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The Tsitsikamma coastal shelf, Agulhas Bank, South Africa: example of an isolated Holocene sediment trap

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Abstract

Under certain geomorphological conditions, sandy sediments supplied to a coast may become trapped in nearshore sedimentary compartments because these are laterally confined by bedload boundaries or convergences. Where sediment supply is small or the shoreface very steep, and accommodation space as a consequence large, the trapping mechanism may be very efficient. The Tsitsikamma coast along the South African south coast is a case in point, the sediment supplied by local rivers over the past 12 ka having been trapped in a nearshore sediment wedge extending at least 5 km offshore. On the basis of high-resolution seismic surveys, the volume of the sediment wedge has been estimated at 1,354×106 m3. As 5% of this volume is considered to have been contributed by bioclastic material of marine origin, the terrestrial input would be 1,286×106 m3. This amounts to an average annual terrestrial sediment input of 0.1072×106 m3. Using a detailed sediment yield map, the modern mean annual sediment supply to the Tsitsikamma coast by local rivers has been estimated at 0.1028×106 m3. Unless coincidental, the remarkable similarity of the two values suggests that the current climatic conditions along the Tsitsikamma coast correspond to the Holocene mean. This conclusion is supported by the currently available climate data for the South African south coast.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the National Research Institute for Oceanology (CSIR) for its sustained support of the project as part of the Agulhas Bank Studies programme. The captain and crew of the research vessel Meiring Naudé are thanked for their navigational skill and deck assistance during data acquisition, and Jack Engelbrecht (✝) for keeping the equipment running without fail. Also gratefully acknowledged are constructive comments from E. Wiles and T.S. Chang, which enabled improvement of the paper.

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  1. Senckenberg, Suedstrand 40, 26328, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Burg W. Flemming

  2. Avenida de la Vega 8, Portal 1, 1B, 28108, Alcobendas, Spain

    A. Keith Martin

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  1. Burg W. Flemming
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Correspondence to Burg W. Flemming.

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Flemming, B.W., Keith Martin, A. The Tsitsikamma coastal shelf, Agulhas Bank, South Africa: example of an isolated Holocene sediment trap. Geo-Mar Lett 38, 107–117 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-017-0507-5

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