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1.
中国东部海域泥质沉积区现代沉积速率及其物源控制效应初探 总被引：13，自引：0，他引：13
中国东部陆架(渤、黄、东海)是欧亚大陆和太平洋之间的一个重要物质交换通道,其周边的河流每年向海输入了大量的细颗粒沉积物。这些物质在海洋动力(潮流、波浪、环流等)的作用下形成了多个泥质沉积区(带)。过去的数十年间,国内外学者对东部陆架海沉积物扩散和沉积动力机制进行了深入的研究,但是,目前对陆架泥质沉积的形成机制以及沉积物收支情况还存在争议。本文利用整理的现代沉积速率资料,从物源控制的角度出发,研究了各泥质沉积区10～100a尺度的沉积速率和沉积通量的分布规律,并与全新世泥质沉积记录进行对比,指出物源是控制这些泥质沉积形成的主要因素。河流携带入海物质是这些泥质沉积的主要"源",而这些泥质区是典型的"汇"。小型河流河口沉积过程和物质贡献需引起重视。定量化物源分析需结合物源供应等方面的资料,在遵守沉积物收支平衡的前提下进行。 相似文献
2.
Hendrik Lantzsch Till J.J. Hanebuth Cristiano M. Chiessi Tilmann Schwenk Roberto A. Violante 《Quaternary Research》2014
The continental margin off the La Plata Estuary (SE South America) is characterized by high fluvial sediment supply and strong ocean currents. High-resolution sediment-acoustic data combined with sedimentary facies analysis, AMS-14C ages, and neodymium isotopic data allowed us to reconstruct late Quaternary sedimentary dynamics in relation to the two major sediment sources, the La Plata Estuary and the Argentine margin. Sediments from these two provinces show completely different dispersal patterns. We show that the northward-trending La Plata paleo-valley was the sole transit path for the huge volumes of fluvial material during lower sea levels. In contrast, material from the Argentine margin sector was transported northwards by the strong current system. Despite the large sediment volumes supplied by both sources, wide parts of the shelf were characterized by either persistent non-deposition or local short-term depocenter formation. The location and formation history of these depocenters were primarily controlled by the interplay of sea level with current strength and local morphology. The high sediment supply was of secondary importance to the stratigraphic construction, though locally resulting in high sedimentation rates. Thus, the shelf system off the La Plata Estuary can be considered as a hydrodynamic-controlled end-member. 相似文献
3.
L. MASSÉ J. C. FAUGÈRES C. PUJOL A. PUJOS† L. D. LABEYRIE‡ M. BERNAT§ 《Sedimentology》1996,43(1):115-132
Detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic analyses were carried out on seven Kullenberg cores collected across the Brazilian continental margin during the French cruises Byblos and Apsara III, in order to highlight the factors controlling the sediment flux distribution in the Southern Brazil Basin during the late Quaternary. On the continental slope and upper continental rise above 3000 m depth, sediment fluxes are important and highly variable (4·2–14·2 g cm?2 10?3 yr). The sediments show a pelagic or turbiditic character, depending on the width of the shelf and proximity of canyons. The material is characterized by high kaolinite contents, and originates from the coastal rivers draining the South American continent north of Rio de Janeiro. On the middle continental rise between 3000 and 4000 m depth, sediment fluxes are the lowest observed in the area (0·9 g cm?2 10?3 yr), because terrigenous input is trapped at shallower depths on the São Paulo Plateau. Pelagic settling is the dominant process. In the deep domains, below 4000 m depth, contouritic accumulations are developed on the path of the northwards moving Antarctic bottom water (AABW) currents. The deposits consist of fine-grained silty-clayey muds with very low carbonate contents. The sediment fluxes (1·45 g cm?2 10?3 yr) are higher than on the middle continental rise, as a consequence of fine-grained terrigenous supply derived from higher latitudes (Argentine Basin and Southern Ocean), and transported in the basin through the Vema Channel by the AABW currents. This material is characterized by high smectite and chlorite contents. These data reveal large sediment flux variations which are linked to distinct depth-related domains. Such a distribution is the consequence of the presence of two available sources of terrigenous sediments: (1) the Brazilian continental areas with a downslope material transport and a sediment distribution controlled by the morphology of the margin, and (2) the Argentine Basin with an alongslope material transport by deep-sea currents which dominate the sedimentation in the abyssal domains. 相似文献
4.
