Fluvial geomorphic features of the Lower Mississippi alluvial valley

The Lower Mississippi Valley (LMV) has been one of the most intensively studied alluvial valleys in the world in terms of it's geological and geomorphic framework and history. A brief outline of the history of the major geological and geomorphological investigations of the LMV is provided. The results of these investigations are discussed in terms of the fluvial geomorphic framework of the valley and the apparent significant changes in the regime of the Mississippi River during the Late Wisconsinan and Holocene stages.

The LMV occupies the broad deep synclinal trough of the Mississippi Embayment which extends from Cairo, Illinois, to the Gulf of Mexico in a slightly sinuous north-south trend. The embayment is filled with a north to south thickening wedge of non-marine and marine sediment ranging in age from Jurassic to Holocene. The major landscapes of the LMV may be considered in four regions: (1) a narrow active meander belt in a broad valley of Late Pleistocene valley train in the northern third; (2) a wide mosaic of interwoven Holocene meander belts in the middle third; (3) a relatively narrow valley of the Atchafalaya Basin bounded on each side by narrow meander belts in the upper part of the lower third; and (4) the broad distributary wedge of the deltaic plain in the southernmost region of the valley. The valley trains vary in age and landform with the oldest occurring as slightly dissected low ridges and the youngest as broad flats separated by shallow interwoven former braided channels. Meander belts formed throughout the Holocene are comprised of low natural levee ridges flanking abandoned courses and bordered by crescent-shaped oxbow lakes and ridge and swale topography. In the middle third of the valley, meander belts are separated by expansive backswamps of very little relief. The deltaic plain is also exceptionally flat, interrupted by the low natural levee ridges of the abandoned deltaic distributaries.

The floodplain of the LMV is a complex mosaic of fluvial features and landscapes within the four landscape regions. Included in this mosaic are abandoned channels and courses, lateral accretion topography of ridges and swales, natural levees, crevasses and crevasse channels, distributary channels, backswamps and rimswamps, alluvial fans and aprons, valley trains (braided stream terraces), lakes and lacustrine deltas, terraces, and the alluvial valley bluff.

Changes in the hydraulic regime of the Lower Mississippi River (LMR) since the Late Pleistocene have played a major role in the development of the landscape of the valley. The most important regime change was the diminishment of the influence of Wisconsinan glaciation in the upper Midwest and the resultant evolution of the Mississippi River from a broad braided outwash channel to a more narrow but sinuous meandering channel at the end of the Pleistocene. During the Holocene, the Mississippi River undoubtedly responded to major climatic changes, rising sea level, tributary stream influence, and possibly tectonism, diapirism, and subsidence through the growth and evolution, and abandonment of it's meander belts and deltas.     

Lithofacies relations in the Late Quaternary Niger Delta complex

A study of cores from thirty-three coreholes drilled in various parts of the Niger delta has shown tidal channel sand to be the dominant lithofacies type in the uppermost 30 m of the deltaic complex. Below 30 m fluviatile sand becomes predominant. Coastal barrier sand is present in the uppermost 5 m of the present coastal belt, but chances for preservation of this lithofacies appear to be small. The Post-Glacial deltaic sediments can be divided into three units.

• 1 Alluvial valley-fill sands and conglomerates deposited during the strong Post-Glacial sea level rise.
• 2 An onlapping complex of lower coastal plain deposits which contains a lower member of fine grained lagoonal and mangrove swamp deposits and an upper member of tidal channel and coastal barrier sands. This complex is thought to have been deposited during the strong Post-Glacial rise in sea level and is locally as much as 25 m thick.
• 3 An offlapping complex of fluviomarine and coastal deposits which contains a lower member of marine clay and silt and an upper member of tidal channel and coastal barrier sand. The presence of this late Holocene complex indicates that deltaic progradation was resumed as soon as the rapid rise in sea level slowed down. The offlapping complex is locally as much as 35 m thick.

