Fluvio-estuarine sedimentation and estuarine evolution during the Late-Holocene in the Taw Estuary, England: response to relative sea-level and climate change

Present models of Holocene estuary evolution are driven largely by changes in relative sea-level (RSL) with little reference to long-term changes in fluvial regime and regional climate. Centennial-scale climate change has been shown to have a major control on Holocene river behaviour, with fluvial records showing evidence for a high sensitivity of flood occurrence to changing climate. It follows that the changes in river discharge associated with these climatic fluctuations should have an important bearing on inner estuarine hydrology and sedimentology. Indeed, recent US studies have shown that changes in freshwater inflow can be inferred by changes in estuarine paleosalinity and that the timing of these events reflect changes in regional precipitation. Deposition in the transitional inner estuarine environment can therefore be seen to be controlled by both marine and fluvial influences. The fluvio-estuarine late-Holocene sedimentary record was investigated in the macro-tidal Taw Estuary, south-west England in order to ascertain the relative importance of changes in RSL and precipitation driven river discharge on estuarine sedimentation and centennial-scale geomorphic evolution. The inner estuarine record was compared with a local RSL reconstruction for the Taw Estuary and with a reconstructed Holocene flood record and geomorphic fluvial history for the lower Taw valley. The diatom record of numerous sediment cores enabled paleosalinity to be evaluated. The fluvio-estuarine valley fill was split into a series of stratigraphic units, with a chronological framework derived using radiocarbon and OSL dating methods. Geomorphic change in the inner estuarine zone is shown to be mainly influenced by phases of increased river discharge and catchment precipitation, with fluvial instability translating down river into the inner estuarine system. This results in periods of enhanced tidal channel migration, marsh-floodplain formation and estuarine channel-bed aggradation. However, most of the sediment in this transitional environment is seen to be sourced from the estuary on tidal currents. Changes in RSL during the late Holocene are also shown to influence inner estuarine sedimentation and geomorphic change, but to a lesser extent than centennial-scale climate-driven river discharge variability. The results of this study have enabled a revised model of late-Holocene estuary evolution to be presented.