T124 The Gulf of Mexico—Past, Present, and Future: Relating Ecology to Geology (Posters)
RAPID CHANGES IN ESTUARY EVOLUTION WITHIN CORPUS CHRISTI BAY, TEXAS, USA
Paper number: T124-1
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Authors
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John B. AndersonRice Univ, Houston, TX
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Antonio B. RodriguezUniv Alabama - Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa, AL
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Marco TavianiConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bologna, N/A
Abstract
Over the last 10 ka, the wave-dominated estuaries of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico have undergone several dramatic changes in response to sea-level and climatic oscillations. Using over 400 km of high resolution seismic, 51 cores up to 20 m in length, and over 40 radiocarbon dates, the history of one of these estuaries – Corpus Christi Bay – was studied in detail. Cores and seismic profiles show dramatic changes in lithofacies and seismic character, indicating changes in estuarine environments (i.e. bayhead deltas, oyster reefs, and tidal deltas). Km-scale shifts in the location of estuarine environments occurred at submillenial time scales even during a period of slow sea level rise. This is attributed to the important role of antecedent topography and climate change in estuarine evolution.