Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T05:05:38.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Beaches and beach-related facies, Holocene barrier islands of Georgia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

R. W. Frey  and
J. D. Howard
R. W. Frey
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, U.S.A.
J. D. Howard
Affiliation:
Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, P.O. Box 13687, Savannah, GA 31416, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The mesotidal coast of Georgia encompasses diverse sedimentary features and depositional environments, most of which typify major facies of the entire Georgia Bight – a broad embayment on the southeastern U.S. shelf. Barrier island strandline environments especially include tidal inlets and shoals, the beach shoreface, foreshore, and backshore, and dunes and washover fans. Low energy beach segments may grade directly into small seaside tidal flats. Relict salt marsh deposits crop out on erosional beaches. All deposits are in dynamic equilibrium with fluctuating coastal conditions and a gradual rise in sea level.

Most of these facies are important in interpreting ancient epeiric transgressive/regressive coastal sequences. Pronounced local variations in the overall sequence result from complex latero-vertical relationships between (1) the shoreface, foreshore, and shoals, and (2) the shoals, low energy beaches, and beach-related tidal flats. Washover fans and relict deposits on erosional beaches cause perturbations within present day lateral relationships but are normal in transgressive facies tracts along such coasts. Close stratigraphic control of outcrops or cores would be necessary for detailed reconstructions of, or correlations among, ancient analogs.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 125 , Issue 6 , November 1988 , pp. 621 - 640
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Contribution number 597, University of Georgia Marine Institute, Sapelo Island.

References

Atkinson, L. P., Menzel, D. W. & Bush, K. A. (eds) 1985. Oceanography of the southeastern U.S. continental shelf. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., Coastal and Estuarine Sciences 2, 156 pp.Google Scholar
Belt, E. S., Frey, R. W. & Welch, J. S. 1983. Pleistocene coastal marine and estuarine sequences, Lee Creek Mine. In Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, Vol. I (ed. Ray, C. E.). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 53, 229–63.Google Scholar
Berg, J. H. van den. 1977. Morphodynamic development and preservation of physical sedimentary structures in two prograding recent ridge and runnel beaches along the Dutch coast. Geologie en Mijnbouw 56, 185–202.Google Scholar
Bird, E. C. F. & Schwartz, M. L. (Eds) 1985. The World's Coastline. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1071 pp.Google Scholar
Blanton, J. O. 1981. Ocean currents along a nearshore frontal zone on the continental shelf of the southeastern United States. Journal of Physical Oceanography 11, 1627–37.Google Scholar
Bridges, P. H. 1976. Lower silurian transgressive barrier islands, southwest Wales. Sedimentology 23, 347–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, B., Cameron, D. & Jones, J. R. 1985. Modern algal mats in intertidal and supratidal quartz sands, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S.A. In Biogenic Structures: their Use in Interpreting Depositional Environments (ed. Curran, H. A.). Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication 35, 211–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clifton, H. E. 1969. Beach lamination: nature and origin. Marine Geology 7, 553–9.Google Scholar
Curray, J. R., Emmel, F. J. & Crampton, P. J. S. 1969. Holocene history of a strand plain, lagoonal coast, Nayarit, Mexico. In Coastal Lagoons, a Symposium (ed. Castañares, A. A. and Phleger, F. B.), pp. 63–100. Ciudad Universitaria, México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Davidson-Arnott, R. G. D. & Greenwood, B. 1976. Facies relationships on a barred coast, Kouchibouguac Bay, New Brunswick, Canada. In Beach and Nearshore Sedimentation (ed. Davis, R. A. Jr and Ethington, R. L.). Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication 24, 149–68.Google Scholar
Davis, R. A. Jr. – Kuhn, B. J. 1985. Origin and development of Anclote Key, west-peninsular Florida. In Barrier Islands (ed. Oertel, G. F. and Leatherman, S. P.). Marine Geology 63, 153–71.Google Scholar
Deery, J. R. & Howard, J. D. 1977. Origin and character of washover fans on the Georgia coast, U.S.A. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions 27, 259–71.Google Scholar
