Abstract The Grand Banks of Newfoundland is a broad continental shelf that extends 450 km into the North Atlantic Ocean. A sequence of Mesozoic rift-events and subsequent break-ups associated with the North Atlantic rift are recorded in a series of complex basins. From the onset of exploration in the 1960’s, regional exploration on the Grand Banks has been primarily focused on the Early Cretaceous Ben Nevis and Hibernia formations shallow marine sandstone reservoirs. This early phase of exploration resulted in the discovery of the Hibernia, White Rose, and Hebron fields in the southern Jeanne d’Arc Basin. Collectively, these fields contain approximately 2.5 billion barrels of oil resources. The Terra Nova Field in the southern Jeanne d’Arc basin is the exception to this Early Cretaceous play trend, producing from Late Jurassic braided fluvial reservoirs (Jeanne d’Arc Formation) and contains approximately 500 million barrels of oil resources. This presentation is focused on recognizing and delineating a now proven petroleum system in the North Flemish Pass basin.

Interrelationships between coastal sand dune dynamics and prehistoric human activity are explored from three sites along the sandy, high-energy Atlantic coast of County Donegal, NW Ireland. Dunes at these sites yield artifacts and shell middens of Bronze Age to Medieval date. The detailed sedimentary context of shell middens and associated dark-stained occupation horizons and hearths was investigated from exposures within dune faces. Occupation horizons show mixed shells dispersed throughout, and wind-eroded and lagged upper surfaces. Shells located within these horizons are distinguished from those located within unstained sand, which are interpreted as middens formed marginal to semipermanent occupation sites. Sediments immediately overlying midden and hearth sites contain components (including shell fragments and charcoal) derived directly from these anthropogenic layers. The influence of this sediment source, tracked by the presence and abundance of shell and charcoal fragments, decreases rapidly upward. This field evidence suggests that changes in the nature of the land surface (by devegetation, sediment compaction, development of occupation horizons, hearths) may cause temporary changes in subsequent dune sedimentation processes and sediment characteristics. This also suggests that, as well as being difficult to evaluate using conventional geoarchaeological techniques, the sedimentological impact of past human activity in the coastal zone has probably been underestimated.

Sustainable archaeological practice involves the efficient performance of archaeological work in areas affected by development interests. In urban settings, planning agencies have recognized that geoarchaeological strategies are time and cost efficient. Deep testing methods minimize footprints to generate stratigraphic models that inform on past native environments, subsequent landscape change, absolute chronology, and site formation. When coupled with background historic and environmental data, geoarchaeological probing supplements or even precludes the need for costly excavation. In this study, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction Company (MTACC) sponsored the drilling and detailed stratigraphic analysis of four deep borings in preparation for a new subway tunnel in New York City. A more expansive set of boring samples was taken by the MTACC for geotechnical purposes. Our stratigraphic construct facilitated “retrofitting” of the MTACC observations to develop a laterally extensive baseline sequence. An allostratigraphic model was developed for a ten-block length of the Upper East Side of Lower Manhattan on the strength of radiocarbon dates and ethnobotanic and malacological analyses. Finally, geographic information system (GIS) modeling generated a series of time slices chronicling the transformation of the project area from Late Glacial times through the area's prehistoric and historic past.

Previous palynological studies of the Caspian–Black Sea–Mediterranean corridor primarily focused on pollen and spores for paleoecological and chronostratigraphic studies. Until recently, there has been less emphasis on the nonpollen palynomorphs, such as dinoflagellate cysts, algal and fungal spores, and animal remains. New studies of nonpollen palynomorphs in land-locked seas, estuaries, and lakes reported here indicate that they are important markers of salinity, nutrient loading, and human activity, including ballast discharge, farming, and soil erosion. We describe the nonoxidative laboratory processing methods necessary to extract nonpollen palynomorphs from marine- and brackish-water sediment samples. We list 48 nonpollen palynomorphs taxa from 37 surface sediments (including the past millennium) for cores along the salinity gradient from <16‰ off the Danube Delta to >39‰ in the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Red Seas, for two Crimean saline lakes, the Caspian and Aral Seas, and for lakes in Iran and Kazakhstan. The main nonpollen palynomorphs taxa are illustrated and listed systematically to provide a baseline for future collaborative studies among Black Sea corridor palynologists. We outline the biological affinities of some nonpollen palynomorphs and discuss the initial results of the study in terms of what nonpollen palynomorphs may reveal about the history of the salinity in the Black Sea corridor and the impact of humans on soil erosion, plankton production, and harmful algal blooms.

