Marine GeologyPub Date : 2024-09-13DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107400
Pengfei Yao , Huaiming Li , Xiao Wang , Feiyang Zhu , Jihao Zhu , Shihui Lv , Yanhui Dong , Weiyan Zhang , Yuntian Pang , Fengyou Chu
{"title":"Geological and oceanographic constrains on the deposit of ferromanganese nodules on the archipelagic aprons of seamounts","authors":"Pengfei Yao , Huaiming Li , Xiao Wang , Feiyang Zhu , Jihao Zhu , Shihui Lv , Yanhui Dong , Weiyan Zhang , Yuntian Pang , Fengyou Chu","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107400","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107400","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The archipelagic aprons of the large deep-sea seamounts of the northwestern Pacific Ocean (NWPO) show potential areas for significant reserves of ferromanganese nodules (FMNs). This study used datasets such as depth, backscatter intensity (BI), and optical coverage in conjunction with mineralogical, element geochemical, Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic, and chronological analyses of FMNs of the Suda Guyot (SG), which was located on the central area of the Marcus-Wake seamounts, in the NWPO. The results indicated a Y-shaped distribution of the deposit on the northern apron of the SG. Landslides predated the mineralization processes of the FMN deposit, and the ubiquitous channels in the apron had largely minimal influence on the distribution of nodules. Current mineralization of the deposit has been ongoing for ∼10 Myrs. Continuous weakening of the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) resulted in a gradual decrease in bottom water oxygen contents around the SG. This in turn resulted in a decrease in cryptocrystalline Fe-vernadite (δ-MnO<sub>2</sub>) and elemental contents associated with δ-MnO<sub>2</sub> of FMNs, such as Mo, Te, and Tl. Meanwhile, the contribution of Asian dust to the study area increased, leading to increased Fe, which in turn increased amorphous ferrihydrite (FeOOH), and FeOOH-associated elements such as Ti, Pb, and Th. Productivity gradually increased to its peak value around 4–5 Myrs ago, leading to similar trends in REY, Ba, and U. REY contents exhibited a certain correlation with water depth around the SG. The results of this study suggest that the Carbonate Compensation Depth (CCD) variation resulted in higher content of REY of the FMNs in the shallower apron.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"477 ","pages":"Article 107400"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142233721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marine GeologyPub Date : 2024-09-11DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107397
J. Nespereira , D. Casas , M. Yenes , S. Monterrubio , D. Casalbore , N. López-González , B. Alonso , M.E Martín , R. Ruiz , A. Tijera , S. Lafuerza , J. Llopart
{"title":"The role of liquefaction in the evolution of shallow submarine canyon heads from a geotechnical perspective: A case study of the Garrucha Canyon (SE Mediterranean)","authors":"J. Nespereira , D. Casas , M. Yenes , S. Monterrubio , D. Casalbore , N. López-González , B. Alonso , M.E Martín , R. Ruiz , A. Tijera , S. Lafuerza , J. Llopart","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107397","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107397","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work aims to establish the role of liquefaction in a shallow submarine environment defined by a canyon head reaching the coast. The study area is the Garrucha submarine canyon head, which is located in the western Mediterranean Sea.</div><div>The potential of liquefaction is approached empirically by two methods in parallel, undrained cyclic direct simple shear (UCDSS) test and piezocone penetration test (CPTu) analyses. For both approaches, considering the regional earthquake records, a cyclic load linked to Mw ≤ 6.5 earthquake events or a maximum ground surface acceleration a<sub>max</sub> of 0.25 g is considered.</div><div>The sediment samples analysed are nonplastic sands with low silt/clay contents and can be defined as liquefiable. Geotechnical analysis reveals a high probability of triggering liquefaction in this kind of sediment at depths greater than 3 m below the seafloor. CPTu records are used to assess and improve the liquefaction model for the study area by defining 3 different stratigraphic configurations or liquefiable conditions: uniformly liquefiable, interbedded liquifiable and nonliquefiable.</div><div>This work highlights the importance of liquefaction—a process normally underestimated in submarine environments—in the downslope transport of sediment from the upper part of a canyon and, more generally, in canyon head evolution with different potential morphosedimentary consequences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"477 ","pages":"Article 107397"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142423065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marine GeologyPub Date : 2024-08-30DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107386
P. Bárcenas , F.J. Lobo , L.M. Fernández-Salas , I. Mendes , N. López-González , J. Macías