     

北京平原区南部PGZ01孔第四纪地层划分及其环境意义*

对北京平原区南部大兴榆垡镇420m 深的PGZ01孔岩心进行了岩石地层、磁性地层、¹⁴C测年、介形类组合和孢粉组合研究。结果表明:(1)Matuyama(松山)/Gauss(高斯)和Brunhes(布容)/Matuyama(松山)极性界线分别位于280m和78.35m处,钻孔底部已经进入Gauss正极性带;取280m处Matuyama/Gauss极性界线作为第四系下限,显示可能的永定河泥石流-冲积扇在第四纪之前即到达了北京平原南部,但是华北平原上新统标志岩石地层单元--厚层棕红色黏土在Olduvai(奥尔都维)极性亚带之上即已出现。(2)结合AMS¹⁴C测年,尝试将约60m以上地层的氧化-还原状况,与对古季风影响反映灵敏的沿海平原钻孔同样深度地层进行对比,继而确定上更新统和全新统的底界深度分别位于56.60m和18.95m。(3)MIS5(海洋同位素阶段)以来的特征沉积物,与沿海平原钻孔地层有很好的可比性,同时也有8~4ka期间史前大洪水的影响。本研究为廊(坊)固(安)凹陷西北边缘区第四纪地层划分对比、古地理环境演化、活动断裂以及区域差异构造沉降研究,提供了重要的年代地层格架,对理解晚更新世以来古季风变化的环境效应有重要的启迪。     

Quaternary evolution of the Abu Quir bay,Egypt

The Pleistocene/Holocene history of Abu Quir bay and the adjacent shoreline has been studied using textural, petrological and geotechnical information obtained from 33 boreholes. The sedimentary vertical sequence is as follows reading from bottom to top: Late Pleistocene shelf sand and stiff mud, Late Pleistocene/Holocene transgressive sand, Holocene calcareous shelf mud, Holocene nearshore sand, prodelta mud, delta plain lagoonal and marsh mud, delta front mud and sand and coastal sand of beach and dunes. These units are produced as a response to shoreline fluctuation, resulting from a wide variety of deltaic and shelf environments. The study identifies delta lobes of the former Canopic branch which was located in the western part of the bay.     

Site preservation along an active meandering and avulsing river: The Red River,Arkansas

The low-gradient Red River is a rapidly migrating, sinuous stream with easily erodible banks. Avulsion is common at many scales, from individual meander bends that are cut off to major sections of the river that form multiple, complex meander belts. The present meander belt can be subdivided into mappable landforms—termed phases—that are associated with river courses of different ages and thus associated with archeological sites of different ages. Within the study area two phases are present. The younger Modern meander belt phase has formed within the past 0.2–0.3 ky, precluding preservation of prehistoric archaeological sites. Any protohistoric artifacts that may have been preserved in this meander belt phase would be deeply buried because as much as 2 m of the vertical accretion sediment has accumulated between artificial levees in <0.1 ky and 1–2 m of sediment has accumulated beyond the artificial levees in <0.2 ky. Archeological site preservation in this highly mobile fluvial end member can be used as a predictor for other, similar streams. A large prehistoric site is preserved on an older (0.5–1 kya) Late Prehistoric meander belt phase associated with an abandoned river course. In the study area a Fourche Maline 7 period (A.D. 800–900) through Caddo IV period (ca. A.D. 1500–1700) archeological site (3MI3/30) is preserved on this slightly higher altitude portion of the flood plain. At locations proximal to the river, the site may be buried by overbank sediment 0.4 m thick, but at more distant locations the site is at the surface or only buried by thin overbank sediment because of low sedimentation rates (0.04 cm yr⁻¹) over the span of a millennium. Sites, such as 3MI3/30, that are occupied contemporaneous with overbank sedimentation may be stratified; however, localized erosion and removal of some archeological material may occur where channelized flow crosses the natural levee. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

