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The aim of this paper is to evaluate the position of the Holocene transgression on the coast of the Valencia Gulf. To achieve this goal, a sedimentological and micropaleontological analysis of samples of fossil benthic foraminifera in cores from six boreholes drilled in three different wetlands (Almenara marsh, Moro marsh and Valencia lagoon) was carried out. In order to assess the extent of sea level change, at least three factors must be taken into account: 1) eustatic rise (global scale) 2) neotectonics (regional scale) and 3) the sedimentary factor (local and regional scale). Regarding the first factor, some authors have noted that the Holocene transgression reached +1 m above the current sea level in this area. As for the second factor, while the Valencia lagoon is located on a subsiding coast the northernmost marshes are located on a tectonically stable coast. Finally, sedimentation rates are highly variable depending on the area; whereas in the Valencia lagoon the shoreline generally shifts seawards (progradation) in the northernmost areas the coast is currently undergoing retrogradation, although the anthropic factor clearly interferes with this pattern. One of the main conclusions is that in the Valencian coast the Holocene maximum relative sea level did not exceed the present-day one, except in the case of the subsiding area of the Valencia lagoon. The calculation of sedimentation rates, the relative sea-level curve and the evolution of the water column in the different wetlands seem to corroborate it. Radiocarbon and AAR analyses allowed us to date the maximum extent of the Holocene transgression on the Valencian coast at around 5500 cal yr BP in all cases. Despite the different subsidence the three studied wetlands reflected the predominant marine influence until 5500–5200 BP, which was later followed by a growing fluvial or continental incidence, when glacioeustatic adjustments defined the patterns of coastal progradation. [Display omitted] • Location of the MIS 1 coastline position in three West Mediterranean wetlands. • The global Holocene eustatic rise invaded the three wetlands at least 5300 years BP. • Subsidence rate determined different MIS 1 relative sea-level rise in the wetlands. • Tectonic stability in the northern wetlands involved slower relative sea-level rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The speculative method and data suggested by Lario et al. [J. Lario, C.J. Dabrio, C. Zazo, J.L. Goy, F. Borja, A. Cabero, T. Bardají, P.G. Silva, 2010, Comment on “Formation of chenier plain of the Doñana marshland (SW Spain): Observations and geomorphic model” by A. Rodríguez-Ramírez and C.M. Yáñez-Camacho [Marine Geology 254 (2008) 187–196], Marine Geology, this Issue] and other researchers in their papers and comments about the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect in the Gulf of Cádiz are unreliable. The previous regional investigations (Soares''s comment [A.M.M. Soares, 2010, Comment on “Formation of chenier plain of the Doñana marshland (SW Spain): Observations and geomorphic model” by A. Rodríguez-Ramírez and C.M. Yáñez-Camacho [Marine Geology 254 (2008) 187–196], Marine Geology, this Issue] and others papers) about the calibration of radiocarbon marine samples cannot be ignored or undervalued. At present, accurate and reliable ΔR values exist and must be used when building up chronological frameworks for the interpretation of Holocene marine environments. During the interval 2000–200 BP or circa 4500BP ΔR values from the Andalusian coast of the Gulf of Cádiz are invariably lower than those from the Algarvian coast. Its calculated weighted mean is −135±20 14Cyr. Between 4000BP and 2000BP ΔR data are still lacking but a conservative ΔR value of 100±100 14Cyr can be adopted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Rodríguez-Ramírez and Yáñez-Camacho (2008), Rodríguez-Vidal et al. (2009) and Rodríguez-Ramírez et al. (2009) have kept an ongoing discussion about the validity of radiocarbon ages in reconstructing Holocene palaeogeographical models in the Gulf of Cadiz. The discussion considered the validity and correctness of the ΔR value to be used in the area to calibrate radiocarbon ages of marine samples. These papers suggest that the ΔR value proposed by Lario (1996) and Dabrio et al. (1999, 2000) is erroneous, and consequently, that all the evolutionary models based on radiocarbon ages from marine samples that have been proposed in this area since 1996 must be revised. However, the papers commented here use erroneously the R, regional R and ΔR values. After reviewing the published data, it is apparent that the most reliable values of ΔR in the Gulf of Cadiz for middle-late Holocene samples range between ΔR =35±85yr and ΔR =95±15yr. This means that the values used in Lario (1996) and Dabrio et al. (1999, 2000) fall in this range, and also that the calibrated ages used by several authors adopting these values are fully reliable. Calibrations using ΔR values inside this range do not yield significant differences in terms of geological