Recent Erosion Research Articles

(De)Globalization, the Global Imaginary, and Religious Narratives: A Theoretical Framework and the East Asia Litmus Test

Faced with the twin challenges of globalization and de-globalization, do religions exercise agency in these trends? In other words, do they give shape to them, or are they rather shaped by them? If the influence is reciprocal, how should the process behind this be described? This article sets itself two tasks. Firstly, it endeavors to develop a theoretical framework by which to conceptualize the question just posed. Secondly, it applies this framework to the case of China and, more cursorily, to the East Asian context in general. I start my analysis by approaching “globalization” as a shared vision of the world, referred to, in this article, as the “global imaginary”. The recent erosion of the latter has led to “deglobalization”, a set of narratives that remain correlated to the globalist storyline they confront. Central to the topic is that fact that the crisis experienced by the global imaginary affects the interplay between its secular and religious dimensions. The secular imaginary had fostered a homogenous narrative that has caused both ontological and epistemological crises. The resurgence of religious discourse within the narratives of deglobalization is to be understood as part and parcel of competing interpretations of the global modernization process, since the latter obeys both secular and religious forces. Focusing in the second part of this article on trends and representations proper to China in its regional context enables us to better assess how the globalization and deglobalization narratives intermingle in religious and secular dimensions in a way that reshapes each of them.

Temporal Assessment of Recent Erosion and Accretion in the Ganga and Alaknanda Rivers in Parts of Garhwal Himalaya, India: Unveiling the Linkages with Anthropogenic and Climatic Events

ABSTRACT Unravelling erosion and accretion patterns of rivers with the application of remote sensing and GIS tools leads us to understand the river morphology and its behaviour. In the recent past, the catchment areas of river Ganga and its major tributary Alaknanda River affirmed some unprecedented anthropogenic interventions such as infrastructure boom, and deforestation as well as catastrophic climatic events. Considering these factors, the present study evaluates the erosion and accretion pattern of these river sections in the Garhwal Himalaya, India. The shape files of river sections of duration between 2017 to 2022 were extracted from high-resolution Sentinel-2, Land Use Land Cover (LULC) imageries. To understand their exactitude effect on river dynamics, these patterns are further correlated with recognised anthropogenic activities and natural events.

Leveraging the potential of third space faculty developers to foster individual and collective flourishing faculty professional identities in higher education

In the context of higher education, which is a complex environment of shifting landscapes, academic identity is perceived as being eroded, and new identities associated with hybrid roles abound. Flexible support mechanisms are needed to counter the destabilising effects of the recent erosion of tradition-bound structures. This study explores how an understanding of faculty professional identity might be used by faculty developers to inform individual and collective development initiatives and foster flourishing. Using a qualitative methodology, focus group discussions with faculty developers probe the potential utility of a measure of faculty professional identity. Utility is evaluated at three levels of practice: institutional, collective and individual. Findings demonstrate the potential for faculty developers, with their third space positioning, to play a pivotal role in guiding individuals and institutions as they navigate increasingly complex higher education contexts. Recommendations include recognising the strategic potential of faculty developers as institutional gatekeepers of sensitive data and enablers of collective flourishing. A data-informed, adaptive, person-centred approach to individual faculty development that delves into the being as well as the doing to facilitate individual flourishing is proposed.