长江口区晚新生代沉积物粒度特征和沉积地貌环境演变

对长江河口区的三个晚新生代钻孔作了地层对比和粒度分析,据此探讨晚新生代长江河口的沉积地貌环境演变过程。结果表明,SG6和J18A孔上新世厚层含砾砂质沉积物粒度特征,反映了洪积扇和冲积扇相沉积环境,沉积物搬运距离短;而SG13孔缺失上新世沉积,反映古地势较高,以剥蚀为主。因此上新世长江三角洲地区古地势高差较大,侵蚀区和沉积区共存。早更新世,本区继承了上新世的冲、洪积扇沉积环境,但SG6孔泥质沉积明显变厚,J18A孔此时则以厚层含砾砂沉积为主,SG13孔也开始接受泥质沉积,反映在构造沉降作用下,冲、洪积扇体向西、南部迁移,沉积盆地范围扩大。中更新世,沉积物普遍变细且以悬浮沉积为主,显示了曲流河或曲流河冲积平原的沉积环境。晚更新世初,本区又发育含砾砂层,特别是SG13孔出现厚层含砾砂,但是粒径显著小于上新世和早更新世沉积物,反映本区再次发生显著构造沉积,河流地貌广泛发育。晚更新世中晚期和全新世沉积物以粘土和粉砂质粘土为主,悬浮沉积占优,说明本区已演变为滨、浅海沉积环境。因此在构造沉降、剥蚀和沉积的共同作用下,本区的地貌演变经历了自上新世至中更新世和自晚更新世至全新世的两次准平原化过程。     

Testing optically stimulated luminescence dating on sand-sized quartz of deltaic deposits from the Sperchios delta plain,central Greece

This study reports on the first investigation into the potential of luminescence dating to establish a chronological framework for the depositional sequences of the Sperchios delta plain, central Greece. A series of three borehole cores(20 m deep) and two shallow cores(4 m deep), from across the delta plain, were extracted, and samples were collected for luminescence dating. The luminescence ages of sand-sized quartz grains were obtained from small aliquots of quartz, using the Single-Aliquot Regenerative-dose(SAR) protocol.The equivalent dose determination included a series of tests and the selection of the Minimum Age Model(MAM) as the most appropriate statistical model. This made it possible to confirm the applicability of quartz Optically Stimulated Luminescence(OSL) dating to establish absolute chronology for deltaic sediments from the Sperchios delta plain.Testing age results of the five cores showed that the deltaic sediments were deposited during the Holocene.A relatively rapid deposition is implied for the top ~14 m possibly as a result of the deceleration in the rate of the sea-level rise and the transition to terrestrial conditions, while on the deeper parts, the reduced sedimentation rate may indicate a lagoonal or coastal environment.     

苏北滨海平原全新世沉积物物源研究--元素地球化学与重矿物方法比较

运用元素地球化学与重矿物方法对苏北滨海平原全新世沉积物物源进行的比较研究表明,沉积物形成主要由长江与黄河提供物质来源,且又以黄河物源为主。全新世早期长江物质对本区影响范围大于黄河,黄河供给泥沙量较少,对本区影响主要在北部、中部地区。全新世最大海侵之后,黄河曾由苏北入海并携带了大量泥沙,其影响范围明显大于长江,长江仅由狭窄的汊道提供有限的物质而影响范围较小。最近２０００ 年来本区沉积物物源主要由黄河提供。分析表明元素地球化学方法在沉积物物源判别时,可有效的避免水动力因素影响,而相对重矿物方法取得较好的效果。     

Arsenic release from biotite into a Holocene groundwater aquifer in Bangladesh

Continuous core sediments (to a depth of 90.1 m) taken at a transitional area of Holocene and Pleistocene deposits in Sonargaon, Bangladesh were characterized for their mineralogy and chemistry. Among the sediments of the lower part of the Holocene aquifer (depth: 18–29 m), where most domestic wells are installed, As is mostly fixed in biotite and organic phases. A positive correlation of As concentration with those of Al and Fe but not that of total organic C clearly suggests that biotite is a primary source of As. Although microbial reduction–dissolution of As-containing Fe oxyhydroxides is thought to cause As-enriched groundwater in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna delta plain, the authors conclude that chemical weathering of biotite is the primary formation mechanism and prevailing reducing conditions contribute to the expansion of As-enriched groundwater in the study area.     

