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Bunzel, Dorothea; Milker, Yvonne; Müller-Navarra, Katharina; Arz, Helge Wolfgang; Friedrich, Jana; Lahajnar, Niko; Schmiedl, Gerhard (2019): Compilation of radionuclides, mercury contaminations, and ln(Zr/Rb) ratios, together with mean grain size and organic carbon data records, obtained from sediment sequences of the south-eastern North Sea region [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905240, Supplement to: Bunzel, D et al. (2020): Integrated stratigraphy of foreland salt-marsh sediments of the south-eastern North Sea region. Newsletters on Stratigraphy, https://doi.org/10.1127/nos/2020/0540

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Published: 2019-08-27 • DOI registered: 2019-09-25

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Abstract:
Depositional processes in coastal wetlands respond to a changing climate as documented in the sediment successions of salt marshes. In this context, robust chronologies are crucial for the reconstruction of salt-marsh depositional processes in the past. However, salt-marsh sediments from the highly dynamic North Sea coast often lack a reliable stratigraphy due to the combined influences of natural processes and human activities, causing a reworking and re-deposition of the sediments.
Here, a combination of absolute and relative dating methods was applied in order to establish an integrated stratigraphic framework for active foreland salt marshes along the south-eastern North Sea coast. This stratigraphic framework is based on radionuclides (210Pb, 137Cs, 14C) and mercury (Hg) contaminations, together with ln(Zr/Rb) as a grain-size proxy for additional inter-correlation between the sites. The studied salt marshes encompass different environmental settings concerning the inundation frequency and intensity, and anthropogenic influences. As a result, the reconstructed average sediment accretion rates range from 1.31 cm yr-1 in the more sheltered and semi-enclosed salt marshes in the Bay of Tümlau, to 1.16 cm yr-1 in the anthropogenic modified and grazed coastal salt marsh at Friedrichskoog, and to 1.75 cm yr-1 in the dynamic open coastal salt marsh at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog. Similar mean high accretion rates of 1.72 cm yr-1 are documented for the Eider estuary until AD 1965, before they dropped to 0.72 cm yr-1 after completion of the Eider tidal barrier in AD 1973. The results highlight the advantage of combining independent dating methods for the establishment of salt-marsh chronologies. The reconstructed sediment-accretion rates suggest a high resilience of salt-marsh systems to ongoing sea-level rise as long as sediment availability and natural flooding dynamics are maintained.
Keyword(s):
North Sea; Pollutants; Radionuclides; Salt marshes; Storm surges; X-ray fluorescence scanning
Related to:
Cordua, Amalie; Lindhorst, Sebastian: (Table A4) Mercury analyses performed on fossil sediment sequence GeoHH-SH02.2 [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.905294
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 54.152932 * Median Longitude: 8.814568 * South-bound Latitude: 53.934700 * West-bound Longitude: 8.676415 * North-bound Latitude: 54.364186 * East-bound Longitude: 8.906900
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)
Size:
6 datasets

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Datasets listed in this publication series

  1. Bunzel, D; Milker, Y; Müller-Navarra, K et al. (2019): (Table A1) Organic carbon measurements for sediment sequences TB13-1, GeoHH-GIE, GeoHH-FK and GeoHH-KWK. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905218
  2. Bunzel, D; Milker, Y; Müller-Navarra, K et al. (2019): (Table A2) Raw data of the down-core radionuclide activity of 137Cs, 210Pb and 226Ra at site TB13-1, GeoHH-GIE, GeoHH-FK, and GeoHH-KWK. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905237
  3. Bunzel, D; Milker, Y; Müller-Navarra, K et al. (2019): (Table A3) Results of the AMS radiocarbon dating based on various marine shell fragments from the sediment profiles of sites GeoHH-GIE and GeoHH-FK. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905239
  4. Bunzel, D; Milker, Y; Müller-Navarra, K et al. (2019): (Table A4) Mercury analyses performed on recent sediment sequences TB13-1, GeoHH-GIE, GeoHH-FK and GeoHH-KWK. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905221
  5. Bunzel, D; Milker, Y; Müller-Navarra, K et al. (2019): (Table A5) Down-core distribution of the ln(Zr/Rb) ratios at the different salt-marsh sites TB13-, GeoHH-GIE, GeoHH-FK and GeoHH-KWK. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905222
  6. Bunzel, D; Milker, Y; Müller-Navarra, K et al. (2019): (Table A6) Grain-size measurements for sediment sequences TB13-1, GeoHH-GIE, GeoHH-FK and GeoHH-KWK. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905223