Quantifying the contribution of sediment compaction to late Holocene salt-marsh sea-level reconstructions, North Carolina, USA. Brain, M. J., Kemp, A. C., Horton, B. P., Culver, S. J., Parnell, A. C., & Cahill, N. Quaternary Research (United States), 83(1):41–51, 2015. ISBN: 9783642121425 _eprint: arXiv:0811.2183v2
doi  abstract   bibtex   
Salt-marsh sediments provide accurate and precise reconstructions of late Holocene relative sea-level changes. However, compaction of salt-marsh stratigraphies can cause post-depositional lowering (PDL) of the samples used to reconstruct sea level, creating an estimation of former sea level that is too low and a rate of rise that is too great. We estimated the contribution of compaction to late Holocene sea-level trends reconstructed at Tump Point, North Carolina, USA. We used a geotechnical model that was empirically calibrated by performing tests on surface sediments from modern depositional environments analogous to those encountered in the sediment core. The model generated depth-specific estimates of PDL, allowing samples to be returned to their depositional altitudes. After removing an estimate of land-level change, error-in-variables changepoint analysis of the decompacted and original sea-level reconstructions identified three trends. Compaction did not generate artificial sea-level trends and cannot be invoked as a causal mechanism for the features in the Tump Point record. The maximum relative contribution of compaction to reconstructed sea-level change was 12%. The decompacted sea-level record shows 1.71mmyr-1 of rise since AD 1845.
@article{brain_quantifying_2015,
	title = {Quantifying the contribution of sediment compaction to late {Holocene} salt-marsh sea-level reconstructions, {North} {Carolina}, {USA}},
	volume = {83},
	issn = {10960287},
	doi = {10.1016/j.yqres.2014.08.003},
	abstract = {Salt-marsh sediments provide accurate and precise reconstructions of late Holocene relative sea-level changes. However, compaction of salt-marsh stratigraphies can cause post-depositional lowering (PDL) of the samples used to reconstruct sea level, creating an estimation of former sea level that is too low and a rate of rise that is too great. We estimated the contribution of compaction to late Holocene sea-level trends reconstructed at Tump Point, North Carolina, USA. We used a geotechnical model that was empirically calibrated by performing tests on surface sediments from modern depositional environments analogous to those encountered in the sediment core. The model generated depth-specific estimates of PDL, allowing samples to be returned to their depositional altitudes. After removing an estimate of land-level change, error-in-variables changepoint analysis of the decompacted and original sea-level reconstructions identified three trends. Compaction did not generate artificial sea-level trends and cannot be invoked as a causal mechanism for the features in the Tump Point record. The maximum relative contribution of compaction to reconstructed sea-level change was 12\%. The decompacted sea-level record shows 1.71mmyr-1 of rise since AD 1845.},
	number = {1},
	journal = {Quaternary Research (United States)},
	author = {Brain, Matthew J. and Kemp, Andrew C. and Horton, Benjamin P. and Culver, Stephen J. and Parnell, Andrew C. and Cahill, Niamh},
	year = {2015},
	pmid = {23347591},
	note = {ISBN: 9783642121425
\_eprint: arXiv:0811.2183v2},
	keywords = {Post-depositional lowering, Salt-marsh peat, Tump Point},
	pages = {41--51},
}

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