DePratter, C. B. & Howard, J. D. 1977. History of shoreline changes determined by archaeological dating: Georgia coast, U.S.A. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions 27, 252–8.Google Scholar
DePratter, C. B. & Howard, J. D. 1981. Evidence for a sea level lowstand between 4500 and 2400 years B.P. on the southeast coast of the United States. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 51, 1287–95.Google Scholar
Dickinson, K. A., Berryhill, H. L. Jr. & Holmes, C. W. 1972. Criteria for recognizing ancient barrier coastlines. In Recognition of Ancient Sedimentary Environments (ed. Rigby, J. K. and Hamblin, W. K.). Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication 16, 192–214.Google Scholar
Dijkema, K. S., Reineck, H.-E. & Wolff, W. J. (eds) 1980. Geomorphology of the Wadden Sea, 135 pp. Rotterdam: Balkema.Google Scholar
Dörjes, J., Frey, R. W. & Howard, J. D. 1986. Origins of, and mechanisms for, mollusk shell accumulations on Georgia beaches. Senckenbergiana maritima 18, 1–43.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. M. & Frey, R. W. 1977. Substrate characteristics within a Holocene salt marsh, Sapelo Island, Georgia. Senckenbergiana maritima 9, 215–59.Google Scholar
Elliott, T. 1986. Siliciclastic Shorelines. In Sedimentary Environments and Fades, 2nd ed. (ed. Reading, H. G.), pp. 155–88. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Field, M. E. & Duane, D. B. 1976. Post-Pleistocene history of the United States inner continental shelf: significance to origin of barrier islands. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 87, 691–702.Google Scholar
Frey, R. W. & Basan, P. B. 1981. Taphonomy of relict Holocene salt marsh deposits, Cabretta Island, Georgia. Senckenbergiana maritima 13, 111–55.Google Scholar
Frey, R. W. & Basan, P. B. 1985. Coastal salt marshes. In Coastal Sedimentary Environments, 2nd ed. (ed. Davis, R. A. Jr.) pp. 225–301. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Frey, R. W. & Henderson, S. W. 1987. Left-Right phenomena among bivalve shells: examples from the Georgia coast. Senckenbergiana maritima 19, 223–47.Google Scholar
Frey, R. W. & Howard, J. D. 1986. Mesotidal estuarine sequences: a perspective from the Georgia Bight. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 56, 911–24.Google Scholar
Frey, R. W. & Pemberton, S. G. 1986. Vertebrate lebensspuren in intertidal and supratidal environments, Holocene barrier islands, Georgia. Senckenbergiana maritima 18, 45–95.Google Scholar
Frey, R. W. & Pemberton, S. G. 1987. The Psilonichnus Ichnocoenose, and its relationship to adjacent marine and nonmarine ichnocoenoses along the Georgia coast. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology 35, 333–57.Google Scholar
Frey, R. W. & Pinet, P. R. 1978. Calcium–Carbonate content of surficial sands seaward of Altamaha and Doboy Sounds, Georgia. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 48, 1249–56.Google Scholar
Frey, R. W., Howard, J. D. & Pryor, W. A. 1978. Ophiomorpha: its morphologic, taxonomic, and environmental significance. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 23, 199–229.Google Scholar
Giles, R. T. & Pilkey, O. H. 1965. Atlantic beach and dunc sediments of the southern United States. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 35, 900–10.Google Scholar
Glaeser, J. D. 1978. Global distribution of barrier islands in terms of tectonic setting. Journal of Geology 86, 283–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, A. M. & Fritz, W. J. 1984. Armored mud balls from Cabretta and Sapelo barrier islands, Georgia. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 54, 831–5.Google Scholar
Halsey, S. D. 1979. Nexus: new model of Barrier island development. In Barrier Islands, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico (ed. Leatherman, S. P.), pp. 185–210. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hayden, B. P. & Dolan, R. 1979. Barrier islands, lagoons, and marshes. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 49, 1061–72.Google Scholar
Hayes, M. O. 1979. Barrier island morphology as a function of tidal and wave regime. In Barrier Islands, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico (ed. Leatherman, S. P.), pp. 1–27. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Henderson, S. W. & Frey, R. W. 1986. Taphonomic redistribution of mollusk shells in a tidal inlet channel, Sapelo Island, Georgia. Palaios 1, 3–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hicks, S. D., DeBauch, H. A. Jr. & Hickman, L. E. Jr. 1983. Sea Level Variations for the United States, 1855–1980. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington, D.C., 170 pp.Google Scholar
