Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T09:17:12.483Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holocene and Pleistocene sea-level indicators at the coast of Jericoacoara, Ceará, NE Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Georg Irion ,
Jáder Onofre de Morais  and
Friederike Bungenstock
Georg Irion*
Affiliation:
Senckenberg Institute of Marine Science, Suedstrand 40, 26389 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Jáder Onofre de Morais
Affiliation:
State University of Ceará/PROPGEO/LGCO, Av. Paranjana, 1700 – Campus do Itaperi – 607 40–000 Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Friederike Bungenstock
Affiliation:
Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research, Victoriastrasse 26, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:[email protected] (G. Irion).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Beach-rock exposures provide a record of Holocene sea-level rise along the 560-km-long northeast-facing coast of Ceará, Brazil, that differs from the record available along the other 4300 km of Brazilian coastline further south. Whereas documentation is available from southern Brazil to show Holocene sea levels as much as 5 m above today's level, our observations along the northeastern coast indicate that sea level here was not above the present-day level during the Holocene. Near Jericoacoara, about 240 km northwest of Fortaleza, characterized by strong surf, Precambrian rocks crop out from under a temporary cover of sand in small protected locations with less surf. Here in this upper tidal zone beach rock is being formed, while it is being dismembered synchronously by erosion at lower tide levels. This shows a rising sea level. Along the entire coast of Ceará west of Ponta Grossa the absence of beach rock higher than spring tide level indicates that sea-level was not above its present-day level during the Holocene.

Notches in bedrock situated between 2 m and 6 m above spring-tide high-water level that we formerly described as Holocene, are now believed to be Sangamonian.

Keywords

BrazilCearáSangamonianHoloceneSea levelBeach rockNotches
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 77 , Issue 2 , March 2012 , pp. 251 - 257
Copyright
University of Washington

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.)

