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Age Structure of Holocene Coastal Sediments: Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

E G Rhodes ,
H A Polach ,
B G Thom  and
S R Wilson
E G Rhodes
Affiliation:
Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra
H A Polach
Affiliation:
Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra
B G Thom
Affiliation:
Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra
S R Wilson
Affiliation:
Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra
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Abstract

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Shells in beach-ridge and chenier Holocene deposits from the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, have been dated by radiocarbon. Possible contamination of carbonate by post-depositional diagenetic processes, isotopic fractionation, ocean reservoir environmental effect, and association of biological age of sample material with depositional event have been examined in order to validate dating of samples from this environment. A numerical methodology used for comparing ‘groups’ of 14C dates strongly supports morphostratigraphic evidence that time discontinuities occur within both chenier and beach-ridge sequences. Four episodes are recognized in each area, all younger than ca 5800 years ago, the time when sea level reached its postglacial maximum in the Gulf of Carpentaria. To some extent, these episodes are out of phase, reflecting different modes of strandline accumulation.

Type
Quaternary
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 22 , Issue 3: Heidelberg , 1980 , pp. 718 - 727
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science

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