age owing to the magnitude of errors resulting from the methods employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a biostratigraphic framework for the last 50 kyr in the contourite depositional system (CDS) of the Gulf of Cádiz with a solid and independent age control, and tests the reliability of faunal-based analyses in a bottom current-dominated environment related to high current velocities. The distribution of planktonic foraminifera and pteropods has been studied in twenty-two piston cores of the Holocene and Late Pleistocene age from the Gulf of Cádiz. A detailed correlation between the cores has been made possible by a large radiocarbon and isotopic data set and a high degree of similarity of frequency changes within several species by coiling direction changes of Globorotalia truncatulinoides and Globorotalia hirsuta and by occurrences of the polar species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma and Limacina retroversa . Occurrences of these polar species are clearly related to paleoclimatic oscillations and reflect rapidly changing surface water conditions in the Gulf of Cádiz during the latest Pleistocene that have been observed regardless of sedimentation rates and sedimentary environments (contouritic drifts vs slope without bottom current influence). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the geological and morphological evolution of the prograded Cassino barrier during the middle and late Holocene. A special focus is given on the presentation and discussion of records of environmental changes that occurred during barrier progradation. The results demonstrated that variable rates of progradation were produced by environmental changes that affected the coastal sediment budget, such as changes in the wave climate. The total progradation of 18 km recorded for the Cassino barrier is probably the highest extension of progradation registered for a ridge plain associated with a coastal barrier. Sea-level changes during barrier progradation were accessed by the high difference between the degree of compaction of the foredune and backshore/foreshore deposits detected by the drilling system applied in this study and were confirmed by the limit of those deposits, which were also revealed by GPR records. During most of the time of barrier progradation, an overall sea-level fall of approximately 2 ± 1 m occurred. Six sets of relict foredune ridges were identified, and the limits between them were well marked by ridge truncations and the formation of transgressive dune sheets (TDS). Optically stimulated luminescence ages show that the TDS were formed under the driest climate conditions, with age periods very close to 3.8, 3.5, 1.9, 1.5, 0.22 and 0.09 ka ago, interspersed with ages of known wetter conditions in southern Brazil. The modern phases of TDS formation, with ages varying from 0.25 to 0.22 ka ago, were coincident with the time period of the younger pulse of the Little Ice Age (LIA), which was characterized by arid and cold conditions in southern South America. A comparison with prograded barriers located 350 to 600 km to the north suggests the existence of teleconnections, with phases of TDS and parabolic dunes that formed with a time interval of approximately 405 to 583 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the role of fjords in modulating the long-term interaction between ice sheets and glaciers with the surrounding ocean requires the investigation of glacigenic landform and sediment archives. In Svalbard, there is a wealth of data from fjords in west Spitsbergen that constrains the glacial history of this sector of the Svalbard-Barents Sea Ice Sheet (SBIS) since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and the nature and timing of subsequent ice retreat. In contrast, however, very little is known about the glacial history of fjords in east Spitsbergen. This paper combines multibeam swath-bathymetry, sub-bottom profiles, lithological data and radiocarbon dates from Lomfjorden, Svalbard, to provide the first insights into the dynamics of tidewater glaciers and associated glacimarine sedimentary processes in a northeast Spitsbergen fjord. At the LGM, a fast-flowing ice stream drained the SBIS through Lomfjorden, serving as a tributary to a south-north flowing ice stream in Hinlopenstretet. Ice advance is recorded by streamlined bedrock, glacial lineations and drumlins. A radiocarbon date of ∼9.7 ka BP from the outer fjord provides a minimum date for retreat of this ice stream, and suggests that Lomfjorden was ice-free earlier than fjords in west Spitsbergen. Ice retreat occurred in a slow and step-wise manner, indicated by the presence of recessional moraines and De Geer moraines. By 4.5 ka BP the local tidewater glaciers had probably retreated inland of their present positions. The limited extent of glacigenic landform assemblages in front of these glaciers implies that any Holocene re-advances were probably restricted. The principal sedimentary processes during deglaciation were suspension settling from meltwater, causing deposition of weakly stratified, bioturbated mud in ice-distal settings at rates of 0.02–0.08 cm a −1 , and gravitational mass flows forming sandy turbidites in ice-proximal areas. Iceberg ploughmarks and ice-rafted debris provide evidence for the presence of large icebergs during deglaciation. Our data suggest an early and extensive deglaciation in east Spitsbergen fjords and show that previous reconstructions of the extent of the SBIS need to be revised as new data emerges from east Spitsbergen. The data confirm that tidewater glaciers from different regions of Spitsbergen behaved differently since the LGM, and that variations in landform-sediment assemblages occur even within geographically adjacent fjords. