1. Stepped Holocene sea-level rise and its influence on sedimentation in a large marine embayment: Maputo Bay, Mozambique.
- Author
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De Lecea, A.M., Green, A.N., Wiles, E.A., Cooper, J.A.G., and Strachan, K.L.
- Subjects
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SEA level , *SEDIMENTATION analysis , *STABLE isotopes , *SEISMIC reflection method , *HOLOCENE stratigraphic geology ,HOLOCENE paleohydrology - Abstract
The sedimentary record in large marine embayments holds important information on Holocene environmental and sea-level changes. This paper investigates the evolution of a large subtropical marine embayment, Maputo Bay, in southern Mozambique. Using a combination of sediment cores, stable isotope data, seismic reflection profiling and 14 C dating, we show complex back-barrier changes during the Holocene and link these to stepped rises in sea level. Our data reveal a sea-level “slowstand” followed by an abrupt rise that we correlate with the 8.2 ka global rise in sea level. Sedimentological, isotope and seismic evidence point to a subsequent slowstand interspersed by two punctuated rises in sea level that formed clear tidal ravinement surfaces. Sedimentary changes in the embayment are primarily forced by sea-level change, whereby tidal ravinement surfaces sandwich normal regressive packages formed via marginal progradation and shallowing of the system during “slow-” or still-stands. Large marine embayment systems hold great potential in unravelling relative sea-level change. Axiomatically, this reduces their utility as archives of climate-change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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