Sitwe 23, a Complex ESA/MSA Locality in the Northern Luangwa Valley, Zambia

This paper describes the lithic aggregates from Sitwe 23 (SW23), a Stone Age locality in a previously unstudied region of the northern Luangwa Valley, Zambia. This area yielded two surface lithic scatters containing abundant artifacts derived from Pleistocene sediments on uplifted terrain and exposed by recent erosion on two adjacent terraces. The scatters are time-averaged palimpsests formed by deflation, but most of the lithics lack evidence of significant fluvial transport or post-depositional damage, indicating minimal horizontal displacement. Typological and attribute analyses of samples from both spurs reveal predominantly simple and expedient core and flake technologies, as well as sophisticated biface manufacture and Levallois technique producing flakes and points that are differentially distributed between the terraces. The artifacts identified in this analysis include types conventionally considered diagnostic of the Acheulean, Sangoan, and Middle Stone Age, suggesting that the collections may document one or more temporal windows during the Chibanian age (770–126 ka). Whether artifacts in these samples were originally deposited sequentially or concurrently is not yet known and alternative hypotheses are presented and discussed. The collections are compared to sites in Zambia and the northern Lake Malawi basin and found to be similar technologically but typologically different. Given the paucity of previously known Ston Age archaeological sites in the region, our work now demonstrates that northern Luangwa has significant archaeological potential and deserves further study.

Design and application of coastal erosion indicators using satellite and drone data for a regional monitoring program

Coastal erosion is a complex issue that affects landforms at various spatio-temporal scales, with concerns rising due to the impending threats of climate change. Given the increasing availability of coastal shoreline data, we identify a gap in present coastal management methods: the need for a simple and cost-effective mechanism to track and compare shoreline trends, to inform high-level reporting, down to local management scales. This study introduces simplified, automated erosion indicators, demonstrated for 20 morphologically diverse beach sites across the temperate coast of Victoria, Australia. The methods utilise coastal drone surveys (2018–2023; 560 surveys) and satellite-derived shorelines (Digital Earth Australia Coastlines, 1988 to 2021). Two tools are introduced: (1) the Erosion Warning Indicator, for high-level reporting, reducing multiple aspects of shoreline change (long-term vs. short-term; widespread vs. hotspot) to a simplified scoring system allowing overall site assessment and comparison across sites; and (2) the Erosion Hotspot Detector, to aid local managers to automatically identify and analyse emerging erosion areas. Results for a 2-year period (2021-22) indicate one site with a high erosion warning level, and four sites with a moderate level. Tracking the indicator over time (2018–2022) identifies two sites with persistently high erosion warning levels (Apollo Bay and Marengo). Importantly, the indicators also highlight areas where recent erosion trends differ from longer-term patterns (e.g., Inverloch), allowing re-evaluation of short-term expenditure on management interventions, without impacting longer-term adaptation pathways. The erosion indicators presented here hold value for coastal managers in many parts of the world. If comparable approaches are introduced and shared at scale, we will collectively be better equipped and informed to respond to future challenges to our coastlines.

Pliocene subsurface fluid flow driven by rapid erosional exhumation of the Colorado Plateau, southwestern USA

Abstract Erosion may modify the architecture of subsurface flow systems by removing confining units and changing topography to influence patterns of fluid circulation or by inducing gas exsolution from subsurface fluids, influencing compositional and buoyancy patterns in flow systems. Here, we examine the geologic record of subsurface flow in the sedimentary rocks of the Paradox Basin in the Colorado Plateau (southwestern USA), including the distribution and ages of Fe- and Mn-oxide deposits and bleached, former red-bed sandstones. We compare our results to those of previous geo- and thermochronology studies that documented as much as 2 km of erosional exhumation at ca. 3–4 Ma and Fe-and Mn-oxide precipitation at 3.6 Ma along fault zones in the region. We used (U-Th)/He and K-Ar dating to document two new records of subsurface flow of reduced fluids between 3 and 4 Ma. The first is precipitation of Mn-oxides along the Moab fault (Utah, USA) at 3.9 ± 0.2 Ma. The second is clay mineralization associated with laterally extensive bleaching in the Curtis Formation, which we dated using K-Ar illite age analysis to 3.60 ± 0.03 Ma. The coincidence of the timing of bleaching, Fe- and Mn-oxide formation in multiple locations, and erosional exhumation at 3–4 Ma raises the question of how surface erosion may have induced a phase of fluid flow in the subsurface. We suggest that recent erosion of the Colorado Plateau created steep topographic gradients that enhanced regional groundwater flow, whereby meteoric water circulation flushed reduced fluids toward discharge zones. Dissolved gases, transported from hydrocarbon reservoirs, also may have been exsolved by rapid depressurization.

