| Title | Sedimentary records of coastal storm surges: evidence of the 1953 North Sea event |
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| Author | Swindles, G T; Galloway, J M ; Macumber, A L; Croudace, I W; Emery, A R; Woulds, C; Bateman, M D; Parry, L; Jones, J M; Seiby, K; Rushby, G T; Baird, A J; Woodroffe, S A; Barlow, N L M |
| Source | Marine Geology vol. 403, 2018 p. 262-270, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2018.06.013  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2018 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20180084 |
| Publisher | Elsevier Science Bv |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Area | Holkham; Norfolk; North Sea; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
| Lat/Long WENS | -1.9000 -0.2167 52.9667 52.3833 |
| Subjects | marine geology; surficial geology/geomorphology; stratigraphy; Science and Technology; Nature and Environment; coastal environment; coastal erosion; storms; salt marshes; cesium; cesium geochemistry;
isotopes; x-ray fluorescence; core analysis; depositional history; cumulative effects; Climate change |
| Illustrations | location maps; photographs; stratigraphic charts; stratigraphic columns; plots; distribution diagrams |
| Program | Environmental Geoscience Metal Mining: northern baselines |
| Released | 2018 06 23 |
| Abstract | The expression of storm events in the geological record is poorly understood; therefore, stratigraphic investigations of known events are needed. The 1953 North Sea storm surge was the largest natural
disaster for countries bordering the southern North Sea during the twentieth century. We characterize the spatial distribution of a sand deposit from the 1953 storm surge in a salt marsh at Holkham, Norfolk (UK). Radionuclide measurements, core
scanning X-ray fluorescence (Itrax), and particle size analyses, were used to date and characterise the deposit. The deposit occurs at the onset of detectable Cs-137 - coeval with the first testing of nuclear weapons in the early 1950s. The sand
layer is derived from material eroded from beach and dunes on the seaward side of the salt marsh. After the depositional event, accumulation of finer-grained silt and clay materials resumed. This work has important implications for understanding the
responses of salt marshes to powerful storms and provides a near-modern analogue of storm surge events for calibration of extreme wave events in the geological record. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
In this study we test the utility of ITRAX XRF core scanning for detection and characterization of a known storm surge event in a salt marsh in the UK.
This allows us to better develop the utility of this rapidly emerging method of rapid, cost-effective, and non-destructive semi-quantitative means of geochemical determination. Examining the geology of the storm surge event also permits us to better
understand the expression of similar events in the rock record. Storm surge and tsunami deposits are generally poorly understood and use of modern analogues advances our ability to recognize and interpret deposits associated with these events in the
rock record. This leads to a better understanding of their frequency and impact to increase predictive power and modeling of future extreme events. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 326665 |
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