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beachrocks represent a significant paleo-environmental proxy because they can record both the vertical and the horizontal evolution of the shoreline. They have often been used to assess Holocene shoreline evolution and crustally induced Relative Sea-Level (RSL) changes in the Mediterranean Sea. In this paper, we used submerged beachrocks from Paros and Naxos Islands (Aegean Sea, Greece) to reconstruct the shoreline modification and provide new insights on the RSL evolution in central Cyclades. Paros and Naxos Islands are of great importance in terms of archaeological evidence of coastal occupation. However, the evolution of their coastlines was seldom explored. In this study, we coupled detailed underwater surveys, analysis of aerial photogrammetry, microstratigraphic analysis and luminescence dating to study beachrock outcrops found down to about 6 m below the present sea-level. We, then, spatially and chronologically constrained some major palaeogeographical changes of a number of coastal sectors of the two islands. Furthermore, the multiple analyses of beachrocks, sediment coring and archaeological data suggested that RSL rose by at least 3.8 m in the last 4.0 ka and that RSL variation in the last 2.0 ka did not exceed 2 m with respect to the present mean sea level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sedimentary evolution of the ancient Huanghe (Yellow River) Delta in China is not well documented due to frequent river-avulsions and limited deep cores. In this paper, 22 cores with lengths of > 20 m at the coastal plain along the southwestern Bohai Bay were used. The sedimentary facies were determined by grain size and microfossil analysis, and Carbon-14 dating. The strata in the study area since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are divided into lowstand system tract (LST), transgressive system tract (TST), highstand system tract (HST), and retrograding system tract (RST). The LST, which formed during the LGM to 10.8 ka BP, consists of hard mud layer, and overlying interfluvial lowland and flood plain deposits. The TST that formed during 10.8–8.5 ka BP, mainly include coastal marsh, onshore sand bars, and filled incised valleys. The HST that formed during 8.5–2.6 ka BP mainly includes flood plain, river channel, delta front, mouth bar and prodelta. The RST that formed after 2.6 ka BP mainly includes crevasse splay, interfluvial lowlands and distributary channel. About eight episodes of the ancient Huanghe (delta) are observed during the Holocene and the names of the deltas are given by corresponding location names of cheniers: (1) during 10.8–8.5 ka BP, around YS3 and NP1 cores, without formation of cheniers during the transgression, (2) during 8.5–7.4 ka BP, around YS1, YS4 and NP3 cores, the Dongsun-Shuiyicheng delta, (3) during 7.4–6.1 ka BP, around CK1 core, the Mashanzi delta, (4) during 6.9–5.7 ka BP, around GZ3 core, the Miaozhuang-zhaizhuang delta, (5) during 4.6–3.5 ka BP, around YS4 core, the Wuditai delta, (6) during 3.0–2.6 ka BP, around HH4 and HH1 cores, the Qikou delta, (7) during 2.6–1.9 ka BP, around YS7 and NP1 cores, the Nanpaihe delta, and (8) during 1034 BC–1099 BC, around Wangzidao and Dakouhe, the Wangzidao delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flux of low-salinity Pacific water (PW) through Bering Strait (BS) weights on the freshwater budget of the Arctic Ocean, which, in turn, impacts the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Through time, this PW flux has been tightly controlled by the bathymetry of the Strait (~50 m water depth at present), thus by sea-level (SL) changes, as documented in several papers based on a large array of sedimentological and geochemical tracers. The present study aimed at reassessing the robustness of these tracers of the PW-flux, based on five surface samples collected along a south–north transect from BS to the Chukchi Plateau, within the bathymetric range of the PW-mass dispersal. We also estimated their variation in relation to the post-glacial SL-rise in a sedimentary core (ARC4-R09), from the Chukchi shelf, spanning the last ~10 cal kyr. Potential indicators of PW-flux include sortable silt, clay minerals, and the particulate and exchangeable Nd-isotope composition of specific grain-size fractions. The results indicate that ɛNd-values in leachates, and to a lesser extent, the smectite abundance, both relating to volcanic rocks of