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Stepped Holocene sea-level rise and its influence on sedimentation in a large marine embayment: Maputo Bay, Mozambique.
- Source :
-
Estuarine Coastal & Shelf Science . Jul2017, Vol. 193, p25-36. 12p. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
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]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02727714
- Volume :
- 193
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Estuarine Coastal & Shelf Science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 124250439
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2017.05.015