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The northern portion of the coastal plain of the Rio Grande do Sul State (southernmost Brazil) comprises an outer sandy barrier that protects a complex lagoon system formed during the Holocene. The terraces of three different lagoons (Gentil, Malvas and Pinguela) formed along their margins record the depositional processes and the relative base level changes over the past 5000 yr. Therefore, our main objective was to characterize and quantify base level fluctuations from the study of these terraces, to correlate them to sea-level changes and to describe the depositional architecture related to the distinct sea-level stages (high-resolution sequence stratigraphy). Satellite images, topographic and GPR profiles, auger holes and radiometric dating were used. The main results indicate a close relationship between relative base level and relative sea-level changes, a stillstand period just after the last transgressive maximum (4840–4650 cal yr BP) and a subsequent overall relative sea-level fall of about 3 m. Both a normal (highstand systems tract) and a forced regression (falling-stage systems tract) controlled the geological record preserved in the terraces. The highstand (older terrace) is characterized by agradational bedding, whereas the falling stage comprises three progradational sets (terraces) bounded by erosive surfaces related to smaller-scale sea-level drops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the coeval history of a sandy coastal barrier and four lagoon margins located in the Rio Grande do Sul State, southernmost Brazil. To achieve this objective we compared the Holocene relative sea-level changes recorded along a regressive coastal barrier with the register of base-level fluctuations preserved in the lagoon terraces. We used geomorphology, geochronology, geophysics (GPR), and high-resolution sequence stratigraphy to evaluate changes on the relative sea- and base-level recorded in the barrier and lagoon terraces, respectively. The record of the relative sea-level fall (forced regression) began at ∼4 ka in the coastal barrier and around 3.4 ka in the lagoon system. Maximum altitudes of the eolian/beach deposits boundary are similar on both barrier and lagoon settings, hence pointing out that relative sea-level controlled lagoon base-level. The forced regression stage is more accurately preserved in the margin of the lagoons than in the coastal barrier. Along the former, four progradational sets related to stepped terraces record pulses of relative sea-level fall at 3.4, 1.4, 0.35, and 0.27 ka. The pulses that took place from 1.4 ka onwards are recorded as low terraces in the lagoon but appear in the coastal barrier as an acceleration in the rate of the relative sea-level fall. Each relative sea-level fall is supposed to have liberated beach sands for eolian reworking during the subsequent stillstand phase and allowed the development of transgressive dunes. Therefore, we conclude that lagoonal terraces vertical displacements are adequate proxies for high-resolution analysis of relative sea-level changes. • Local deposits of marine coastal barrier and adjacent lagoon margin demonstrate synchronicity of deposition. • Lagoon deposits are adequate proxies for high-frequency of relative sea-level changes. • Four terraces record relative base-level falls and associated forced regression in local lagoons. • Forced regression is registered as four progradacional pulses starting at 3.4, 1.4, 0.35 and 0.27 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]