changes in these drivers. Following a 2 to 4 m highstand at ca 5·8 ka in southern Brazil, falling sea-level reworked shelf sediment onshore, forcing coastal progradation, smoothing the irregular coastline and forming the 5 km wide Pinheira Strandplain, composed of ca 500 successive beach and dune ridges. Sediment cores, grab samples and >11 km of ground-penetrating radar profiles reveal that the strandplain sequence is composed of well-sorted, fine to very-fine quartz sand. Since the mid-Holocene highstand, the shoreline prograded at a rate of ca 1 to 2 m yr−1 through the deposition of a 4 to 6 m thick shoreface unit; a 1 to 3 m thick foreshore unit containing ubiquitous ridge and runnel facies; and an uppermost beach and foredune unit. However, the discovery of a linear, 100 m wide barrier ridge with associated washover units, a 3 to 4 m deep lagoon and 250 m wide tidal inlet within the strandplain sequence reveals a period of shoreline transgression at 3·3 to 2·8 ka during the otherwise regressive developmental history of the plain. The protected nature of Pinheira largely buffered it from changes in precipitation patterns, wave energy and fluvial sediment supply during the time of its formation. However, multiple lines of evidence indicate that a change in the rate of relative sea-level fall, probably due to either steric or ice-volume effects, may have affected this coastline. Thus, whereas these other potential drivers cannot be fully discounted, this study provides insights into the complexity of decadal-scale to millennial-scale coastal response to likely variability in sea-level change rates. VL - 60 UR - http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2012.01348.x IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Refining the model of barrier island formation along a paraglacial coast in the Gulf of Maine JF - Marine Geology Y1 - 2012 A1 - Hein, Christopher J. A1 - FitzGerald, Duncan M. A1 - Carruthers, Emily A. A1 - Stone, Byron D. A1 - Barnhardt, Walter A. A1 - Gontz, Allen M. KW - barrier-island formation KW - ground-penetrating radar KW - inlet processes KW - inlet-fill sequence KW - paraglacial KW - spit accretion AB - Details of the internal architecture and local geochronology of Plum Island, the longest barrier in the Gulf of Maine, have refined our understanding of barrier island formation in paraglacial settings. Ground-penetrating radar and shallow-seismic profiles coupled with sediment cores and radiocarbon dates provide an 8000-year evolutionary history of this barrier system in response to changes in sediment sources and supply rates as well as variability in the rate of sea-level change. The barrier sequence overlies tills of Wisconsinan and Illinoian glaciations as well as late Pleistocene glaciomarine clay deposited during the post-glacial sea-level highstand at approximately 17 ka. Holocene sediment began accumulating at the site of Plum Island at 7–8 ka, in the form of coarse fluvial channel-lag deposits related to the 50-m wide erosional channel of the Parker River that carved into underlying glaciomarine deposits during a lower stand of sea level. Plum Island had first developed in its modern location by ca. 3.6 ka through onshore migration and vertical accretion of reworked regressive and lowstand deposits. The prevalence of southerly, seaward-dipping layers indicates that greater than 60% of the barrier lithosome developed in its modern location through southerly spit progradation, consistent with a dominantly longshore transport system driven by northeast storms. Thinner sequences of northerly, landward-dipping clinoforms represent the northern recurve of the prograding spit. A 5–6-m-thick inlet-fill sequence was identified overlying the lower stand fluvial deposit; its stratigraphy captures events of channel migration, ebb-delta breaching, onshore bar migration, channel shoaling and inlet infilling associated with the migration and eventual closure of the inlet. This inlet had a maximum cross-sectional area of 2800 m2 and was active around 3.5–3.6 ka. Discovery of this inlet suggests that the tidal prism was once larger than at present. Bay infilling, driven by the import of sediment into the backbarrier environment through tidal inlets, as well as minor sediment contribution from local rivers, led to a vast reduction in the bay tidal prism. This study demonstrates that, prior to about 3 ka, Plum Island and its associated marshes, tidal flats, and inlets were in a paraglacial environment; that is, their main source of sediment was derived from the erosion and reworking of glaciogenic deposits. Since that time, Plum Island has been in a state of dynamic equilibrium with its non-glacial sediment sources and therefore can be largely considered to be in a stable, “post-paraglacial” state. This study is furthermore the first in the Gulf of Maine to show that spit accretion and inlet processes were the dominant mechanisms in barrier-island formation and thus serves as a foundation for future investigations of barrier development in response to backbarrier infilling. VL - 307-310 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2012.03.001 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Evolution of a Pharaonic harbor on the Red Sea: Implications for coastal response to changes in sea level and climate JF - GEOLOGY Y1 - 2011 A1 - Hein, Christopher J. A1 - FitzGerald, Duncan M. A1 - Milne, Glenn A. A1 - Bard, Kathryn A1 - Fattovich, Rodolfo AB - The evolution of coastal systems during the Holocene resulted from complex interactions and temporal shifts in the relative contribution of sea-level changes, climate change, and sedimentary processes. Along the Red Sea Coast, a 0.5-2 m highstand of sea level at 5 ka can be directly attributed to far-field effects resulting from the reduction in land ice following the last glacial maximum. At the ancient Egyptian harbor of Mersa/Wadi Gawasis, the site of the world's oldest archaeological evidence of long-distance seafaring, stratigraphic and geomorphologic evidence has been identified for this highstand. Here, wadi sediment input, enhanced by a period of wetter climate of the African Humid Period (early to mid-Holocene), forced the closure of coastal embayments, despite ongoing, relatively rapid sea-level rise. A stable, shallow bay persisted at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis as a result of coincidental aridization and a highstand of sea level during the mid-Holocene. This bay served as the primary harbor for ancient Egyptian trade along the Red Sea coast. During the late Holocene, shoreline progradation was dominated by sea-level fall, driven by isostatic processes. These results demonstrate the interplay of various global (sea level), regional (climate, sea level), and local (sedimentation, bathymetry) controls on the coastal evolution of the Red Sea and how these controls dictated the response of a complex civilization. Furthermore, they highlight the crucial role played by sedimentation in governing coastal response to changing sea levels. VL - 39 ER -