海岸带陆海相互作用(LOICZ)研究及我们的策略 总被引：19，自引：3，他引：19
介绍了全球变化研究中关于“海岸带”的定义，海岸带在地球系统研究中的重要地位及其生态系统的脆弱性。我国海岸带地跨三大气候带，海岸类型多种多样，不但有黄河、长江等大河入海，每年有巨大的向海物质通量（包括从大气中的粉尘输入），有宽阔的陆架，有陆架区和近洋之间强烈的物质和能量交换，而且沿海人口密集，大河流域经济活动频繁，人类活动和自然因素冲突集中。近年来海岸带环境和生态系统已经发生了巨大变化。今后，在全球变化条件下为使我国的海岸带环境和生态系统进入良性循环和制定科学的长期管理政策，亟待通过陆海相互作用研究提高对其未来变化的预测能力。文中根据国际ＬＯＩＣＺ运行计划和我国的特点，提出开展我国ＬＯＩＣＺ研究的策略和主要科学问题。 相似文献
5.
Carbonate-dominant sediments are currently forming and accumulating over the extensive marine shelf of the passive margin of southern Australia. A dearth of continental detritus results from both a very low relief and a predominantly arid climate. The wide continental shelf is bathed by cold upwelling ocean waters that support luxuriant growths of bryozoans and coralline algae, together with sponges, molluscs, asteroids, benthic and some planktonic foraminifera. The open ocean coast is battered by a persistent southwest swell, resulting in erosion of calcrete-encrusted Pleistocene eolianites. Much sediment is reworked and overall shelf sedimentation rates are low. High-energy microtidal beach/dune systems occur between headlands and along the very long ocean beach in the Coorong region. The northern, more arid coastal areas also contain saline lakes that precipitate gypsum from infiltrated sea water, and display marginal facies of aragonite boxwork to fenestral carbonate crusts, with stromatolites and tepee structures. In contrast, the southern, seasonally humid Coorong region, has a predominantly continental groundwater regime where sulphate is rare, and the high summer evaporation precipitates dolomite, magnesite and aragonite muds. Fenestral crusts, breccias, tepees and some stromatolites are also present.
St. Vincent and Spencer gulfs both afford some protection from ocean swell, but tidal amplitude and currents increase, and a depth and inundation-related zonation of plants and animals is established. Muddy carbonate sand accumulates on the sea floor below 30 m, where filter-feeding bryozoans, bivalves and sponges dominate. In shallower regions, seagrass meadows contain a rich fauna that results in rapid accumulation of an unsorted muddy bioclastic sand. Mangrove woodlands backed by saline marsh with cyanobacterial mats are common, and accumulate mud-rich and gastropod-bearing sediment. As tidal amplitude and desiccation increase northward into both gulfs, a supratidal zone bare of vegetation (sabkha) becomes the site for deposition of gypsum-rich and fenestral calcitic mud. 相似文献
6.
K.B. Lewis 《Earth》1974,10(1):37-71
The continental terrace, defined as the sediment and rock underlying the coastal plain, the continental shelf and continental slope, has been extensively explored during the last decade using seismic techniques. Some facts and theories about its structure and formation are reviewed.The development of the continental terrace is considered in three main stages: first, the formation of the major discontinuity between continent and ocean basin; second, the deposition of sedimentary strata; and third, the Quaternary modification of the continental terrace to form the present topography.The major discontinuity may be formed either by rifting of a continent or by accretion of a large mass of contorted continental terrace and continental rise sediments to a pre-existing edge of a continent. Both types of discontinuity may be either ancient or presently forming in an orogenic area. Sedimentary strata are built generally upwards and outwards but at most places development is modified either by basement structure, by current and slump erosion or by growth of organic and diapiric structures.During the Quaternary Era the terrace has been extensively modified as a result of large fluctuations of sea level. The present wide continental shelf and deep shelf break are at most places the result of wave planation and offshore deposition during the last low sea level and during the subsequent rise of sea level. The final process at many places has been formation of a Holocene coastal plain and deposition of a prism of sediment on the inner continental shelf.Most continental terraces show evidence of continental flexure, which is the seaward tilting of land and seabed with a zero isobase, a line of no vertical movement, close to the shore. The reasons for continental flexure are discussed. The relative positions of the shore line, the zero isobase and the boundary between erosion and deposition are controlled by rates of tilting, by rates of sedimentary processes and by eustatic movements of sea level.From an assessment of the general processes operating today, some conclusions are reached about the changes in form and topography of continental terraces of the past. 相似文献
7.