鲁北平原晚第四纪地层结构及沉积演化

以54个浅层新钻孔和多个野外露头为研究对象,综合沉积物粒度、薄片、微体古生物、孢粉、14C测年及静力触探等资料,分析了鲁北平原晚第四纪的地层结构和沉积类型,总结了晚更新世晚期以来的沉积演化。研究表明,末次冰期盛冰期到冰后期,受地势、气候条件控制的黄河河道迁移和海水进退是影响地层结构和沉积特征的主要因素,南北地层结构差异明显,发育古河道、湖沼、黄土、三角洲、潮坪和滨浅海等沉积类型,其中古河道分布面积最广,自下而上可划分为三期。晚更新世晚期至早全新世早期,受干冷气候影响,发育第Ⅰ期古河道,小清河以南沉积黄土层;早全新世晚期至中全新世,气候转暖导致海平面升高,沿海地区形成海侵层和三角洲,内陆地区继承性发育第Ⅱ期古河道和湖沼沉积;中全新世末期或晚全新世以来,受黄河泛滥影响,沉积第Ⅲ期古河道和现代黄河三角洲。地层结构和沉积物分布的研究对于分析地下水位的变化规律,以及选择合适的地震激发层等均有重要的指导意义。     

Palaeoenvironmental control on sediment composition and provenance in the late Quaternary deltaic successions: a case study from the Po delta area (Northern Italy)

Accumulation of continental, deltaic and shallow‐marine sediments in the Po River coastal plain preserves a record of the Late Quaternary sea‐level changes and shoreline migrations. The palaeoenvironmental evolution of this area and the changes in composition and provenance of sediments have been investigated through integrated sedimentological, micropalaeontological (mainly foraminifers) and geochemical analyses of core S1, from the southern part of the Po River delta, within a chronological framework supported by radiocarbon dating and correlations with adjacent core sequences. Eleven lithofacies, grouped into five facies associations, and four palaeontological assemblages provide the basis to define the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of this succession consisting, from the base to the top, of: (i) continental sediments accumulated during the Late Pleistocene; (ii) back‐barrier sediments marking the onset of Holocene sea‐level rise; (iii) transgressive sands deposited during the rapid landward migration of a barrier‐lagoon system; (iv) shallow‐marine and prodelta sediments with faunal associations indicating a gradual approach to the Po River mouth; and (v) sub‐recent delta front sands that form a considerable portion of the present coastal plain. Bulk chemical composition of sediments shows remarkable relationships with palaeoenvironments and locally improves facies characterizations. For example, they reveal carbonate leaching that emphasizes the occurrence of palaeosols in continental deposits or record enrichments in loss on ignition, S and Br, diagnostic of organic‐rich layers in back‐shore sediments. Selected geochemical elements (e.g. Mg and Ni) are particularly effective for the recognition of sediment provenances from the three main source areas observed in the subsurface deposits of the Po River coastal plain (e.g. Apenninic rivers, North Adriatic rivers and Po River). An Apenninic provenance is observed in continental and back‐barrier sediments. A North Adriatic provenance characterizes the transgressive sands and the shallow‐marine deposits; a significant Po River provenance is recorded in sediments related to the onset of the prodelta environment, confirmed by foraminiferal assemblages indicating remarkable increase in fluvial influxes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

