Coastal accretion and sea-level rise in the Cuban Archipelago obtained from sedimentary records

Sea-level rise (SLR) is one of the most pervasive consequences of global warming, and the Cuban Archipelago is threatened by current and future SLR. In order to support adaptation plans, it is essential to have reliable information about sea-level change during the last decades at the local scale, p...

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Published inHolocene (Sevenoaks) Vol. 30; no. 9; pp. 1233 - 1242
Main Authors Díaz-Asencio, Misael, Armenteros, Maickel, Corcho-Alvarado, José A., Ruiz-Fernández, Ana Carolina, Sanchez-Cabeza, Joan-Albert, Martínez-Suárez, Adrian, Röllin, Stefan, Carnero-Bravo, Vladislav
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.09.2020
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Accretion
Adaptation
Anthropogenic factors
Archipelagoes
Climate change
Deposition
Geomorphology
Global warming
Human influences
Mineral composition
Records
Sea level
Sea level rise
Sediment
Shorelines
Tropical climate
Tropical depressions
Tropical storms
Vulnerability
Caribbean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem
sediment accretion
sediment geochemistry
210Pb
sea-level rise
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Summary:Sea-level rise (SLR) is one of the most pervasive consequences of global warming, and the Cuban Archipelago is threatened by current and future SLR. In order to support adaptation plans, it is essential to have reliable information about sea-level change during the last decades at the local scale, particularly in the most vulnerable regions. Here, we use sedimentary records to evaluate coastal accretion and to estimate the relative sea-level rise (RSLR) in two vulnerable coastal sites in central Cuba: Cayo Santa María (CSM) and Península de Ancón (PA). Both sites showed sediment sections with a continuous record of sediment accretion as a result of relative SLR and tropical storms. The sedimentary process was different between CSM and PA owing to differences in geomorphology and primary mineral composition. Sedimentary records also showed recent impacts of anthropogenic activities, likely increasing the vulnerability of the shoreline to SLR. The estimated RSLR values agreed with tidal gauge records, although they spanned a much longer time period (CSM: 0.5 ± 0.1 mm a−1, span of 38 years; PA: 1.5 ± 0.3 mm a−1, span of 92 years). Our results confirm that this methodology may be used to estimate the RSLR in places where data by instrumental records do not exist.
ISSN:0959-6836
1477-0911
DOI:10.1177/0959683620919981