{"title":"The Late Holocene evolution of the Adra Delta subaqueous system (Northern Alboran Sea): Seismic-stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence of millennial scale climatic and anthropic effects","authors":"P. Bárcenas , F.J. Lobo , L.M. Fernández-Salas , I. Mendes , N. López-González , J. Macías","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107386","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107386","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The formation and development of a small Mediterranean deltaic system are investigated through a primary seismic stratigraphic interpretation of a high-resolution seismic profile network, combined with multiple bathymetric data (including multibeam bathymetric imagery) and collated with shallow sediment cores collected with a vibro-corer device.</p><p>The submarine delta of the Adra River is divided into a basal patchy seismic unit and five wedge-shaped younger seismic units that are related to the Holocene highstand stabilization. Limited age control indicates that the two uppermost seismic units are very recent, most likely related to a dearth of fluvial fluxes led by channel deviations and by sediment retention. The formation of the three older seismic units is correlated to three humid periods during the Middle Holocene, Late Holocene and Little Ice Age, under a general context of progressive aridification of southeastern Iberia.</p><p>The stacking patterns and spatial distribution of individual seismic units document a history of episodic progradation of successive prodeltaic lobes, with a long-term evolution mediated by climatically-induced changes in the river basin and more recent anthropogenic interventions. Overall, the subaqueous deltaic system registers the complete modification of a deltaic system that evolves from a fluvial-dominated delta to recent wave-dominated wedges. In between, the deltaic system exhibits a progressive asymmetric character, due to the instauration of Atlantic waters on the shelf and their subsequent eastward redistribution. The Adra deltaic system is proposed as an outstanding example of a small deltaic system that reacts almost immediately to the complex interaction between natural changes in the system and anthropogenic interventions in the drainage basin.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"477 ","pages":"Article 107386"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025322724001701/pdfft?md5=43d32b4fb917309ad1c5c872018eded5&pid=1-s2.0-S0025322724001701-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142117677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marine GeologyPub Date : 2024-08-28DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107388
Steven M. Figueroa , Minwoo Son
{"title":"Estuarine dams and weirs: Global analysis and synthesis","authors":"Steven M. Figueroa , Minwoo Son","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107388","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107388","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Estuarine dams and weirs are constructed in estuaries for reasons such as blocking the salt intrusion, securing freshwater, and stabilizing upstream water levels. While they can provide many social benefits, they can also alter estuarine physical and sedimentary processes. How this occurs and their relative importance to global estuaries and deltas are not well understood. To address this, we perform and extensive remote sensing and literature analysis. Remote sensing was conducted based on a global river database of 1531 rivers representing the largest rivers cumulatively draining 85 % of the landmass discharging into the global ocean. It was found that 9.7 % of global estuaries and deltas are currently affected by estuarine dams or weirs acting as the upstream limit of salt, tide, or storm surge intrusion. If we include supplementary examples, overall 220 estuaries with estuarine dams or weirs were identified and confirmed by literature review. These structures are found worldwide and are prominent in developed or developing countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. The number of estuarine dams and weirs has increased rapidly since the 1800s with a peak in construction rate in the 1970s, particularly due to construction in Asia. Estuarine dams and weirs are found at the river mouths of both small and large watersheds. Most of these estuarine structures are located at <em>x</em> = 0–100 km inland from the mouth and their discharge intervals can be continuous, daily – weekly, seasonal, or interannual. Based on a quantified classification by geomorphology, estuarine dams and weirs are found most in river mouths which are wave-dominated followed by tide-dominated and then river-dominated. Estuarine dams and weirs can cause significant changes to the quantity and timing of freshwater discharge, tides, stratification, turbidity, sedimentation, oxygen conditions, phytoplankton blooms, and fish migration. We synthesize this current knowledge on estuarine dams and weirs and propose a conceptual model for physical and geomorphological change in mixed wave- and river-dominated and tide-dominated estuaries with estuarine dams.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"477 ","pages":"Article 107388"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142117261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marine GeologyPub Date : 2024-08-28DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107387
Michael Strasser , Ken Ikehara , Charlotte Pizer , Takuya Itaki , Yasufumi Satoguchi , Arata Kioka , Cecilia McHugh , Jean-Noel Proust , Derek Sawyer