Howard, J. D. & Dörjes, J. 1972. Animal-sediment relationships in two beach-related tidal flats; Sapelo Island, Georgia. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 42, 608–23.Google Scholar
Howard, J. D. & Frey, R. W. 1985. Physical and biogenic aspects of backbarrier sedimentary sequences, Georgia coast, U.S.A. In Barrier Islands (ed. Oertel, G. F. and Leatherman, S. P.). Marine Geology 63, 77–127.Google Scholar
Howard, J. D. & Reineck, H.-E. 1972. Georgia coastal region, Sapelo Island, U.S.A.: sedimentology and biology. IV. Physical and biogenic sedimentary structures of the nearshore shelf. Senckenbergiana maritima 4, 81–123.Google Scholar
Howard, J. D. & Reineck, H.-E. 1981. Depositional facies of high-energy beach-to-offshore sequence: comparison with low-energy sequence. Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists 65, 807–30.Google Scholar
Howard, J. D. & Scott, R. M. 1983. Comparison of Pleistocene and Holocene barrier island beach-to-offshore sequences, Georgia and northeast Florida coasts, U.S.A. Sedimentary Geology 34, 167–83.Google Scholar
Hoyt, J. H. & Henry, V. J. Jr. 1964. Development and geologic significance of soft beach sand. Sedimentology 3,44–51.Google Scholar
Hoyt, J. H. & Henry, V. J. Jr. 1967. Influence of island migration on barrier-island sedimentation. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 78, 77–86.Google Scholar
Hubbard, D. K., Oertel, G. & Nummedal, D. 1979. The role of waves and tidal currents in the development of tidal-inlet sedimentary structures and sand body geometry: examples from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 49, 1073–91.Google Scholar
Kraft, J. C. & Chrzastowski, M. J. 1985. Coastal stratigraphic sequences. In Coastal Sedimentary Environments, 2nd ed. (ed. Davis, R. A. Jr.), pp. 625–63. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Land, L. S. 1964. Eolian cross-bedding in the beach dune environment, Sapelo Island, Georgia. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 34, 389–94.Google Scholar
Leatherman, S. P. (Ed.) 1979. Barrier Islands, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. New York: Academic Press, 325 pp.Google Scholar
McCubbin, D. G. 1982. Barrier-island and strand-plain facies. In Sandstone Depositional Environments (ed. Scholle, P. A. and Spearing, D.). American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 31, 247–79.Google Scholar
Moore, J. H., Fritz, W. J. & Futch, R. S. 1984. Occurrence of megaripples in a ridge and runnel system, Sapelo Island, Georgia: morphology and processes. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 54, 615–25.Google Scholar
Nummedal, D. & Fischer, I. A. 1978. Process-response models for depositional shorelines: the German and the Georgia Bights. American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceedings of the Sixteenth Coastal Engineering Conference, pp. 1215–31.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. 1973. Patterns of sediment transport at nearshore zones influenced by wave and tidal currents: a study utilizing fluorescent tracers. Southeastern Geology, 15, 77–92.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. 1974 a. Residual currents and sediment exchange between estuary margins and the inner shelf, southeast coast of the United States. In International Symposium on Interrelationships of Estuarine and Continental Shelf Sedimentation, Bordeaux, France, 1973. Mémoires l'institut de Géologie Bassin d'Aquitaine 7, 135–43.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. 1974 b. A review of the sedimentologic role of dunes in shoreline stability, Georgia coast. Bulletin of the Georgia Academy of Science 32, 48–56.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. 1975 a. Post Pleistocene island and inlet adjustment along the Georgia coast. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 45, 150–9.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. 1975 b. Ebb-tidal deltas of Georgia estuaries. In Estuarine Research, Vol. II. Geology and Engineering, (ed. Cronin, L. E.), pp. 267–76.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. 1977. Geomorphic cycles in ebb deltas and related patterns of shore erosion and accretion. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 47, 1121–31.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. 1979. Barrier island development during the Holocene recession, southeastern United States. In Barrier Islands, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico (ed. Leatherman, S. P.), pp. 273–91. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. 1985. The barrier island system. In Barrier Islands (ed. Oertel, G. F. and Leatherman, S. P.). Marine Geology 63, 1–18.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. & Howard, J. D. 1972. Water Circulation and sedimentation at estuary entrances of the Georgia coast. In Shelf Sediment Transport: Process and Pattern (ed. Swift, D. J. P., Duane, D. B. and Pilkey, O. H.), pp. 411–27. Stroudsburg, PA: Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. & Larsen, M. 1976. Developmental sequences in Georgia coastal dunes and distribution of dune plants. Bulletin of the Georgia Academy of Science 34, 35–48.Google Scholar
