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Estimating tectonic uplift of the Cape Fear Arch (south‐eastern United States) using reconstructions of Holocene relative sea level
Author(s) -
VAN DE PLASSCHE ORSON,
WRIGHT ALEX J.,
HORTON BENJAMIN P.,
ENGELHART SIMON E.,
KEMP ANDREW C.,
MALLINSON DAVID,
KOPP ROBERT E.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/jqs.2746
Subject(s) - geology , cape , sea level , tectonic uplift , holocene , tide gauge , marsh , radiocarbon dating , salt marsh , oceanography , physical geography , tectonics , paleontology , archaeology , geography , wetland , ecology , biology
ABSTRACT We use relative sea‐level (RSL) reconstructions and a spatiotemporal statistical model to estimate the rate of uplift of the Cape Fear Arch, a Mesozoic structural high, during the last ∼4000 years. We reconstructed RSL using 12 radiocarbon‐dated samples of basal salt‐marsh sediment preserved at Elizabeth Creek Marsh on the Cape Fear River. The new data show that RSL rose by ∼3 m during the past ∼4.6 ka at an average rate of 0.67 ± 0.12 mm a −1 . RSL reconstructions from other sites in southern North Carolina (which have rates of 0.91 ± 0.10 to 0.84 ± 0.24 mm a −1 ) probably show ( P > 0.9) higher rates of regional RSL rise for the same period, while sites from northern South Carolina (which have rates of 0.72 ± 0.17 to 0.80 ± 0.21 mm a −1 ) probably ( P > 0.67) show the same. We attribute the differences between Elizabeth Creek Marsh and neighboring regions to uplift of the Cape Fear Arch, which we estimate to be 0.24 ± 0.15 mm a −1 . Uplift of the arch may be responsible for lower rates of 20 th century RSL rise recorded by the Wilmington tide gauge relative to rates measured elsewhere along the US mid‐Atlantic coast.