{"title":"Japan Trench event stratigraphy: First results from IODP giant piston coring in a deep-sea trench to advance subduction zone paleoseismology","authors":"Michael Strasser , Ken Ikehara , Charlotte Pizer , Takuya Itaki , Yasufumi Satoguchi , Arata Kioka , Cecilia McHugh , Jean-Noel Proust , Derek Sawyer","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107387","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107387","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 386, Japan Trench Paleoseismology, represents the first utilization of giant piston coring (GPC) within scientific ocean research drilling. This allowed for a Mission Specific Platform (MSP) multi-site, multi-hole, shallow subsurface coring in an ultra-deep water subduction zone trench. The primary objective of the expedition was to investigate the concept of submarine paleoseismology in the Japan Trench, which involves studying long-term records of deposits in the deep sea that can provide insights into past earthquake events. In this paper, we compile and interpret initial shipboard data and results to (1) establish first-order event stratigraphic correlation of thick event beds (> 50 cm in thickness) between sites, (2) test previously published event-stratigraphic predictions of earthquake-related event deposits as proposed based on high-resolution hydro-acoustic subbottom profiler (SBP) data, and (3) derive SBP-scale event deposits age estimates to (4) discuss the advantages and limitations of giant piston coring for scientific drilling operations and the potential of new event stratigraphy results for advancing submarine paleoseismology.</p><p>The findings of the study identified a total of 77 SBP-scale event beds across 15 sites along a trench-parallel transect spanning over 600 km. These event beds exhibit clear expressions in SBP data, with approximately 49 % matching precisely with SBP units previously identified by Kioka et al. (2019a). For the remaining 51 % of SBP-scale event beds, thin, acoustically-transparent bodies were observed between high-amplitude horizons, for which SBP-based seismic interpretation alone would not be definitive. Consequently, the study concluded that the SBP-scale event-stratigraphy observed in IODP 386 cores validates the event-bed mapping conducted by Kioka et al. (2019a) and improves SBP interpretation for event beds in the 0.5 to 1 m thickness range.</p><p>The initial age constraints obtained from shipboard radiolarian biostratigraphy enable us to provide rough estimates of event ages by linearly interpolating between previously dated events occurring less than 2000 years ago and a datum around 11,000 years ago reported in four boreholes from trench basins in the Southern, Central, and Northern Japan Trench. Inter-site stratigraphic correlation reveals distinct SBP-scale event stratigraphies for the trench segments located to the north and south of the structurally complex “boundary area” at approximately 39.3–39.4°N, which is hypothesized to potentially act as a persistent rupture barrier for megathrust earthquakes. We observe more frequent but thinner event deposits in the Southern and Central Japan Trench, and fewer but thicker event beds in the Northern Japan Trench. This spatial variation may be related to the different seismogenic behavior of the various asperities along the Japan Trench megathrust and/or to differences in the re","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"477 ","pages":"Article 107387"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025322724001713/pdfft?md5=d03d19c4e61e7ab4cd3d6d8bea12134d&pid=1-s2.0-S0025322724001713-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142150744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marine GeologyPub Date : 2024-08-27DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107389
Effiom E. Antia
{"title":"On reversal of wave-generated longshore currents at tidal frequencies on dissipative beaches contiguous to a mesotidal estuary, S.E coast of Nigeria","authors":"Effiom E. Antia","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107389","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107389","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Reversals in wave-generated longshore currents in surf zones occur at different temporal and spatial scales. Along coastlines with tidal channel openings with well-developed mouth bars or ebb-tidal deltas, the reversal mechanism is often attributed to the mouth bar – induced refraction of the shoaling waves. This reversal mechanism is characterized by convergence of longshore currents from the adjoining surf zones at the mouth of the tidal channel. Simultaneous half-hourly monitoring of wave-generated longshore currents over 50 successive (daylight) semi-diurnal tidal cycles in beach surf zones adjoining the Qua Iboe River estuary, S.E coast of Nigeria showed the above reversal pattern during flooding stage only. The converse pattern, where the surf zone longshore currents diverged away from the mouth of the estuary, was observed during ebbing stage. Both surf zones showed flow direction inversion with respect to each other, with velocity vector correlation coefficient <em>r</em> > − 0.8 in over 80 % of the data set. Instances of comparable flow direction (<10 %) were also recorded. Tidal processes are implicated in the documented results. Direction-averaged longshore current velocities, typically in the 15–60 cm/s range, attained highest values in both surf zones at about spring tide phase. Also, tidal cycle-residual longshore current maximum and minimum velocities occurred close to spring and neap tide, respectively. Only 30 % of the residual velocities were eastward directed in the up-drift surf zone as against 80 % in the down-drift counterpart. Given the prevailing southwesterly waves, the present results negate the assertion that reversal in longshore current direction in this offset shoreline setting is exclusively a consequence of wave refraction by mouth bar morphology. The reversing pattern of the longshore currents over a tidal cycle is well explained by incorporating interacting effects of shoaling waves with tide-induced oscillations in water level as well as the estuarine flow.