Abstract
AbstractCollecting sea-level data from restricted coastal areas is essential for understanding local effects on relative sea level. Here, a revised relative mean sea-level curve for the area of the East Frisian island Langeoog, northwestern Germany, for the time period from 7200 cal BP until Recent is presented. The revision is based on the reinterpretation of previously published and unpublished data following the HOLSEA standardisation of data handling. Altogether 68 sea-level data taken from 32 cores and outcrops from Langeoog, its back-barrier and the adjacent mainland, which have been collected since the 1950s for mapping and landscape reconstruction purposes, are presented. The age constraints, derived from radiocarbon ages of basal peat, intercalated peat and molluscs and optical dating of tidal deposits, were evaluated in terms of the HOLSEA sea-level protocol and their stratigraphic context. For 7200 cal BP until modern times, 30 sea-level index points with different uncertainty ranges were defined. Additionally, a factor of decompaction was estimated for the remaining basal peat samples as well as for the underlying sediments of intercalated peat samples.The comparison of the Langeoog relative sea-level curve with the relative sea-level curve from the western Netherlands shows that the Langeoog curve lies up to 0.80 m lower than the Dutch curve and diverges for the time before 6000 cal BP. Though the offset coincides with the overall predicted trend of glacial-isostatic adjustment, it is less than predicted.Our study provides a useful assessment of legacy data and contributes to an improved sea-level index dataset for the southern North Sea coast.
Highlights
The response of the coastal zone to global sea-level rise is highly variable
In the study area intercalated peat beds, which are representative for a local seaward progradation of the coastline, form after the deceleration of relative sea level (RSL) ~6000 cal BP
The RSL for Langeoog shows neither an acceleration, nor an increase in energy, which would be suggested by erosional contacts, sand layers or even shell layers but which are not documented in the cores
Summary
The response of the coastal zone to global sea-level rise is highly variable. Knowledge of parameters controlling coastal change alongside the regional sea-level history is indispensable when the response to global sea-level rise is to be assessed. These are most notably compaction and coastal geomorphology influencing tides, local water levels and sedimentary processes Baeteman, 1999; Kiden et al, 2002; Long et al, 2006; Steffen, 2006; Vink et al, 2007; Kiden et al, 2008; Bungenstock & Weerts, 2012; Karle et al, 2021) These factors act on different time and spatial scales and result in geomorphological changes like progradation and retrogradation of the coastline. Natural hazards such as storm surges may cause severe and abrupt changes to the coastal geomorphology and may trigger long-lasting inundation
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