Late Quaternary Seismic Stratigraphy of a Shallow Marine Estuary, Corpus Christi Bay, Texas: ABSTRACT

Abstract

End_Page 294------------------------------A series of maps constructed from seismic data trace the late Pleistocene and Holocene development of Corpus Christi Bay. The seismic data consists of 320 km of older sparker data, 80 km of older Uniboom data, 160 km of recent ORE Geopulse data, plus some 3.5 kHz Datasonics data. Seismic facies and the principal sedimentary features are mapped. Main unconformities such as the Holocene/Pleistocene erosional unconformity and the thickness of Holocene fill are contoured. Vertically stacked channels indicate that the ancestral Nueces River meandered across the same geographic area during the late Quaternary. Seismic signatures suggest extensive distribution of sand as channel fill, bars and spits, and reworked older deposits. Numerous moundlike structures are interpreted to be ancient oyster banks, which occupy areas in the bay where no living oyster reefs exist today. Holocene evolution indicates progressive widening of the estuary and filling from both the Nueces River and the landward migrating barrier islands. End_of_Article - Last_Page 295------------