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"477 ","pages":"Article 107389"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142129774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marine GeologyPub Date : 2024-08-25DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107374
Pauline Corentin , Emmanuelle Pucéat , Pierre Pellenard , Michel Guiraud , Justine Blondet , Germain Bayon , Thierry Adatte
{"title":"Enhanced erosion and silicate weathering of the West African craton during the late Cretaceous cooling evidenced by mineralogical and HfNd isotope proxies","authors":"Pauline Corentin , Emmanuelle Pucéat , Pierre Pellenard , Michel Guiraud , Justine Blondet , Germain Bayon , Thierry Adatte","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107374","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107374","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The evolution of oceanic temperatures between the Turonian and the K/T boundary indicates a long-term cooling coincident with a decrease of atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> levels, yet the cause of climate cooling at that time still remains debated. In this study, we evaluated the possible implication of enhanced silicate weathering as a sink for atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> by applying paired Nd<img>Hf isotope measurements to detrital clay records from the West African margin. The use of this novel proxy for chemical weathering intensity (Δɛ<sub>Hf(<em>t</em>)clay</sub>) was complemented by additional mineralogical and major-trace element analyses in order to investigate the variability of mechanical erosion patterns and further explore potential linkages between tectonics, weathering and climate during the late Cretaceous.</p><p>Our Δɛ<sub>Hf(<em>t</em>)clay</sub> data suggest more intense silicate weathering on the West African Craton during the Santonian to the middle Campanian period, coincident with enhanced physical erosional inputs as inferred from higher Quartz/Clays and Feldspar/Clays ratios. This observation suggests that the shift towards intensified chemical weathering at that time was driven by enhanced mechanical erosion, possibly related to a moderate tectonic event on the West African craton. Evidence for increasing kaolinite contents and higher Δɛ<sub>Hf(<em>t</em>)clay</sub> values during the Maastrichtian point towards more hydrolysing conditions, inducing either destabilization of older Mesozoic lateritic material or favouring the development of kaolinite-rich soils.</p><p>Overall, this study was compared with several new data of chemical weathering evolution along the south Atlantic margins, adding new insights on tectonic-weathering-climate interactions during the late Cretaceous, suggesting a possible link between silicate weathering feedbacks and global cooling at that time.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"476 ","pages":"Article 107374"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142058298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marine GeologyPub Date : 2024-08-22DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107371
Xubiao Li , Jiawang Ge , Xiaoming Zhao , Kun Qi , Brian G. Jones , Xiaoyu Fang
{"title":"Geochemistry of Quaternary sediments in the northwestern South China Sea: Sediment provenance and mid-Pleistocene transition","authors":"Xubiao Li , Jiawang Ge , Xiaoming Zhao , Kun Qi , Brian G. Jones , Xiaoyu Fang","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107371","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107371","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The Quaternary sediments in the northwestern South China Sea (NW-SCS) provide valuable information about provenance, climate and sea level changes. However, the correlation between the geochemical records in marine sediments and these influencing factors remains less understood in the NW-SCS. Two wells penetrated Quaternary sediments on the shelf and shelf margin of the NW-SCS and provide an excellent dataset. In this study, the major, trace, and rare earth elements in the sediments were analyzed to reveal the Quaternary provenance changes that correlate with the climatic Middle Pleistocene transition (MPT). These results indicate that the core sediments were mainly derived from felsic source rocks and the degree of chemical weathering in the source areas is relatively low (CIA averaged at 58). The Quaternary provenance of the NW-SCS did not undergo significant changes, recording mixed sedimentation from the Red River, Hainan Island, and central Vietnamese sources. The felsic source rocks and negative Eu anomaly indicated the shelf area received sediments primarily from the Red River and Hainan