High concentrations of hydrocarbons (500–3000 μg/g dry weight) together with a complex and wide molecular weight range of composition, and low 14C activity of δ14C = ?833 ± 50%. strongly indicate that fossil fuel hydrocarbons make up the bulk of hydrocarbons in and near the New York Bight dump site areas. The composition and concentrations of hydrocarbons in Hudson Channel sediments suggest some transport of dump site hydrocarbons to areas in the channel midway to the edge of the continental shelf. Sediments at 16 stations in other areas of the continental shelf, continental slope and abyssal plain have hydrocarbon concentrations and compositions indicating that no more than 1 μg/g dry weight of fossil fuel hydrocarbons are present.N-alkanes from land sources were among the most predominant hydrocarbons in all samples except those in the New York Bight region. Their presence in abyssal plain surface sediments documents transport of some land derived organic matter to these deep ocean areas. Two 25-carbon cycloalkenes are among the more predominant hydrocarbons in continental shelf surface sediments except for the dump site areas. These two compounds are present in lower concentrations in slope sediments and are not detected in abyssal plain sediments. 相似文献
8.
The concept of the wave-graded continental shelf, with sea floor sediment coarsening from offshore mud to shoreface sand, has been well known from the time of Johnson (1919) . Although most of the modern shelf shows textures unrelated to water depth on account of relict features or sediment starvation, the geological record is more likely to preserve sites where sediment is being fed to a subsiding inner-shelf. These consistently show the landward-coarsening pattern of the wave-graded shelf, recording past water depth history in accumulated sea floor sediment. The landward-coarsening pattern is driven primarily by wave-induced bed shear stress, which increases shoreward exponentially, although it also varies from place to place with wave climate, and can be influenced by sediment concentration and currents. In this study, the relationship between bed shear stress, sediment texture and water depth has been investigated by comparing per cent mud and wave climate data from shore-normal transects of three modern wave-graded coastal settings: Wellington Harbour (low energy) and the Manawatu coast (moderate energy) in New Zealand, and Monterey Bay in California (moderate–high energy). Samples from all three locations show a progressive change from poorly sorted mud offshore to well-sorted fine sand nearshore, with the sand–mud transition ranging from 3 m (low energy) to 50 m (moderate–high energy), reflecting differences in average bed shear. Repeat measurements of per cent mud on seasonal, annual and decadal time scales along a Manawatu coastal transect showed no measurable change, demonstrating equilibrium between sediment supply, wave energy, water depth and sediment texture. A simple model based on the relationship between wave climate, shear stress and per cent mud, and using data and conditions from the modern Manawatu coast, is applied to two mid-Pliocene cyclothems exposed 50 km inland, giving results comparable with estimates from foraminifera and the deep-sea isotope record. Per cent mud offers more detail for palaeobathymetric trends in shallow water shelf strata than other proxy depth recorders, although it is limited to depths above wave base and requires an independent estimate of wave climate if depths are to be quantified. 相似文献
9.
10.
中小型山溪性河流易受极端事件和人类活动影响,且对环境变化响应敏感,在大陆边缘物质循环过程中发挥着十分重要的作用,但学术界对它们的重视程度不够。以闽江—东海陆架系统为例,通过资料收集、遥感解译、样品采集与分析等方法,系统研究了亚热带中小型山溪性河流—宽陆架系统的“源—汇”过程。研究结果表明,人类活动引起的土地利用变化使得闽江入海径流量和泥沙通量在波动中略有增加,但水库的建设显著减少了入海泥沙通量,并且减弱了水沙通量的季节差异,河流入海泥沙通量变化对流域人类活动敏感且响应迅速;河口水体环境、悬浮体浓度、沉积物粒度组成及陆源有机碳埋藏的空间分布格局均显示,闽江入海泥沙主要分布在闽江河口附近海域,其中粗颗粒泥沙在水动力的作用下主要堆积在河口水下三角洲平原及前缘,细颗粒泥沙主要堆积在水下三角洲前缘斜坡及前三角洲附近海域,仅有少量细颗粒泥沙沿岸向外输运并沿途沉积,与大河流—宽陆架系统及中小型山溪性河流—窄陆架系统显著不同。河口人类活动及极端事件通过改变沉积物组成、环境动力、入海泥沙通量等方式对河流—陆架系统的“源—汇”过程产生显著影响。在当前流域来沙量锐减、河口地区海砂开采等人类活动强度增大的情况下,有必要加强相关研究。 相似文献
11.
