Annualmeeting:2017 CSDMS meeting-127
Browse abstracts
Sea-level responses to sediment erosion and deposition in the eastern United States since the mid-Pliocene climate optimum
[[Image:|300px|right|link=File:]]The Orangeburg Scarp along the U.S. east coast is a paleoshoreline that formed during the mid-Pliocene climate optimum (MPCO; 3.3-2.9 Ma), a warm period considered to be an analog for modern climate. At present, the Orangeburg Scarp varies in elevation from ~33 to ~82 m along its ~1000-km length, implying that it has been heterogeneously warped since its formation. Recent studies suggest that some of the variations in the paleoshoreline elevation might be driven by regional sediment loading and unloading. In this study, we use a gravitationally self-consistent sea-level model to quantify the influence of sediment erosion and deposition on sea-level changes since the MPCO along the U.S. east coast. We drive the sea-level model with existing ice models and a new compilation of sediment redistribution, which is inferred from erosion rates in basins draining the Appalachians and deposition rates in the lower portions of these basins and offshore. Preliminary results suggest that sediment redistribution can significantly perturb paleoshoreline elevations along the Orangeburg Scarp, which suggests that accounting for regional erosion and deposition can advance our ability to estimate ice volume during at the MPCO and improve our understanding of the evolution of continental margins.