Island. However, a positive Eu anomaly on the shelf margin suggests additional contributions from mafic rocks sourced from central Vietnam. During the MPT (1.3–1.4 to 0.8–0.9 Ma), the dominant periodicity of climate cycles changed from a 40 kyr obliquity cycle to a 100 kyr eccentricity cycle; the cooling climate led to a slight weaking in chemical weathering and a minor decrease in sediment supply from terrestrial sources. After the MPT, the mixed sourced sediments in the shelf and shelf margin areas of the NW-SCS likely suffered from multiple hydrodynamic forces under the influence of the Pleistocene high-frequency and high-amplitude sea level fluctuations. These climate induced changes led to significant fluctuations in element content that provide new insights into Quaternary sources and climatic events in the NW-SCS.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"477 ","pages":"Article 107371"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142117678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marine GeologyPub Date : 2024-08-22DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107385
Gerd Masselink, Tom Brown, Tim Scott , Liane Brodie
{"title":"Sediment sorting within a relatively wave-exposed and sandy subtidal seagrass (Zostera marina) meadow","authors":"Gerd Masselink, Tom Brown, Tim Scott , Liane Brodie","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107385","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107385","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Seagrasses impact on sedimentary intertidal and subtidal ecosystems by affecting local hydrodynamics, geomorphology and sediment properties. Their influence on hydrodynamics is to reduce flow velocities in their canopies, and this leads to increased net sedimentation rates and reduction of the grain size. Most investigations of the seagrass-hydrodynamics-sediment feedback system has been carried out over silt and fine-sand beds under tide-dominated conditions, mostly in the intertidal zone. Here, we use sedimentological data from a relatively wave-exposed and subtidal seagrass (<em>Zostera marina</em>) meadow in the Isles of Scilly with a fine-to-medium sand bed and show that the sand within the seagrass meadow is indeed finer than in adjacent, unvegetated regions. However, in contrast to previous studies, this is not due to increased mud/silt content within the seagrass meadow, but an almost 0.1-mm shift in the median sediment size across the sand fraction from 0.25 mm (fine to medium sand) to 0.35 mm (medium sand). The studied seagrass meadow is characterised by a distinct spatial structure comprising of vegetated ‘ridges’ and bare sand ‘valleys’. Even the bare sand valleys within the seagrass meadow are characterised by significantly coarser sand than the adjacent vegetated ridges, providing further confirmation of the efficiency of sediment sorting by wave processes that takes place within seagrass meadows. It is concluded that any numerical modelling involving sediment transport processes associated with seagrass environments must account for variability in the textural characteristics.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"476 ","pages":"Article 107385"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025322724001695/pdfft?md5=e80d112cb2863d969c0a16dbdcf99be8&pid=1-s2.0-S0025322724001695-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142095615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Relationships between channelization, sedimentation and sea level in the deltaic environment of the ancient harbor of Lattara, southern France","authors":"Jean-Philippe Degeai, Clémence Joseph, Tiphaine Salel, Matthieu Giaime, Nuria Rovira, Gaël Piquès","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107384","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107384","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The impacts of coastal changes and human land use on depositional processes, ecological conditions, geomorphic evolution and harbor works at the archaeological site of Lattara, one of the oldest cities of the northwestern Mediterranean built in a deltaic environment, were investigated from a multi-proxy approach based on sedimentological, biological and geochronological analyses. A distributary channel connected to the ancient harbor of Lattara was deepened and channelized around 200 cal BCE. The drastic increase in water depth caused by channelization was associated with increased flow competence and bedload transport, and could have improved navigation in the harbor area. By contrast, high accumulations of anthropogenic deposits in the channelized stream from the second century CE seem to have negatively affected sediment transport conditions by reducing bedload flux. The construction of a cobble pavement on the western bank of this channelized stream in the fourth century CE was contemporaneous with a sharp decrease in bedload transport showing an abrupt transition to a low energy environment such as in abandoned channels. A drainage ditch was then dug in the deposits of the channelized stream during the Medieval Warm Period, in a context of land use intensification and increased river flooding that led to the deposition of coarser sediments.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"476 ","pages":"Article 107384"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142088492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}