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MARI/CCPO Seminar Series
BEYOND SEA-LEVEL RISE: COASTAL RESPONSE TO CLIMATE-DRIVEN CHANGES IN FLUVIAL SEDIMENT SUPPLY
CHRISTOPHER HEIN, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)
Coastal response to climate change is driven by complex interactions among global (sea level), regional (climate, sea level), and local (sedimentation/erosion, bathymetry) controls. Studies of a Pharonic harbor along the Egyptian Red Sea coast and a strandplain in southern Brazil demonstrate the coupled impacts of changes in sea level and the types and supply rates of fluvial sediment. Geophysical, sedimentological, chronological, archeological and geochemical investigations at these sites uncovered a dominant role of terrestrial climate on the rates and sedimentologic nature of coastal progradation. Together, these studies reveal a deeper understanding of the nature by which modifications in terrestrial precipitation patterns, driven by climate change, can overprint the coastal impacts of moderate sea-level changes.