The Holocene sedimentary record of the flood plain of the Saint-Ciers-Sur-Gironde marsh (Gironde estuary, France)

Abstract

The Holocene sedimentary record of the flood plain of the Saint-Ciers-Sur-Gironde marsh was examined on sediment cores from the right bank of the Gironde estuary with regard to the evolution of the marsh and its potential to preserve high-energy deposits. Sedimentological, geochemical, geophysical and micropaleontological methods were applied. Radiocarbon ages in the central part of the investigation area reach back to 7,971 ± 44.5 BP. The sediments of the Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde marsh reflect the condi- tions of a Holocene estuarine salt marsh before human activity and draining. The interpretation of the core data showed that the study area includes different facies during development from the pre-Holocene to recent times: tidal mudflats in the northwest at Mortagne and Beaumont, and a fluvial facies develop- ing into an estuarine facies in the southeast near Camp and Saint-Ciers-Sur-Gironde. The last stage is the formation of the saltmarsh. The changes in grain size reflect different transport mechanisms during the development from a fluvial environment to the recent marsh. First gravel, then sand and finally muddy sediments were deposited in the estuary and finally in the marsh area.. Below the salt marsh deposits in Mortagne-Sur-Gironde, there is some evidence of deposits from energy-rich events in tidal mudflats. The southern and central part, in which estuarine clays were deposited, was probably most of the time outside the range of storms. On the marshland surface, erosion, pedogenesis and bioturbation processes destroy storm relevant layers in a very short time.