The stratigraphic record of sea-level change and storms during the last 2000 years: Romney Marsh, southeast England

The record of late-Holocene sea-level change and coastal evolution in the R omney Marsh region is either absent or made complex by the range of environ mental variables which influence sedimentation in both drift-aligned barrie r and barrier estuary settings. A multidisciplinary approach (stratigraphy, diatoms and mineral magnetism) was employed in the study of sediments from the area of Denge Marsh with the aim of establishing the record of sea-lev el change for the last 2000 years, and to distinguish sedimentary records w hich are the result of sea-level change or storms. A grid-based stratigraph ic framework was used to identify the morphology of the buried gravel ridge s and the marsh stratigraphy. A tripartite fining-upward sequence was ident ified and investigated to determine the nature of sediment processing, depo sition and provenance. An early phase of tidal flat sedimentation was domin ated by a high terrigenous sediment influx. This was followed by intertidal mudflat deposition in a barrier estuary as the gravel foreland prograded e astward. It is likely that this phase of marsh accretion came to an end in the 8th century AD. The final phase of barrier estuary deposition would app ear to be the result of storm surges which inundated the marsh during the 1 3th century AD. Comparison of stratigraphic contact altitudes, as approxima te indicators of past MHWS level, with the present day MHWS provides only e quivocal data on late-Holocene sea-level change. (C) 1999 INQUA/Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.