香港及其邻近海域海洋沉积物研究

香港及其邻近海域的表层沉积物以粘土质粉砂为主,测得的全新世沉积物最大厚度为17.8m,全新世平均沉积速率为0.81mm/a;维多利亚港因后期的潮流作用改造,全新世沉积很薄。第四纪沉积层中有5次海进及5次海退过程,体现了第四纪以来香港及其邻近海域的环境演变过程。香港海域的沉积环境与珠江密切有关,珠江不仅塑造了香港的5层陆相地层,同时为现代香港水域的潮流通道奠定了基础。     

Holocene sedimentary environments in Lake Eyre,South Australia

In late Pleistocene time Lake Dieri (ancestral ‘Greater Lake Eyre') was permanently filled during a wet climatic phase. Towards the close of Pleistocene time the watertable fell, Lake Dieri dried up, and its sediments deflated. Later the watertable rose, establishing ephemeral Lake Eyre in the deflated area, and Holocene sedimentation commenced. At about this time Lake Eyre tilted to the south and three sedimentary environments developed: (1) a saline playa environment without saltcrusts in the northern end of the lake, where water drains away before wholly evaporating; (2) a terminal salina environment in the south end, where evaporation of brines leaves saltcrusts overlying gypseous sediments; and (3) a saline flocculation environment between the playa and salina environments, where sediments are deposited by flocculation when muddy floodwater from the north meets highly saline water of the southern salina.

In the northern playa environment, sedimentation is limited to the top of the capillary fringe above the watertable, below which sediments remain moist and protected from aeolian erosion, but above which they dry and blow out of the lake. In the southern salina environment sedimentation has not kept pace with the Holocene rise in watertable. If and when it does reach such a level, downward leaching of salt and deflation of exposed sediments is likely to occur. In the flocculation environment new deposits of clay are added but kept permanently wet by rising groundwater. When flocculated sediment builds too high, its excess is transferrred by surface water into the salina deposits to the south.     

晚更新世江苏海岸带沉积分布模拟研究

中国边缘海大陆架在晚更新世时期曾是海岸平原,在古长江、古黄河泥沙填充下形成了陆架堆积体,并在全新世发育了南黄海辐射沙脊群、废黄河三角洲和长江三角洲。根据点状的地质钻孔分析和重建,对南黄海-江苏海岸的沉积体系的分布和变化机制尚不明了。作为动力机制探讨,基于气候-海面-沉积系统,根据气候水文学、沉积学原理以及泥沙沉积面的动态高程计算,构建了气候冰川驱动-东黄海地海系统响应-河流沉积建造的数值模式,模拟了14万年、4万年和1万年不同时间尺度江苏海岸线和长江三角洲沉积的变化过程和分布,进而对冰川气候、构造沉降、沉积压实等复杂效应下的海面特征、陆源泥沙沉积和海岸线进行分析。模拟结果与地质钻孔资料揭示的层序和埋深能够进行对比。     

Processes of late Quaternary turbidity current flow and deposition on the Var deep-sea fan, north-west Mediterranean Sea

High-resolution seismic boomer profiles, with a vertical resolution of less than 1 m, together with piston cores and previous side-scan sonar data, are used to describe late Quaternary sedimentation on the Var deep-sea fan. Chronological control is provided by foram biostratigraphy and radiocarbon dating in cores, and is extended over the fan by seismic correlation. Regional erosional events correspond to the oxygen isotopic stage 2 and 6 glacial maxima. Cores and seismic data define a widespread surface sand layer that is correlated with prodelta failure in 1979 and subsequent submarine cable breaks. Numerical modelling constrains the character of this 1979 turbidity current. It originated from a relatively small slide on the upper prodelta that put sufficient material in suspension to form an accelerating turbidity current which eroded sand from the Var Canyon. The turbidity current was only 30 m thick on the Upper Valley, but experienced significant flow expansion in the Middle Valley to thicknesses of more than 120 m, where it spilled over the eastern Var Sedimentary Ridge at a velocity of about 2·5 m s^?1. Other Holocene turbidity currents (with a recurrence interval of 1000 years) were somewhat muddier and thicker, but also deposited sand on the levees of the Middle Valley, and are inferred to have had a similar slide-related origin. Late Pleistocene turbidity currents deposited thick mud beds on the Var Sedimentary Ridge. The presence of sediment waves and the mean cross-flow slope inferred from levee asymmetry indicates that some of these flows were many hundreds of metres thick and flowed at velocities of about 0·35 m s^?1. This contrast with Holocene turbidites suggests that a slide origin is unlikely. Estimated times for deposition of thick mud beds on the levees are many days to weeks. The Late Pleistocene flows may therefore result from hyperpycnal flow of glacial outwash in the Var River. The variation in the Late Pleistocene to Holocene turbidite sedimentation is controlled more by variations in sediment supply than by sea-level change.     

