Catastrophic hurricane history revealed by organic geochemical proxies in coastal lake sediments: a case study of Lake Shelby,Alabama (USA) |
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| Authors: | W Joe Lambert Paul Aharon Antonio B Rodriguez |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama, 202 Bevill Building, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA;(2) Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3431 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557, USA |
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| Abstract: | We developed a new method for reconstructing millennia-long hurricane records from coastal environments that uses Organic
Geochemical Proxies (OGPs) of organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations and their δ13C and δ15N compositions. The new method is independent of presence/absence of sand layers and improves significantly the severe-storm
history resolution. The subject of this investigation is a 1.5 m long sediment core raised at 2.8 m water depth from the center
of Lake Shelby, Alabama, a freshwater lake located approximately 250 m from the Gulf of Mexico, from which an overwash sand-layer
based record was previously derived. The core contains two distinct sediment units; an upper 62 cm thick, fine-grained, organic-rich
lacustrine sapropel (gyttja) that shows no visible structures except one sand lamina at 23.7 cm depth, and an underlying 90 cm
thick, organic-poor lagoon/estuary clay unit. The sapropel unit was deposited over a 682 ± 30 cal year time interval (1320–2002 A.D.)
with a mean sedimentation rate of 0.79 ± 0.04 mm/year. Lake Shelby’s water column exhibits two contrasting states based on
water chemistry surveys (i) an “isolated”, stratified, mode under calm weather conditions with a relatively low trophic state,
and (ii) a “flooded” mode occurring during storm surges when nutrient-rich seawater floods the lake. Statistically significant
δ13C and δ15N positive excursions in organic matter, up to maximum values of −25 (‰ PDB) and 4 (‰ Air N2), respectively, are interpreted as geochemical responses to the marine intrusions that fertilize the lake, increase light
availability, and cause eutrophication spikes. Detailed OGPs analyses crossing a sand layer that offers visual evidence of
a catastrophic hurricane overwash event at 1717 A.D. exhibit large δ13C and δ15N positive shifts bounded by rapid returns to base values, thus confirming the validity of the hurricane identification by
the OGPs model. Our data indicate that 11 catastrophic hurricanes hit the Alabama coast over the past 682 years with a rough
recurrence interval of one in 62 years. |
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| Keywords: | Hurricanes Gulf of Mexico Organic geochemical proxies Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes Radiocarbon dating |
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