Gender Equality vs ‘Morality’: The Erosion of Gender Agendas in Kenya

This article seeks to interpret the recent erosion of gender equality agendas in Kenya through a lens of anti‑gender pushback, or patriarchal backlash. Since 2013, Kenyan governments have increasingly been appealing to citizens’ emotions through apparently ‘sound’ discourse, citing simple de‑contextualised narratives that resonate with many people, such as ‘family values’ and ‘Kenyan moral codes’. Gender equality – and policies and praxis to advance this – is increasingly framed as ‘non-African’, with laws, policies, and practices focused upon gender justice depicted as destructive of the ‘African family’, underscored by a particular framing of religion and morality. By including a broader understanding of the diverse manifestations of backlash within the Kenyan context, this article focuses on how notions of morality are mobilised by a range of implicated actors – government, politicians, media, and repressive religious forces – to undermine policies, laws, and discourse that seek to further gender justice in Kenya.

Shoreface erosion counters blue carbon accumulation in transgressive barrier-island systems

Landward migration of coastal ecosystems in response to sea-level rise is altering coastal carbon dynamics. Although such landscapes rapidly accumulate soil carbon, barrier-island migration jeopardizes long-term storage through burial and exposure of organic-rich backbarrier deposits along the lower beach and shoreface. Here, we quantify the carbon flux associated with the seaside erosion of backbarrier lagoon and peat deposits along the Virginia Atlantic Coast. Barrier transgression leads to the release of approximately 26.1 Gg of organic carbon annually. Recent (1994–2017 C.E.) erosion rates exceed annual soil carbon accumulation rates (1984–2020) in adjacent backbarrier ecosystems by approximately 30%. Additionally, shoreface erosion of thick lagoon sediments accounts for >80% of total carbon losses, despite containing lower carbon densities than overlying salt marsh peat. Together, these results emphasize the impermanence of carbon stored in coastal environments and suggest that existing landscape-scale carbon budgets may overstate the magnitude of the coastal carbon sink.

Imprint of relative sea level histories on Last Interglacial coral preservation

SUMMARY Fossil corals are commonly used to reconstruct Last Interglacial (∼125 ka, LIG) sea level. Sea level reconstructions assume the water depth at which the coral lived, called the ‘relative water depth’. However, relative water depth varies in time and space due to coral reef growth in response to relative sea level (RSL) changes. RSL changes can also erode coral reefs, exposing older reef surfaces with different relative water depths. We use a simplified numerical model of coral evolution to investigate how sea level history systematically influences the preservation of corals in the Bahamas and western Australia, regions which house >100 LIG coral fossils. We construct global ice histories spanning the uncertainty of LIG global mean sea level (GMSL) and predict RSL with a glacial isostatic adjustment model. We then simulate coral evolution since 132 ka. We show that preserved elevations and relative water depths of modelled LIG corals are sensitive to the magnitude, timing and number of GMSL highstand(s). In our simulations, the influence of coral growth and erosion (i.e. the ‘growth effect’) can have an impact on RSL reconstructions that is comparable to glacial isostatic adjustment. Thus, without explicitly accounting for the growth effect, additional uncertainty is introduced into sea level reconstructions. Our results suggest the growth effect is most pronounced in western Australia due to Holocene erosion, but also plays a role in the Bahamas, where LIG RSL rose rapidly due to the collapsing peripheral bulge associated with Laurentide Ice Sheet retreat. Despite the coral model's simplicity, our study highlights the utility of process-based RSL reconstructions.

On Populism and Civil Society: The Challenge to Constitutional Democracy by Andrew Arato and Jean L. Cohen

I will critically explore Arato and Cohen’s work on populism acknowledging areas of agreement while noting gaps in their reasoning particularly regarding the complex relations between capitalism and democracy and the recent erosion of democracy replacing it with authoritarian regimes that are better suited for neoliberal policies.