Oertel, G. F. & Leatherman, S. P. (Eds) 1985. Barrier Islands. Marine Geology 63, 396 pp.Google Scholar
Opdyke, N. D., Spangler, D. P., Smith, D. L., Jones, D. S. & Lindquist, R. C. 1984. Origin of the epeirogenic uplift of Pliocene–Pleistocene beach ridges in Florida and the development of the Florida karst. Geology 12, 226–8.Google Scholar
Orme, A. R. 1973. Barrier and lagoon systems along the Zululand coast, South Africa. In Coastal Geomorphology, (ed. Coates, D. R.), pp. 181–217. Binghamton, New York: Publications in Geomorphology, State University of New York.Google Scholar
Otvos, E.G. 1985. Barrier platforms: northern Gulf of Mexico. In Barrier Islands (ed. Oertel, G. F. and Leatherman, S. P.). Marine Geology 63, 285–305.Google Scholar
Pemberton, S. G. & Frey, R. W. 1985. The Glossifungites Ichnofacies: modern examples from the Georgia coast, U.S.A. In Biogenic Structures: their Use in Interpreting Depositional Environments (ed. Curran, H. A.). Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication 35, 237–59.Google Scholar
Penland, S., Suter, J. R. & Boyd, R. 1985. Barrier island arcs along abandoned Mississippi River deltas. In Barrier Islands (ed. Oertel, G. F. and Leatherman, S. P.). Marine Geology 63, 197–233.Google Scholar
Pilkey, O. H. & Richter, D. M. 1964. Beach profiles of a Georgia barrier island. Southeastern Geology 6, 11–19.Google Scholar
Pinet, P. R. & Morgan, W. P. Jr. 1979. Implications of clay-provenance studies in two Georgia estuaries. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 49, 575–80.Google Scholar
Pryor, W. A. 1975. Biogenic sedimentation and alteration of argillaceous sediments in shallow marine environments. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 86, 1244–54.Google Scholar
Reaves, C. M. 1986. Organic matter metabolizability and calcium carbonate dissolution in nearshore marine muds. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 56, 486–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinson, G. E. 1984. Barrier-island and associated strand-plain systems. In Fades Models, 2nd ed. (ed. Walker, R. G.). Geoscience Canada, Reprint Series 1, 119–40.Google Scholar
Schlee, J. S. & Klitgord, K. K. 1986. Structure of the North American Atlantic continental margin. Journal of Geological Education 34, 72–89.Google Scholar
Schmitter, R. D. & Freeman-Lynde, R. P. 1988. Hornblende content of Georgia-South Carolina nearshore sands: support for shoreward sediment transport in the nearshore zone. Sedimentary Geology 57, 153–69.Google Scholar
Swanson, V. E. & Palacas, J. G. 1965. Humate in coastal sands of northwest Florida. U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 1214-B, 29 pp.Google Scholar
Swift, D. J. P. 1975. Barrier-island genesis: evidence from the central Atlantic shelf, eastern U.S.A. Sedimentary Geology 14, 1–43.Google Scholar
Tavener-Smith, R. 1982. Prograding coastal facies associations in the Vryheid Formation (Permian) at Effingham Quarries near Durban, South Africa. Sedimentary Geology 32, 111–40.Google Scholar
Vincent, L., Dolan, R., Hayden, B. & Resio, D. 1976. Systematic variations in barrier-island topography. Journal of Geology 84, 583–94.Google Scholar
Weimer, R. J., Howard, J. D. & Lindsay, D. R. 1982. Tidal flats and associated tidal channels. In Sandstone Depositional Environments (ed. Scholle, P. A. and Spearing, D.). American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 31, 191–245.Google Scholar
Winker, C. D. & Howard, J. D. 1977. Correlation of tectonically deformed shorelines of the southern Atlantic Coastal Plain. Geology 5, 123–27.Google Scholar
Woolsey, J. R., Henry, V. J. Jr. & Hunt, J. L. 1975. Backshore heavy-mineral concentration on Sapelo Island, Georgia. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 45, 280–4.Google Scholar
Wunderlich, F. 1972. Georgia coastal region, Sapelo Island, U.S.A.: sedimentology and biology. III. Beach dynamics and beach development. Senckenbergiana maritima 4, 47–79.Google Scholar