the Bering Sea, are sensitive indicators of the PW-flux, whereas sortable silts and other clay minerals relative abundances are also influenced by other processes (e.g., west–east shelf currents, sea-ice rafting). The modern distributions of ɛNd-value and smectite abundance illustrate mixing between two endmembers: i) a northern Bering Sea endmember, characterized by ~14% of smectite (vs all clay minerals) and a ɛNd-value of the exchangeable fraction of ~ −2; ii) a Chukchi Sea endmember, characterized by ~8% of smectite and a ɛNd-value ranging from −7 to −8. The Holocene sedimentary record from the study core indicates a progressive increase in Bering Sea supplies through time, linked to an enhanced inflow of PW, which we associate with the deepening of the Strait due to the rising SL. Following a major reorganization of the Arctic Ocean circulation at ~8 cal kyr BP, a steady increase in PW flux prevailed until ~4 cal kyr BP. A tenuous but continuous positive trend towards modern εNd values followed during the late Holocene. The middle Holocene steep increase of warm, low salinity PW-flux through BS, led to important changes in the Arctic Ocean, in particular of its salinity budget. Assuming that the BS bathymetry is the main parameter governing the PW-flux towards the Arctic Ocean, a first-order estimate of PW-flux under a higher than modern SL can be made using the SL-elevation-ɛNd relationship of the major middle Holocene shift. • Assessment of the reliability of clay minerals and Nd-isotopes as tracers of PW-fluxes through Bering Strait. • Recording of Holocene PW-fluxes through Bering Strait by exchangeable ɛNd-values in a gravity core from the Chukchi Shelf. • Estimation of past changes in PW-fluxes towards the Arctic in relation with SL changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Diverse terrestrial palynomorph assemblages of Pleistocene to Recent age have been recovered from mainly marine sediment cores along the eastern New Zealand margin. These assemblages record a range of environmental changes including climate, deforestation, reforestation, rates of erosion, sediment provenance and age, volcanic activity, Polynesian and European settlement, strength and direction of ocean currents, astronomical cyclicity, and other major events many of which can be correlated with shorter onshore terrestrial sequences. As such, pollen yields valuable information on the dynamic New Zealand landscape, which is of particular relevance to a source-to-sink approach. This paper provides an integrated summary of published and unpublished late Pleistocene palynological studies off eastern North Island, New Zealand that gives context for an analysis of cores within and marginal to the Waipaoa Sedimentary System. Pollen assemblages faithfully reflect the last glacial vegetation dominated by grass- and shrub-land species together with elevated Tertiary pollen from enhanced erosion of the regolith. The glacial termination and Holocene were marked by establishment of podocarp forest, a mid-Holocene disappearance of sediment-trapping mangroves, and introduction of distal pollen with establishment of coastal current systems under rising sea level. These natural signals are overprinted by abrupt changes in pollen species caused by volcanic eruptions. Finally, endemic forest and shrub pollen were markedly reduced with human colonisation, associated land use changes and introduction of exotic species. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Several fields of seafloor undulations from pro-deltaic wedges in the northern margin of Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean Basin, are described in this paper. A series of elongated, subparallel bathymetric undulations are distinguished in the foreset-to-bottomsets regions of the Holocene pro-deltaic wedges related with the Guadalfeo and Verde–Seco rivers. Multibeam data, surficial sediment samples and high-resolution seismic profiles have been used in this study, and integrated in a Geographical Information System. Quantitative measurement of key morphometric parameters (wave-length, height, asymmetry, length and wave-form index) was performed on multibeam data and seismic profiles using the ArcGis software. Wave-form index and depth data were analysed statistically, and a cluster analysis was carried out in each area. According to these results, we infer that sea-floor undulations in the study areas are best explained by the influence of strong sediment flows normal to bathymetric contours, probably coupled with the effect of subsequent slow sediment deformation processes such as sediment creeps. The influence of bottom-current activity is considered less likely, as the position of river mouths and the very high slope gradients seems to be the key factors which control the development of these sea-floor undulations. The Alboran Sea sea-floor undulations are compared with those of other fields in shallow-water environments and the different processes of formation evaluated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper contributes to knowledge of Holocene relative sea level change