Muddy deltas in freshwater lakes, and tectonism in the Upper Carboniferous Coalfield of NE England

ABSTRACT
The Westphalian B sediments of NE England were deposited on part of a coastal plain with subdued relief. Most of the fine-grained sediments were deposited by small fluvially dominated muddy deltas which fed into shallow freshwater lakes in tectonic depressions a few metres deep and a few tens of kilometres across.
Coalfield lakes contained an abundant low-diversity bivalve fauna and existed for thousands of years before delta infill. Pro-delta clay rhythmites, formed by flood turbidites, coarsened up into wide silty mouth bars, which merged up into channel mouth sands, inversely-graded subaqueous levee deposits and sandy channel fills. Delta complexes were either abandoned below water level leaving a lake, or were colonized by plants, which resulted in trapping of suspended sediment and build-up of a seatearth to near water level when peats could accumulate. These swamps were analogous to the present raised bogs of Indonesia and had a lateral zonation of vegetation to a central low-diversity flora. Upwards reversal of this zonation and the succession of coals by lake sediments show that peat floras were killed by drowning due to rapid tectonic subsidence. Subsurface data show that seam splits and sand-body locations were tectonically controlled, and that the lake deltas in this area were distant from any major sand distributary.     

Holocene Environmental Change and River-Mouth Sedimentation in the Baie des Anges, French Riviera

River mouths on the steep, high-relief coast of the French Riviera exhibit thick sequences of Holocene marine, estuarine, deltaic, and river channel-floodplain sediments that overlie basal fluvial Pleistocene gravel. Gravel is uncommon in most of the early to middle Holocene aggradational-progradational marine, estuarine, deltaic sediments, despite an ample supply from rock units in the steep adjoining uplands. River-mouth gravel is common only in late Holocene river channels and in barrier beaches perched on finer-grained nearshore sediments. Neither downslope grain-size fining on alluvial fans nor sediment stacking patterns during sea-level (base-level) rise readily account for the lack of early to middle Holocene gravel in the river-mouth sediment wedges. Holocene sea-level rise led to the storage of fine-grained sediments in shallow marine, estuarine, and deltaic environments in the present coastal zone. We infer that humid temperate conditions, a dense forest cover, landscape stabilization, and a regular quiescent river flow regime associated with the Atlantic climatic optimum limited gravel supply in the adjoining catchments and gravel entrainment downstream during the early Holocene. Sea-level stabilization in the middle and late Holocene coincided with a marked change in bioclimatic conditions toward the present Mediterranean-type regime, which is characterized by a less dense forest cover, soil erosion, and episodic catastrophic floods. The late Holocene was thus a time of downstream bedload channel aggradation, fine-grained floodplain and paludal sedimentation, and seaward flushing of clasts leading to the formation and consolidation of the gravel barrier beaches that bound the rivermouths and embayments.     

Late Quaternary marine deposition in New South Wales and southern Queensland — An evolutionary model

From new data on coastal and continental shelf morphology, sediments, stratigraphy and chronology, it is possible to formulate a general model of late Quaternary marine sedimentation, for New South Wales and southern Queensland. This model integrates various factors influencing deposition in coastal and shelf environments, in relation to glacio‐eustatic sea level oscillations.