Holocene warming of alpine rockwalls decreased rockwall erosion rates

Alpine rockwall erosion studies suggest that deglaciated rockwalls in the European Alps are eroding slower today than at earlier times in the Holocene. Explanations for this have included a waned glacial debuttressing effect since the retreat of Last Glacial ice loads and the establishment of more moderate climates, but seldom have such explanations been robustly tested. We combine field data with modelling to reconstruct changes in rockwall erosion and associated climate drivers, in an alpine valley of the European Alps since the beginning of the Holocene. Paleo (Holocene to decadal-scale) erosion rates were calculated from talus accumulation below rockwalls, and compared with recent rates (2016–2019) measured from repeat laserscan surveys of the same rockwalls. We reconstructed the glacial retreat history in the valley, and modelled Holocene changes in permafrost distribution and frost cracking using calibrated rockwall temperature reconstructions. We found that rockwalls that have been free of glacier ice since ∼10 ka experienced higher Holocene-averaged erosion rates compared to recent erosion rates. Our modelling suggests this relates to periods of higher intensities of frost cracking and cycles of permafrost aggradation and degradation in the Holocene, relative to today. For a recently deglaciated high-elevation rockwall, erosion rates were 1–2 orders of magnitude greater than the lower-elevation sites, but decayed rapidly over time since deglaciation. A high, but rapidly decaying rate results from short-lived paraglacial adjustment, permafrost thaw and high frost cracking activity. Our findings suggest that periglacial activity strongly influences the rates and patterns of erosion of deglaciated alpine rockwalls. This helps to explain why paleo Holocene deglaciated rockwall erosion rates tend to exceed recent rates in the European Alps.

Natural Denudation Versus Anthropogenically Accelerated Erosion in Central Brazil: A Confrontation of Time and Space Scales

AbstractLand degradation resulting from increased continental surface erosion is a worldwide and systemic phenomenon due to unsustainable human activities. Already fragile, the intertropical zone is likely to be further affected by climate change like increased aridity, an aggravating factor of soil erosion and land degradation. A major challenge is thus to provide the necessary knowledge to not only deepen our understanding of the Earth's system and its critical thresholds but also to help achieving sustainability. Understanding the factors that control the properties and processes of the critical zone, and especially what will be its responses to ongoing climate and land use changes, requires multidisciplinary efforts to tackle time scales that are compatible with morphogenesis and soil development as well as environmental disturbances of anthropogenic origin. Due to its prominent ecological importance, the Brazilian Cerrado biome is an ideal natural laboratory were to gauge the consequences of recent and intense agricultural activities on continental surface erosion. We focused on the region of Brasília where our approach allows confronting the temporal scales of long‐lived and stable cosmogenic nuclides with that of short‐lived radioactive isotopes, through a comparison of natural and anthropogenically disturbed land surfaces. Our results indicate that long‐term, background denudation rates are lower than 10 mm Kyr−1 whereas recent erosion rates due to human activities may reach rates at least 160 times higher, exceeding by far the sustainability of the soil resource.

Controls on earthflow formation in the Teanaway River basin, central Washington State, USA