The fate of sediment seaward of river mouths involves at least four stages: supply via plumes; initial deposition; resuspension and transport by marine processes; and long-term net accumulation. The processes that operate at each stage, and relative roles of each stage in governing the long-term accumulation patterns, vary appreciably with river regime and coastal ocean environment. To illustrate the diversity and illuminate the process of dispersal, information is synthesized for six systems: Amazon, Changjiang, Mississippi, Columbia, Purari, and Huanghe. These systems differ markedly in terms of water discharge, sediment discharge, and coastal energy regime and much of the diversity of dispersal patterns is attributed to these differences as well as to the temporal sequencing of river discharge relative to oceanographic transport processes. Although the sediment: water ratio of the discharge of the Mississippi River is 70 times less than that of the Huanghe, both of these systems exhibit rapid deposition and accumulation of sediments near the river mouths. In contrast, sediments dispersed by, the other four systems are transported greater distances from the mouths by oceanographic processes, and are accumulating over relatively wide areas. 相似文献
12.
针对目前对大陆架砂成因问题的争议,本文从海陆过渡带动力关联的统一的环境体系,选取环境相关的海岸与大陆架砂质沉积做对比分析,获知东海大陆架砂的沉积特征和形成环境不具备高度的均一性,因而不是统一的大规模风成堆积,它们基本上均属于河口海岸-浅海环境下的产物。据大陆架砂的沉积特征以及当代关于沙漠化概念的内涵,质疑东海大陆架"沙漠化"的观点。 相似文献
13.
河海交互作用沉积与平原地貌发育* 总被引：3，自引：15，他引：3
河流是搬运陆源泥沙的主要动力,对相邻的海岸海洋沉积动力有巨大影响。中国河流汇入海洋中的泥沙曾占全球入海泥沙的10 ％ ,现代中国边缘海大陆架在晚更新世时曾是海岸平原,河-海交互作用是形成海岸平原与浅海输积泥沙的主要因素。本文选择5个不同类型的河流展示其不同的泥沙运动与河口沉积的特性以及对相邻陆架之影响,包括: 1)强潮型动力的鸭绿江河口湾,形成从陆向海与从海向陆的双向水流交汇沉积,海岸形成潮流脊体系。 2)季风波浪为主导动力的滦河口,以泥沙的横向运动为主,形成沙坝环绕的双重海岸,沉积粒径自海向陆减小; 沿岸浪流携运泥沙向河口两侧分布,使沙坝具有沙咀状的复合特点。 3)弱潮型、多沙的黄河口,径流于两侧堆积指状沙咀,沙咀下风侧形成粉砂粘土淤泥湾,沿岸流携运泥沙向渤海湾延伸为淤泥舌。 4)径流与沿岸流组合作用的沉积模式,以长江口为代表,泥沙沿岸向南输运为主导,向海岸与向内陆架构成颗粒变细的带状沉积,外陆架出露残留砂。 5)充填河口湾的三角洲,以珠江为代表,河流分汊与会潮点泥沙堆积,悬移质扩散至湾外,被沿岸流携带沿海岸向SW运移,外陆架为残留砂沉积。20世纪80年代以来,上述河流均受到人为活动的改造影响,河流自然过程与河海交互作用效应均发生改变。本文主要以滦河三角洲为例阐述河-海交互作用与平原的地貌特征。 相似文献
14.
东海表层沉积物碎屑矿物组合分布特征及其物源环境指示 总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0
为进一步明确东海陆架区的沉积物物源及水动力环境,对研究区表层沉积物的碎屑矿物进行了鉴定分析。研究区共鉴定出49种重矿物、8种轻矿物。根据碎屑矿物的组合分布结合矿物形态特征,将东海陆架区划分为三个矿物区,内陆架矿物区、外陆架矿物区及虎皮礁矿物区。内陆架矿物区,动力分选是影响碎屑矿物分布的主要因素,物质来源相对单一,碎屑矿物主要来源于现代长江物质,闽浙沿岸近岸河流的输入,人类活动也对该区的矿物组成产生一定的影响;外陆架矿物区,重矿物分布的主控因素是长期的分选作用,主要是长江物质经后期改造形成,现代长江物质可从内陆架中北部扩散至124.5°E左右,此外外陆架东南部地形的变化也对碎屑矿物的分布起到一定控制作用;虎皮礁矿物区,有来自黄河、长江、火山物质的多重影响,且水动力环境相对复杂。 相似文献
15.
