Late Holocene Evolution of Currituck Sound, North Carolina, USA: Environmental Change Driven by Sea-Level Rise, Storms, and Barrier Island Morphology

Abstract

ABSTRACT Moran, K.L.; Mallinson, D.J.; Culver, S.J.; Leorri, E., and Mulligan, R.P., 2015. Late Holocene evolution of Currituck Sound, North Carolina, USA: Environmental change driven by sea-level rise, storms, and barrier island morphology. The Holocene evolution of Currituck Sound, North Carolina, is investigated using geological data and a hydrodynamic model to understand how this depositional basin changed in response to sea-level rise and regional climate patterns. Five depositional units (one Pleistocene and four Holocene) are defined based on geophysical surveys, lithofacies, biofacies, and geochronological data. The earliest Holocene unit (ca. 5000 cal YBP) represents a midsalinity (10–25‰) sand shoal above the transgressive ravinement surface. This unit is overlain, successively, by (1) a freshwater swamp forest deposit, (2) a relatively saline (25–35‰) back-barrier estuarine deposit associated with increased inlet activity, and (3) a mid- to low-salinity (<10‰) deposit that is typical of modern ...