References

Alexandersson, T. 1972, Intragranular growth of marine aragonite and Mg-calcite: evidence of precipitation from supersaturated seawater. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 42, 441460.Google Scholar
Angulo, R.J. Lessa, G.C. 1997, The Brazilian sea-level curves: a critical review with emphasis on the cuves from Paranaguá and Cananéia regions. Marine Geology 140, 141166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angulo, R.J. Gianini, P.C.F. Suguio, K. Passenda, L.C.R. 1999, Relative sea-level changes in the last 5500 years in southern Brazil (Laguna-Imbituba region, Santa Catarina State) based on vermitid 14 C ages. Marine Geology 159, 323339.Google Scholar
Beier, J.A. 1985, Diagenesis of Quaternary Bahamian beachrock: petrographic and isotopic evidence. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 55, 755 761.Google Scholar
Caldas, L.H.O. Stattegger, K. Vital, H. 2006a, Holocene sea-level history: evidence from coastal sediments of the northern Rio Grande do Norte coastal, NE Brazil. Marine Geology 228, 3953.Google Scholar
Caldas, L.H.O. Oliveira, J.G. Medeiros jr., W.E. Stattegger, K. Vital, H. 2006b, Geometry and evolution of the Holocene trangressive and regessive barriers on the semi-arid coast of NE Brazil. Geo-Marine Letters 26, 249263.Google Scholar
Chaves, N.S. Sial, A.N. 1998, Mixed oceanic and freshwater depositional conditions for beachrocks of Northeast Brazil: evidence from carbon and oxygen isotopes. Geology Review 40, 748754.Google Scholar
Cohen, M.C.L. Souza Filho, P.W.M. Rubén, J.L. Behling, H. Angulo, R.J. 2005, A model of Holocene mangove development and relative sea-level changes on the Bragança Peninsula (Northern Brazil). Wetland Ecology and Management 13, 433443.Google Scholar
Diretoria de hidrografia e navegação (DHN). , http://www.mar.mil.br/dhn/chm/tabuas/index.htm.Google Scholar
Eronen, M. Glückert, G. Hatakka, L. van de Plassche, O. van der Plicht, J. Rantala, P. 2001, Rates of Holocene isostatic uplift and relative sea-level lowering of the Baltic in SW Finland based on studies of isolation contacts. Boreas 30, 17–30.Google Scholar
Frankel, E. 1968, Rate of formation of beach rock. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 4, 439–440.Google Scholar
Gischler, E. Lomando, A.J. 1997, Holocene cemented beach deposits in Belize. Sedimentary Geology 110, 277297.Google Scholar
Hopley, D. 1986, Beachrock as sea-level indicator. Plassche, O.v.d. Sea Level Research: a Manual for Collection an Evaluation of Data. Geo Books Norwich 157–173.Google Scholar
Irion, G. de Morais, J.O. Wunderlich, F. 1989, Geologische Studien an einem Küstenstreifen NE Brasiliens (Ceará). Natur und Museum 119, 158–166.Google Scholar
Jelgersma, S. 1979, Sea-level changes in the North Sea basin. Acta UniversitatisUpsaliensis, Symposia Universitatis Upsaliensis Annum Quingentesimum Celebrantis 2, 233–248.Google Scholar
Jimenez, J.A. Maia, L.P. Serra, J. Morais, J. 1999, Aeolian dune migration along the Ceará coast, north-eastern Brazil. Sedimentology 46, 689–701.Google Scholar
Khalaf, I. 1988, Quaternary calcareous hard rocks and the associated sediments in the intertidal and off shore tidal zone of Kuwait. Marine Geology 80, 1–27.Google Scholar
Lambeck, K. Smither, C. Johnston, P. 1998, Sea-level change, glacial rebound and mantle viscosity for northern Europa. Geophysical Journal International 134, 102–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, L. Suguio, K. 1992, Variation of coastal dynamics during the last 7000 recorded in the beach-ridge plains associated with river mouths: example from the central Brazilian coast. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 99, 119–140.Google Scholar
Martin, L. Dominguez, J.M.L. Bittencourt, A.C.S.P. 2003, Fluctuating Holocene sea-levels in eastern and southeastern Brazil: evidence from multiple fossil and geometric indicators. Journal of Coastal Research 1, 101–124.Google Scholar
Meireles, A.J.A. Arruda, M.G.C. Gorayeb, A. Thiers, P.R.L. 2005, Integração dos indicadores geoambientais de flutuações do nível relative do mar e mudanças climáticas no literal cearense. Mercator – Revista de Geografia da Universidade Federal do Ceará 109–134ano04, nümero 08.Google Scholar
Mitrovica, J.X. Milne, G.A. 2002, On the origin of late Holocene sea-level highstands within equatorial ocean basins. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 2179–2190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moerner, N.A. Rosseti, D. Toçedo, P. 1999, Sea level changes in NE Brazil, regional eustasy and local tectonics. Fletcher, C.H. Matthews, J.V. The non-steady state of the inner shelf and shorelines: coastal change on the time scale of decades to millennia in the Late Quaternary. Abstracts with Programs, Inaugural Meeting of ICP Project 437 Costal Environmental Change During Sea-level Highstands University of Hawaii Honolulu 111–112.Google Scholar
Moore, C.H. Billings, G.K. 1971, Preliminary model of beachrock cementation, Grand Cayman island, B.W.I.. Bricker, O.P. Carbonate Cements. Johns Hopkins Press Baltimore, MD 40–43.Google Scholar
Morais, J.O. 1967/69, Contribuição ao Estudo dos Beach Rocks do Nordeste do Brasil. Trabalhos Oceanográficos da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 9, 70 94.Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R. 1988, Lithospheric thickness, antarctic deglaciation history, and ocean basin discretization effects in a global model of postglacial sea level change: a summary of some sources of nonuniqueness. Quaternary Research 29, 93–112.Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R. 1998, Global glacial isostatic adjustment and coastal tectonics. Stewart, I. Vita-Finzi, C. Coastal Tectonics – Geological Society London. Special" Publication 146, 1–29.Google Scholar
Riccomini, C. Assumpção, M. 1999, Quaternary tectonics in Brazil. Episodes 22, 3 221–225.Google Scholar
Russell, R.J. 1959, Caribbean beach rock observation. Zeitschrift fuer Geomorphologie 3, 227–236.Google Scholar
Shennan, I. 1987, Holocene sea;level changes in the North Sea Region. Toolez, M.J. Shennan, I. Sea-level changes. 109–1511987.Google Scholar
Steffen, H. Kaufmann, G. 2005, Glacial isostatic adjustment of Scandinavia and northwestern Europe and the radial viscosity structure of the Earth´s mantle. Geophysical Journal International 163, 2 801–812.Google Scholar
Suguio, K. Martin, L. Bittencourt, A.C.S.P. Dominguez, J.M.L. Flexor, J.-M. Azevedo, A.E.G. 1985, Flutuações do nível relativo do mar durante o Quarternário Superior ao longo do litoral Brasileiro e suas implicações na sedimentação costeira. Revista Brasileira de Geociencias 15, 273–286.Google Scholar
Taylor, J.C.M. Illing, L.V. 1969, Holocene intertidal calcium carbonate cementation, Qatar, Persian Gulf. Sedimentology 12, 69–107.Google Scholar
Vieira, M.M. De Ros, L.F. Bezerra, F.H.R. 2007, Lithofaciology and palaeoenvironmental analysis of Holocene beachrocks in Northeastern Brazil. Journal of Coastal Research 23, 1535–1548.Google Scholar
Vink, A. Steffen, H. Reinhardt, L. Kaufmann, G. 2007, Holocene relative sea-level change, isostatic subsidence and the radial viscosity structure of the mantle of northwest Europe (Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and southern North Sea). Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 3249–3275.Google Scholar
Vousdoukas, M.I. Velegrakis, A.F. Plomaritis, T.A. 2007, Beachrock occurence, characteristics, formation mechanisms and impacts. Earth-Science Reviews 85, 23–46.Google Scholar
Wu, P. Peltier, W.R. 1983, Glacial isostatic adjustment and the free air gravity anomaly as a constraint on deep mantle viscosity. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 74, 377–450.Google Scholar