Late Quaternary marine deposition in New South Wales and southern Queensland — An evolutionary model
From new data on coastal and continental shelf morphology, sediments, stratigraphy and chronology, it is possible to formulate a general model of late Quaternary marine sedimentation, for New South Wales and southern Queensland. This model integrates various factors influencing deposition in coastal and shelf environments, in relation to glacio‐eustatic sea level oscillations. The model involves several components, including (i) very slow to negligible continental margin subsidence during the Quaternary, (ii) an inherited geomorphic framework; (iii) oscillations of sea level of c 100 m amplitude every 100 000 years, with interglacial high sea levels being close to present and only the Last Interglacial being significantly higher; and (iv) a wave climate that induces a potential south to north littoral sand transport at all sea level positions. Terrigenous sediment that is moved from the hinterland through embayments to the shelf is either stored as barrier, estuarine or inner shelf deposits, or lost to depositional sinks on the continental slope or into coastal dune fields. Over many glacial‐interglacial cycles, sand has been progressively moved northward and has accumulated in vast aeolian sand deposits in southern Queensland. Littoral sand transport was especially effective during sea levels lower than present. The relatively shallow and lower gradient shelf north of Newcastle (33°S) has encouraged preservation at the coast of a wide range of depositional morphologies, including Pleistocene barriers, whereas the steeper southern shelf has induced net sediment loss seawards and shoreline erosion, excpt in the Holocene. To account for Holocene barrier development in the southern region, the model invokes reworking of sand deposits stranded high on the inner shelf at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. These were in disequilibrium with Postglacial marine processes that operated at a lower level of the sea than did those during the Last Interglacial maximum. 相似文献
16.
ELANA L. LEITHOLD 《Sedimentology》1989,36(2):179-202
The modern Eel River shelf and analogous Pleistocene Rio Dell Formation in northern California provide an ideal opportunity to combine the advantages of studying a modern environment with those of studying an ancient sequence, and thereby enables further understanding of muddy-shelf processes. The modern shelf is the site of accumulation of a thick deposit of Holocene mud. Both large-scale sediment distribution patterns and small-scale stratigraphy on the shelf indicate that river floods play an important role in sediment accumulation, even on a high-energy, ‘storm-dominated’ coast. The major factors in preservation of this flood ‘signature’ are the cohesive behaviour of fine-grained sediments and episodically rapid rates of sediment input. The Rio Dell Formation includes approximately 400 m of mostly fine-grained shelf deposits that accumulated offshore from a palaeo-Eel River mouth. The shelf sediments comprise four depositional sequences. Sequence 1 records progradation from outer to inner shelf depths. Facies trends closely resemble across-shelf trends on the modern shelf, suggesting that processes were similar. Detailed examination of these deposits provides insight into the nature and role of various processes on both the ancient and modern shelf. Muddy facies of the Rio Dell sequence are characterized by bioturbated, clayey silts, interbedded with event layers of several types. Clay-rich silt layers are interpreted as flood deposits and physically stratified, coarse-silt layers are interpreted to record transport and deposition of coarse silt on the midshelf during storms. Sediment-transport calculations and consideration of grain-size distributions of bioturbated sediments, which form the bulk of the Rio Dell sequence, suggest that these sediments are the result of biological homogenization of the fine-grained flood deposits and of the coarser-grained storm deposits. The results of this study in general indicate that fine-grained shelf deposits do preserve a distinguishable, if subtle, record of depositional processes. 相似文献
17.
We derive an asymptotic equation governing the trans-ocean propagation of tsunami from source to the continental shelf. Focus is on disturbances originated from a slender fault of finite length. The variable sea depth is assumed to consist of a slowly varying mean and random fluctuations. The method of multiple scales is used to derive a Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation with variable coefficients. Modifications by one- and two-dimensional random irregularities are shown to affect the wave speed, dissipation and additional dispersion. The result can be used to facilitate physical insight with modest numerical efforts. 相似文献
18.