along the mainland Ayrshire coast and offshore Isle of Bute, SW Scotland, UK, where few such studies have previously been undertaken. Morphological studies (mapping and altitude survey), together with stratigraphical and biostratigraphical studies (pollen and diatom analyses and radiocarbon dating) disclose evidence for mid and late Holocene relative sea level changes. The Main Postglacial and Blairdrummond displaced shorelines, previously identified widely in mainland Scotland, are dated in the area at c. 6800 calibrated years (c. 6000 14C years) and c. 4200 calibrated years (c. 3800 14C years) BP respectively. This information is compared with previously published information for Scotland against the classical theoretical model of relative sea level change in areas of glacio-isostasy. For the mid and late Holocene, in conformity with the model, a falling sequence of relative sea level changes near the centre of uplift is replaced by a rising sequence towards the periphery, in which later shorelines overlap earlier ones. In particular, the Blairdrummond Shoreline, which overlaps the earlier Main Postglacial Shoreline, is identified as the highest Holocene shoreline over much of the coastline of Scotland. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Paleosalinity estimates and rates of sedimentation inferred from core samples from the Hudson estuary for the interval between 6.4 and 1.3 ka indicate a possible role for the estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM) in influencing patterns of estuarine sedimentation at centennial to millennial time scales. Currently in the estuary, sedimentation is localized via sediment trapping particularly in the vicinity of the ETM, 13–26 km upstream from Battery Park (FBP) at the southern tip of Manhattan, in water depths greater than 4 m, and on the western side of the estuary. Data presented in this paper are from cores located within the segment of the estuary 29–50 km FBP. Age constraints are provided by C-14 dating. Paleoenvironmental interpretations are based upon paleosalinity estimates, grain size variability, and sedimentary structures.Paleosalinity was inferred on the basis of foraminiferal biofacies analysis and a new method for estimating summertime paleosalinity using oxygen isotope measurements in bivalve shell material. The isotopic analysis of a narrow size fraction (1.0–1.7 mm) representing summer growth of a single bivalve species (Gemma gemma) reduces the uncertainty related to annual changes in temperature. Data from ∼45 km FBP indicate a gradual decrease in summertime paleosalinity between 6.4 and 2.0 ka from 25–20‰ to 15–10‰ (the latter is similar to present-day values). These results are consistent with the conclusion of an earlier low-resolution study.Sedimentation rates are generally low and are similar to the rate of sea-level rise in the Hudson River. Lowest sedimentation rates are noted in short (<2 m) cores from north of the Tappan Zee Bridge (40–50 km FBP from 2.4 ka to present); in shallow water (∼2 m at mean low water, core SD-11) ∼45 km FBP; and on the eastern side of the estuary from ∼50 to 29 km FBP. Exceptions are high sedimentation rates (up to four times background) observed in cores from the western flats (SD 30, ∼45 km FBP, 4.9 to 3.4 ka) in water depths of 4 m and from the western part of the main channel (P21.7 core, ∼32 km FBP, >2.3 to ∼1.3 ka).We hypothesize that the observed pattern in sediment accumulation relates to a location for the ETM some 20 km upstream of its present position at 3 ka. Downstream migration of the ETM since 3 ka is ascribed to shoaling of the estuary, effectively squeezing the marine saltwater wedge in the same direction, and off marginal flats into the channel. Such shoaling would have enhanced the role of waves in mixing marine and fresher surface water, and reduced the effect of the ETM in focusing sediment accumulation. The results of this study are consistent with the idea that at any time, estuarine sedimentation is highly localized, suggesting a more complex depositional pattern than previously indicated in estuarine stratigraphic models. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper demonstrates the link between the evolution of a coastal barrier in southern Brazil during the Late Holocene and the formation of a large volume of eolian disseminated heavy mineral deposits. Our data set is based on an earlier heavy mineral prospecting campaign (1991) and on 10 new shallow vibrocores, 2–5 m long. The model presented has three main steps of barrier evolution. The first step is the recycling of coastal plain deposits during the Postglacial Marine Transgression, which ended at 5.6 ka when heavy minerals were incorporated into beach and washover facies of a transgressive barrier. The second step is the shoreward retreat of the barrier, under a slow and small sea-level fall, during the last 5.6 ka. This second step eroded and recycled sediments from the Pleistocene substrate, which acted as an extra source of heavy minerals. Heavy minerals were concentrated in backshore deposits by wave action during barrier recession. The