The model involves several components, including (i) very slow to negligible continental margin subsidence during the Quaternary, (ii) an inherited geomorphic framework; (iii) oscillations of sea level of c 100 m amplitude every 100 000 years, with interglacial high sea levels being close to present and only the Last Interglacial being significantly higher; and (iv) a wave climate that induces a potential south to north littoral sand transport at all sea level positions.

Terrigenous sediment that is moved from the hinterland through embayments to the shelf is either stored as barrier, estuarine or inner shelf deposits, or lost to depositional sinks on the continental slope or into coastal dune fields. Over many glacial‐interglacial cycles, sand has been progressively moved northward and has accumulated in vast aeolian sand deposits in southern Queensland. Littoral sand transport was especially effective during sea levels lower than present. The relatively shallow and lower gradient shelf north of Newcastle (33°S) has encouraged preservation at the coast of a wide range of depositional morphologies, including Pleistocene barriers, whereas the steeper southern shelf has induced net sediment loss seawards and shoreline erosion, excpt in the Holocene. To account for Holocene barrier development in the southern region, the model invokes reworking of sand deposits stranded high on the inner shelf at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. These were in disequilibrium with Postglacial marine processes that operated at a lower level of the sea than did those during the Last Interglacial maximum.     

Quaternary incised valleys in southern Brazil coastal zone

High-resolution seismic records obtained in the Rio Grande do Sul coastal zone, southern Brazil, revealed that prominent valleys and channels developed in the area before the installation of actual coastal plain. Landwards, the paleoincisions can be linked with the present courses of the main river dissecting the area. Oceanwards, they can be linked with related features previously recognized in the continental shelf and slope by means of seismic and morphostructural studies. Based mainly on seismic, core data and geologic reasoning, it can be inferred that the coastal valleys were incised during forced regression events into the coastal prism deposited during previous sea level highstand events of the Quaternary. Seismic data has revealed paleovalleys up to 10 km wide and, in some places, infilled with up to 40 m thick of sediments. The results indicated two distinct periods of cut-and-fill events in the Patos Lagoon area. The filling of the younger incision system is mainly Holocene and its onset is related to the last main regressive event of the Pleistocene, when the sea level fell about 130 m below the actual position. The older incision and filling event is related to the previous regressive–transgressive events of the Middle and Late Pleistocene. The fluvial discharge fed delta systems on the shelf edge during the sea level lowstands. The subsequent transgressions drowned the incised drainage, infilling it and closing the inlets formerly connecting the coastal river to the ocean. The incised features may have played a significant role on the basin-margin architecture, facies distribution and accommodation space during the multitude of up and down sea level events of the Quaternary.     

Holocene sedimentation in the Skagerrak interpreted from chirp sonar and core data

High‐resolution chirp sonar profiling in the northeastern Skagerrak shows acoustically stratified sediments draping a rough‐surfaced substratum. A 32 metre long sediment core retrieved from the survey area encompasses the entire Holocene and latest Pleistocene. The uppermost seismo‐acoustic units in the chirp profiles represent Holocene marine sediments. The lowermost unit is interpreted as ice‐proximal glacial‐marine sediments rapidly deposited during the last deglaciation. The end of ice‐proximal sedimentation is marked by a strong reflector, interpreted to have been formed during latest Pleistocene time as a consequence of rapid ice retreat and drastically lowered sedimentation rate. The subsequent distal glacial‐marine sediments were deposited with initially high sedimentation rates caused by an isostatic rebound‐associated sea‐level fall. Based on correlation between the core and the chirp sonar profiles using measured sediment physical properties and AMS ¹⁴C dating, we propose a revised position for the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in the seismo‐acoustic stratigraphy of the investigated area. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.