Exposure of humans to monomethylmercury (MMHg) occurs primarily through consumption of marine fish, yet there is limited understanding concerning the bioaccumulation and biogeochemistry of MMHg in the biologically productive coastal ocean. We examined the cycling of MMHg in sediments at three locations on the continental shelf of southern New England in September 2003. MMHg in surface sediments is related positively to inorganic Hg (Hg(II) = total Hg − MMHg), the geographical distribution of which is influenced by organic material. Organic matter also largely controls the sediment-water partitioning of Hg species and governs the availability of dissolved Hg(II) for methylation. Potential gross rates of MMHg production, assayed by experimental addition of 200Hg to intact sediment cores, are correlated inversely with the distribution coefficient (KD) of Hg(II) and positively with the concentration of Hg(II), most probably as HgS0, in 0.2-μm filtered pore water of these low-sulfide deposits. Moreover, the efflux of dissolved MMHg to overlying water (i.e., net production at steady state) is correlated with the gross potential rate of MMHg production in surface sediments. These results suggest that the production and efflux of MMHg from coastal marine sediments is limited by Hg(II), loadings of which presumably are principally from atmospheric deposition to this region of the continental shelf. The estimated diffusive flux of MMHg from the shelf sediments averages 9 pmol m−2 d−1. This flux is comparable to that required to sustain the current rate of MMHg accumulation by marine fish, and may be enhanced by the efflux of MMHg from near-shore deposits contaminated more substantially with anthropogenic Hg. Hence, production and subsequent mobilization of MMHg from sediments in the coastal zone may be a major source of MMHg to the ocean and marine biota, including fishes consumed by humans. 相似文献
19.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(2):431-460
This study focuses on the causes, modalities and obstacles of sediment transfer in the longest cell of littoral sand drift documented on Earth so far. Sand derived from the Orange River is dragged by swell waves and persistent southerly winds to accumulate in four successive dunefields in coastal Namibia to Angola. All four dunefields are terminated by river valleys, where aeolian sand is flushed back to the ocean; and yet sediment transport continues at sea, tracing an 1800 km long submarine sand highway. Sand drift would extend northward to beyond the Congo if the shelf did not become progressively narrower in southern Angola, where drifting sand is funnelled towards oceanic depths via canyon heads connected to river mouths. Garnet–magnetite placers are widespread along this coastal stretch, indicating systematic loss of the low‐density feldspatho‐quartzose fraction to the deep ocean. More than half of Moçamedes Desert sand is derived from the Orange River, and the rest in similar proportions from the Cunene River and from the Swakop and other rivers draining the Damara Orogen in Namibia. The Orange fingerprint, characterized by basaltic rock fragments, clinopyroxene grains and bimodal zircon‐age spectra with peaks at ca 0·5 Ga and ca 1·0 Ga, is lost abruptly at Namibe, and beach sands further north have abundant feldspar, amphibole‐epidote suites and unimodal zircon‐age spectra with a peak at ca 2·0 Ga, documenting local provenance from Palaeoproterozoic basement. Along with this oblique‐rifted continental margin, beach placers are dominated by Fe–Ti–Cr oxides with more monazite than garnet and thus have a geochemical signature sharply different from beach placers found all the way along the Orange littoral cell. High‐resolution mineralogical studies allow us to trace sediment dispersal over distances of thousands of kilometres, providing essential information for the correct reconstruction of ‘source to sink’ relationships in hydrocarbon exploration and to predict the long‐term impact of man‐made infrastructures on coastal sediment budgets. 相似文献
20.
Gerald L. Shideler 《Sedimentary Geology》1973,9(3):195-220
Comparative polynomial trend analyses of textural parameters were conducted on adjacent foreshore, berm, and dune sediment populations along a coastal barrier chain of the Middle Atlantic Bight. The analyses indicate that systematic textural patterns exhibited by the barrier sediments consist of both regional trends and local cyclicity.The regional trends appear to reflect progressive variability of both the hydraulic and aeolian regimes. Variability of the hydraulic regime consists of a progressive southward increase in average wave energy, with a concomitant decrease in energy consistency; this is attributed to the coastal wave refraction pattern, and to a progressive southward decrease in shelf width. The aeolian regime is characterized by a constant average energy level along the barrier chain, but exhibits a progressive northward decrease in wind energy consistency, and a corresponding increase in winnowing efficiency. Local cyclicity along the barrier appears to reflect textural variations in the barrier source materials excavated from a heterogeneous Pleistocene substrate. The cyclic patterns suggest the presence of a buried ancestral Albemarle fluvial channel near the present mouth of Albemarle Sound.In developing systematic textural variations along the barrier, size characteristics of the source material appear to be the most influential factor, while the influences of both the hydraulic and aeolian regimes are subordinate. The berm and dune field environments are most amenable to the development of systematic variation, while the foreshore is most susceptible to random component variation. 相似文献