Abstract. Earthflows create landscape heterogeneity, increase local erosion rates, and heighten sediment loads in streams. These slow moving and fine-grained mass movements make up much of the Holocene erosion in the Teanaway River basin, central Cascade Range, Washington State, yet controls on earthflow activity and the resulting topographic impacts are unquantified. We mapped earthflows based on morphologic characteristics and relatively dated earthflow activity using a flow directional surface roughness metric called MADstd. The relative MADstd activity is supported by six radiocarbon ages, three lake sedimentation ages, and 16 cross-cutting relationships, indicating that MADstd is a useful tool to identify and relatively date earthflow activity, especially in heavily vegetated regions. Nearly all of the mapped earthflows are in the Teanaway and lower Roslyn formations, which comprise just 32.7 % of the study area. Earthflow aspect follows bedding planes in these units, demonstrating a strong lithologic control on earthflow location. Based on absolute ages and MADstd distributions, a quarter of the earthflows in the Teanaway Basin were active in the last few hundred years; the timing coincides with deforestation and increased land use in the Teanaway. Major tributaries initiate in earthflows and valley width is altered by earthflows that create wide valleys upstream and narrow constrictions within the earthflow zone. Although direct sediment delivery from earthflows brings fine sediment to the channel, stream power is sufficient to readily transport fines downstream. Based on our findings, over the Holocene – and particularly in the last few hundred years – lithologic-controlled earthflow erosion in the Teanaway basin has altered valley bottom connectivity and increased delivery of fine sediments to tributary channels.

Nearly One-Fourth of Physicians in Large Academic Medical Center Experienced Mistreatment

Nearly One-Fourth of Physicians in Large Academic Medical Center Experienced Mistreatment

Holocene and historic rates of rock coast erosion – A discussion focussed on Southeast England

Cliff erosion is of concern along inhabited coastlines especially under a scenario of increasing sea level rise. Extrapolation of past erosion rates are often used as a first approximation of future rates, which are or form part of the input into numerical models. However, cliff erosion rates in the Holocene are poorly understood. This is due to the generally short record based on historical maps, which can mask or accentuate erosion rates based on different event frequencies, and, for the more recent cosmogenic exposure dating method, it reflects the large number of variables influencing the concentration of cosmogenic nuclides in rocks at the surface of intertidal shore platforms. The study uses historic maps that go back 400 years, updated (to 2020) recent erosion rates, evidence from mid-Holocene terrestrial habitats in front of present-day cliffs, and a geomorphological landscape type interpretation to provide a better understanding of cliff evolution and erosion history for the cliffs in East Sussex (Southeast England). The paper demonstrates that cliff erosion can only have started in the last few centuries with remnants of Eemian cliffs still present in places. This is supported by published 10Be data. The coastline investigated also shows a persistent decrease in erosion rates to less than half the maximum rate observed in the late 19th to early 20th century despite sea level rise. As a consequence, it appears imperative to understand the local drivers of coastal cliff erosion to assess the future consequences of climate change rather than applying general concepts for example in relation to erosion changes with increasing sea level rise.

Erosion rates in a wet, temperate climate derived from rock luminescence techniques

Abstract. A new luminescence erosion meter has huge potential for inferring erosion rates on sub-millennial scales for both steady and transient states of erosion, which is not currently possible with any existing techniques capable of measuring erosion. This study applies new rock luminescence techniques to a well-constrained scenario provided by the Beinn Alligin rock avalanche, NW Scotland. Boulders in this deposit are lithologically consistent and have known cosmogenic nuclide ages and independently derived Holocene erosion rates. We find that luminescence-derived exposure ages for the Beinn Alligin rock avalanche were an order of magnitude younger than existing cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages, suggestive of high erosion rates (as supported by field evidence of quartz grain protrusions on the rock surfaces). Erosion rates determined by luminescence were consistent with independently derived rates measured from boulder edge roundness. Inversion modelling indicates a transient state of erosion reflecting the stochastic nature of erosional processes over the last ∼4.5 kyr in the wet, temperate climate of NW Scotland. Erosion was likely modulated by known fluctuations in moisture availability and to a lesser extent temperature, which controlled the extent of chemical weathering of these highly lithified rocks prior to erosion. The use of a multi-elevated temperature, post-infra-red, infra-red stimulated luminescence (MET-pIRIR) protocol (50, 150 and 225 ∘C) was advantageous as it identified samples with complexities that would not have been observed using only the standard infra-red stimulated luminescence (IRSL) signal measured at 50 ∘C, such as that introduced by within-sample variability (e.g. surficial coatings). This study demonstrates that the luminescence erosion meter can infer accurate erosion rates on sub-millennial scales and identify transient states of erosion (i.e. stochastic processes) in agreement with independently derived erosion rates for the same deposit.

