TITLE:

Sea-level, climate, and estuarine stratrigraphy of Baffin Bay, Texas: studying past changes in coastal systems to elucidate future response to changing sea-level and climate.



ABSTRACT:

Modern estuaries, sites of significant population and industry centers, are highly sensitive to changes in relative sea level and sediment supply. Recent studies along the northwestern Gulf of Mexico document rapid back-stepping of estuarine environments up to 20 km and 150 m/yr at ca. 8.0 ka, 4.8, ka, and 2.6 ka. Proposed forcing mechanisms for these back-stepping events include: increased sea-level rise, flooding of relict fluvial terraces, or a decrease in sediment supply. High-resolution paleo sea level, climate, and stratigraphic records are needed to understand past and predict future coastal response to relative sea-level rise and climate change. I present newly derived sea-level, climate, and stratigraphic records to understand the Holocene statrigraphic evolution of Baffin Bay, Texas. Paleoclimate studies of southern Texas lack centennial  to decadal resolution needed to resolve these back-stepping events and are concentrated well-inland of coastal climate regimes. Located along the tectonically stable southern Texas coast, Baffin Bay and a nearby playa Laguna Salada, provide excellent areas to study eustatic sea-level change and paleoclimate, respectively. Similar to bays throughout the Gulf of Mexico Baffin Bay stratigraphy exhibits stratigraphic flooding surfaces at ca. 4.8 ka, and 2.6 ka. Comparison to sea-level and climate records indicate that these changes were driven primarily by changes in climate.