third step is the erosion and transport of backshore sands by onshore winds into an inter-barrier depression in the form of transgressive dune deposits. These deposits contain an average of 4.66±1.02% disseminated heavy minerals (1494 samples). This eolian placer deposit has started to form 1 ka ago and is still under formation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents the results of an investigation on different timescales of the main mechanisms governing fine-grained sedimentation on a macrotidal sandy shoreface-to-inner-shelf setting with a supply of terrigenous sediment: the subtidal area of the southeastern Bay of the Seine (Calvados coast, France). Interpretation and calibration of side-scan sonar imagery clearly shows that compact clays crop out in water depths of 3–6 m. Radiocarbon dating and palynological studies of the material sampled using long cores from this subtidal area show that these relict sediments constitute the infilling of lateral valleys of the palaeo-Seine during the last 10 000 years. The lower parts of these deposits consist of compact clays that accumulated in a floodplain setting, later a salt marsh environment, and are succeeded by sediment with sand/mud couplets which formed in a tidal/estuarine system. The top of this sequence has been truncated by a wave erosion surface formed during the Holocene transgression. Today, the sediment accumulating is composed of fine sand, mixed with fine-grained sediment and sometimes temporarily covered by fresh mud. The more recent sedimentological data, compared with surveys in the 1960s–1970s, demonstrate both an increase in the erosion of the submerged earlier Holocene clays and an increase in the mud (silt+clay) content of the superficial sediments. On a seasonal timescale, the seafloor is affected by high-frequency variations in the nature of the contemporary sedimentary cover. Spatial and temporal observations of the seafloor composition have been undertaken during different seasons for four years (1998–2001) to study these sedimentation events. The sedimentation on the inner-shelf is at its maximum when veneers of fresh mud occur after some particular hydrological periods, i.e. sustained high-river outputs following several dry years (i.e. prolonged weak river flows), when significant volumes of mud have been stored within the Seine estuary. Such mud veneers result from: (1) the direct supply of river-born material, (2) the seaward shifting of the turbidity maximum, and (3) the resuspension of mud from the lower estuary (i.e. fluid mud and intertidal flats) under wind-waves, and have been termed ‘estuarine flood deposits’. On a longer timescale of at least the last decades, the southeastern Bay of the Seine is an area of erosion, but it is subjected to ephemeral fine-grained sedimentation on a seasonal timescale. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A coring campaign in Lake Manyas (Kus¸ Go¨lu¨) on the southern coast of the Sea of Marmara (Turkey) has provided insights into basin infilling processes during the upper 11 metres of the sedimentary record. Combined sedimentary features between 5 and 4 m depth have been explained by a seismite. A brittle mixed layer (uniquely rich in seeds and ostracod valves) was widely detected at 4 m downcore. This has been interpreted as being the result of a seiche either through a salt inundation linked to a tsunami in the Sea of Marmara (the large-scale scenario) or a local hydrothermal fluid discharge (the small-scale scenario). Ostracod valves, which are usually not preserved in Lake Manyas sediment, are either incorporated here as tsunami debris (providing a spatially averaged snapshot of the regional assemblage) or are locally preserved following a temporary geochemical/hydrochemical change of the water of unknown duration (but probably several decades). The brittle mixed layer overlies cracks resulting from the direct effects of the seismic shock wave on slightly compacted sediment. At around 964 cm depth palynological and particle-size analyses indicate a change from backswamp to open lacustrine conditions. The end of the backswamp has been correlated with a decrease in the level of the Sea of Marmara from 4000 to 3000–2800 yr ago (uncal.), caused by regional tectonic movements. An age–depth model is presented based on two AMS radiocarbon dates, on the palynological detection of the end of the Beys¸ehir Occupation Phase (130 cm above the event) and on maximal sedimentation accumulation rates obtained by radionuclide analyses. The entire study sequence covers the last 4300 yr. The paper examines the possibility of an Early Byzantine age for the seismic event. This may have been the historical event at AD 460 that destroyed Cyzicus (the ancient Erdek, 20 km north of the lake) and various villages in the interior and was felt widely in the then-known world. Other possibilities include various local and regional events in that same period: the Early Byzantine Tectonic Paroxysm and the large earthquake in AD 447 that affected the entire Sea of Marmara region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]