Development of banded terrain in an active salt diapir: potential analog to Mars

Banded terrain is a planetary enigma that may be associated with salt diapirs. We study such features in Mount Sedom diapir, which is one of the few places on Earth where rock-salt is partly exposed and well-preserved because of the extreme aridity of its setting. The relief and surface features of the diapir generally reflect its parent-rock geological structure, stratigraphy and lithology on one hand, and recent erosion and dissolution on the other hand. We show that these features are commonly aligned along parallel strike-oriented lines forming banded terrain. We measure the surface deformation, demonstrating an absolute uplift rate reaching ~7–8 mm/yr. The extruded volume rate of Mt. Sedom bedrock is estimated to be 48,000 ± 12,000 m3/yr. Subtracting erosion and dissolution, the ridge mass increases by 70,000 ± 20,000 metric tons per year, inducing a young (Holocene) and steep landscape. We compare surface landforms with subsurface geology exposed in caves. They include lines of sliding faults, dissolution furrows, sinkholes of dissolution and collapse origin, karstic shafts, and an irregular disrupted drainage system dominated by blind valleys. The diapir rock-salt is covered by residual caprock, in its turn partly overlain by less consolidated hardly-soluble sediments and gravels. Terraces of abrasion and regressing lakeshore of the Dead Sea appear along the ridge margins. Exposed salt outcrops are relatively rare and undergo rapid dissolution, demonstrated by karst features which range from ponors to the longest salt caves known globally. The extreme solubility of the underlying salt influences the surface and subsurface landscape, inducing high permeability along fractures, and promoting runoff capture into the underlying salt. All studied landforms contribute to the banded relief of Mount Sedom, which can be used to analyze banded or closely-related honeycomb terrain across other terrestrial and planetary diapirs.

Analysis of Recent Erosion Hazard Levels and Conservation Policy Recommendations for Lesti Subwatershed, Upper Brantas Watershed

The reduced age function of Sengguruh Dam/Reservoir due to erosion in the upper of Brantas Watershed (Lesti Subwatershed area) interferes with its role in flood control, irrigation water supply and the supply of most of the hydroelectricity in East Java Province, Indonesia. This study aims to estimate erosion, analyze the interrelationship of the causative factors and provides environmental conservation direction. The research method uses mixed methods. The quantitative method of erosion rates is done by calculating the Modify Universal Soil Loss Equation which is supported by GIS tools. The qualitative method is carried out with questionnaires and interviews in the Lesti Subwatershed area. The results showed that the current erosion rate in each ha of land (average) in the Lesti Subwatershed was 153,868 tons / ha / year (exceeding the tolerable erosion rate of 30 tons / ha / year). The rate of erosion in the Lesti Subwatershed has always increased in the last 14 years. Of the 12 Subdistricts in the Lesti watershed, as many as 6 Subdistricts are identified as having high levels of Erosion Hazards so that they were a priority to be handled, namely in the Wajak, Dampit, Tirtoyudo, , Gedangan, Sumbermanjing Wetan and Bantur Subdistricts. Dampit Subdistrict, Turen Subdistrict and Gondanglegi Subdistrict also face behavioral problems and high population pressure compared to other Subdistricts. Research also shows that there is a relationship between erosion and knowledge, attitudes and behavior of the community in the form of population pressure and land use patterns. It is recommended that environmental conservation directives focus on these 6 Sub-districts through the application of soil and water conservation. The results of spatial analysis at priority locations suggest conservation measures in the form of law enforcement or counseling, and community empowerment to increase the ability and independence of the community through providing access to resources, education, and training.

