HR: 0800h
AN: G11A-1195    [Abstracts]
TI: Rapid Sea-Level Rise, Outer Banks, North Carolina: A Multiproxy Transfer Function Approach
AU: * Horton, B P
EM: bphorton@sas.upenn.edu
AF: University of Pennsylvania, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Philadelphia, PA 19104 United States
AU: Corbett, R
EM: corbettd@mail.ec.edu
AF: East Carolina University, Department of Geology, Greenville, NC 27858 United States
AU: Culver, S
EM: culvers@mail.ecu.edu
AF: East Carolina University, Department of Geology, Greenville, NC 27858 United States
AU: Kemp, A
EM: kempac@sas.upenn.edu
AF: University of Pennsylvania, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Philadelphia, PA 19104 United States
AU: Edwards, R
EM: edwardsr@tcd.ie
AF: Trinity College Dublin, Departments of Geography and Geology, Dublin, 2 Ireland
AU: Thomson, K
EM: k h thomson@durham ac uk
AF: University of Durham, Department of Geography, Durham, DH1 3LE United Kingdom
AB: Concerns surrounding coastal subsidence and accelerations in the rate of sea-level rise have focused attention on linking modelling capabilities, short-term instrumental and satellite records, and longer-term geologically based reconstructions of relative sea level (RSL). An ultimate goal of this research is the development of new records with sufficient resolution to detect low-magnitude variability but long enough duration to reliably establish climate-ocean relationships, glacial isostatic adjustment, sediment input/loading, compaction and subsidence. The microfossil transfer function approach is a new technique which is effective in establishing these kinds of records to improve our understanding of the underlying physics and the processes responsible. We collected three sets modern foraminiferal and diatom data from the Outer Banks, North Carolina; the sets have different salinity regimes due to their varying distances from a major barrier island inlet. We developed a multi-proxy transfer function to reconstruct former RSL based upon the relationship between microfossil assemblages and elevation. Results imply that this is possible to a precision of ñ 0.08 m. The transfer function is used to construct a RSL curve from fossil assemblages from the Outer Banks, North Carolina. These results suggest a sea-level rise of 0.7 m sea-level rise over the last 150 years, at an average of c. 3.7 mm yr-1. This is consistent with existing shorter term instrumental sea-level data and illustrates the utility of the transfer function approach in reconstructing accurate and precise assessments of relative sea-level change within a study area.
DE: 1236 Rheology of the lithosphere and mantle (7218, 8160)
DE: 1641 Sea level change (1222, 1225, 4556)
DE: 4556 Sea level: variations and mean (1222, 1225, 1641)
DE: 4944 Micropaleontology (0459, 3030)
SC: Geodesy [G]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005