Title
Development of a mid-Holocene estuarine basin, Rhine-Meuse mouth area, offshore The Netherlands
Author
Hijma, M.P.
van der Spek, A.J.F.
van Heteren, S.
TNO Bouw en Ondergrond
Publication year
2010
Abstract
A proper understanding of coastal development during periods of rapid sea-level rise is a prerequisite for the prediction of future coastal response to the expected acceleration in sea-level rise. However, the development of back-barrier basins, especially in river-mouth areas, during such periods is still not well understood. Here we show the response of back-barrier basins adjacent to the Rhine-Meuse river-mouth area, The Netherlands during the mid Holocene. A combination of high-resolution seismic data and cores was used to describe and explain late-Weichselian to early Holocene terrestrial and mid-Holocene back-barrier sequences. Along with dating and micropalaeontological analyses, these descriptions and explanations form the basis of a reconstruction of river-mouth and adjacent basin behaviour under conditions of rapid SLR. The nearby presence of the Rhine-Meuse estuary had a significant influence on the development of the adjacent back-barrier basin and especially its tidal channels. The back-barrier channels started to fill in between 8.3 and 7.4 ka BP due to decreasing rates of both sea-level rise and tidal-amplitude increase. During this time the Rhine relocated its mouth to the study area and the increased sediment delivery contributed to tidal-prism decrease and channel infill. Close to the Rhine-Meuse river mouth the back-barrier channels lay embedded in thick clayey, estuarine deposits and lateral migration of the tidal channels was limited. At greater distances, lateral migration rates increased as the thickness of cohesive back-barrier deposits decreases. The spatial pattern and stratigraphic setting of the northern channel fills suggests an episode of barrier overstepping between 7.5 and 6.6 ka BP. The mode and spatial limits of this overstepping are still not understood. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Subject
Earth & Environment
GM - Geomodelling
EELS - Earth, Environmental and Life Sciences
Geosciences
back-barrier
barrier overstepping
estuary
sea-level rise
seismic data
tidal prism
transgression
Coastal development
Estuarine deposits
High resolution
Holocenes
In-between
Lateral migration
Micropalaeontological analysis
Netherlands
Sea level rise
Sediment delivery
Seismic datas
Spatial patterns
Study areas
Tidal channel
Tidal prism
Deposits
Prisms
Rivers
Seismic response
Seismic waves
Stratigraphy
Estuaries
basin evolution
coastal development
deposition
estuarine environment
Holocene
micropaleontology
reconstruction
sediment transport
seismic data
sequence stratigraphy
tidal channel
transgression
Netherlands
Rhine-Meuse Delta
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:802237b7-802e-449b-b2a2-b4479ba7deef
TNO identifier
347442
ISSN
0025-3227
Source
Marine Geology, 271 (3-4), 198-211
Document type
article