Late Quaternary variations in paleoerosion rates in the northern Qilian Shan revealed by 10Be in fluvial terraces

Understanding the pace of erosion through space and time may provide insight into how tectonic and climatic processes conspire to drive landscape evolution. However, determining whether erosion rates in a given locality have varied with past climate change remains challenging, and the mechanisms invoked to explain variations in past erosion rates are not well understood. In this study, we evaluate past rates of erosion during the late Quaternary along the northern Qilian Shan, the range bounding the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. We measured the concentrations of cosmogenic 10Be from fluvial deposits atop 5 terraces along the Hongshuiba River and average 10Be concentrations at the time of terrace formation. We also determined terrace ages by combining 5 10Be depth profiles and 15 OSL samples of overlying loess. Our results confirm previous dating of this terrace sequence using cosmogenic exposure ages of boulders and depth profiles in terrace gravels and indicate that terrace treads span glacial-interglacial cycles over the past ~200 ka. We exploit this exceptionally dense sampling of 10Be to evaluate differences in cosmogenic 10Be concentrations at the time of terrace formation along the Hongshuiba River. Analysis of 48 individual determinations of “inherited” 10Be concentrations reveal that fluvial sediment in terraces abandoned during the last glacial and penultimate glacial periods are 3–4 times greater than concentrations in sediment atop terraces formed during interglacial times. Paleoerosion rates within the Hongshuiba watershed appear to have been ~200 m/Myr during glacial episodes but increased to ~500–700 m/Myr during interglacial times, similar to recent erosion rates inferred from 10Be in modern sediment. These results point to likely changes in the mean residence time of sediment with the watershed that fluctuate in association with 100-ka glacial-interglacial cycles. We suggest that reductions in erosion rates associated with glacial conditions may have been driven by changes in catchment hydrology during cold and dry periods.

Geochemistry of Coastal Permafrost and Erosion-Driven Organic Matter Fluxes to the Beaufort Sea Near Drew Point, Alaska

Accelerating erosion of the Alaska Beaufort Sea coast is increasing inputs of organic matter from land to the Arctic Ocean, and improved estimates of organic matter stocks in eroding coastal permafrost are needed to assess their mobilization rates under contemporary conditions. We collected three permafrost cores (4.5–7.5 m long) along a geomorphic gradient near Drew Point, Alaska, where recent erosion rates average 17.2 m year−1. Down-core patterns indicate that organic-rich soils and lacustrine sediments (12–45% total organic carbon; TOC) in the active layer and upper permafrost accumulated during the Holocene. Deeper permafrost (below 3 m elevation) mainly consists of Late Pleistocene marine sediments with lower organic matter content (∼1% TOC), lower C:N ratios, and higher δ13C values. Radiocarbon-based estimates of organic carbon accumulation rates were 11.3 ± 3.6 g TOC m−2 year−1 during the Holocene and 0.5 ± 0.1 g TOC m−2 year−1 during the Late Pleistocene (12–38 kyr BP). Within relict marine sediments, porewater salinities increased with depth. Elevated salinity near sea level (∼20–37 in thawed samples) inhibited freezing despite year-round temperatures below 0°C. We used organic matter stock estimates from the cores in combination with remote sensing time-series data to estimate carbon fluxes for a 9 km stretch of coastline near Drew Point. Erosional fluxes of TOC averaged 1,369 kg C m−1 year−1 during the 21st century (2002–2018), nearly doubling the average flux of the previous half-century (1955–2002). Our estimate of the 21st century erosional TOC flux year−1 from this 9 km coastline (12,318 metric tons C year−1) is similar to the annual TOC flux from the Kuparuk River, which drains a 8,107 km2 area east of Drew Point and ranks as the third largest river on the North Slope of Alaska. Total nitrogen fluxes via coastal erosion at Drew Point were also quantified, and were similar to those from the Kuparuk River. This study emphasizes that coastal erosion represents a significant pathway for carbon and nitrogen trapped in permafrost to enter modern biogeochemical cycles, where it may fuel food webs and greenhouse gas emissions in the marine environment.