Calcasieu Lake records a Holocene history of dramatic environmental change. The changes resulted in up to 20–30 km of landward translation of deltaic and estuarine depositional environments, and intervening periods of delta progradation, from 9600 cal B.P. to 1600 cal yr B.P. The sediments preserved beneath the lake record a series of back-stepping events. Seven events that affected the entire estuary are recognized: at 8900–8500 cal yr B.P., 8300–8000 cal yr B.P., 8000–7900 cal yr B.P., 7200 cal yr B.P., 5800–5600 cal yr B.P., 2000–2800 cal yr B.P., and 2500–1800 cal yr B.P. Only one of these events (8200 cal yr B.P.) can be linked to a known eustatic event that is also associated with climate change. The Calcasieu system maintained a bay-head delta within the present-day lake during a period of relatively rapid eustatic sea-level rise (10,000–6000 cal yr B.P.). It was only after 3000 cal yr B.P. that a bay-head delta was not present in the modern Calcasieu Lake. This strongly suggests a climate–sediment supply control. Lower estuary tidal delta and inlet facies indicate restricted estuarine circulation since ca. 2800 cal yr B.P.

The Sabine-Neches fluvial-estuary system is composed of deposits that represent fluvial, deltaic, central-basin, tidal inlet/delta, and chenier depositional systems. The Holocene deposits and associated environmental changes preserved in the drowned Sabine-Neches alluvial valley provide a valuable analog for present and future environmental changes. These deposits are bounded by flooding surfaces that record episodes of dramatic environmental reorganization during the Holocene. The most dramatic environmental changes are manifested as stratigraphic back stepping in which central-basin sediments overlie deltaic sediments. The magnitude of flooding varies from a few tens of kilometers to less pronounced back stepping followed by rapid progradation. Initial flooding of the onshore Sabine-Neches incised valley occurred around 9800 cal yr B.P., and by ca. 8900 cal yr B.P., a vast bayhead delta occupied the southern half of the valley. This delta backstepped up the valley during the relatively rapid sealevel rise of the early to middle Holocene, and by ca. 7100 cal yr B.P., it occupied the entire valley. After ca. 7100 cal yr B.P., the bayhead delta shifted up the valley again, and a central-basin setting existed in the lower half of the valley. The middle basin expanded episodically between ca. 5500 cal yr B.P. and 1700 cal yr B.P., and a brief period of delta growth occurred ~300 yr ago. Controlling mechanisms for flooding surface formation include sea-level rise, changes in the antecedent topography of the incised valley, and sediment supply variations. Antecedent topography was influential in controlling estuarine evolution between ca. 7800 and 7500 cal yr B.P., when an extensive fluvial terrace was inundated. The fact that some flooding surfaces appear to be synchronous, within a few centuries, in several estuaries across the northern Gulf of Mexico suggests a eustatic rather than local control. Flooding events at ca. 8900 cal yr B.P. and ca. 8400–8000 cal yr B.P. were likely caused by rapid, sub–meter-scale sea-level rise events. Sediment supply variations controlled by climatic forcing appear to have been the main cause of other flooding events. Unfortunately, the Holocene climate record for the east Texas–west Louisiana coastal region is poorly documented, and a direct relationship to central and western Texas climate records may be complex. So the exact nature of climate control on sediment flux to the estuary system remains elusive.

Seismic data and sediment cores from the Galveston estuary complex were used to reconstruct the evolution of the estuary during the Holocene. These data show that the estuary complex has had a history of rapid and dramatic change in response to (1) sea-level rise across the irregular topography of the ancestral Trinity River valley and (2) changes in climate, which regulated sediment supply to the estuary. In general, the valley morphology consists of a deep incision near the center and broad, terraced flanks. As sea level rose during the Holocene and flooded the valley, the shape of the estuary changed from narrow and deep to wide and rounded. As sea level rose to the elevation of the relatively flat fluvial terraces, these areas were flooded rapidly, resulting in expansions in bay area and dramatic reorganization of bay environments. The most notable changes were up-valley shifts in the bayhead delta of tens of kilometers in a few centuries. Radiocarbon ages indicate that these events took place ca. 9600, ca. 8500, and between ca. 7700 and 7400 yr B.P. The early flooding events occurred when sea level was rising rapidly (average 4.2 mm/yr; Milliken et al., this volume, Chapter 1), perhaps episodically. The ca. 8200 yr B.P. flooding surface corresponds to a prominent terrace at −14 m. The ca. 7700–7400 yr B.P. flooding episode was the most dramatic in terms of its impact on the estuary setting. Following this event, the area of the estuary increased by ~30%. This flooding event occurred as the rate of sea-level rise was starting to decrease. The level of this flooding surface also corresponds to a terrace at ~–10 m, but the magnitude of flooding is too large to be explained entirely by flooding of this terrace. At the same time, Matagorda Bay to the west and Sabine Lake to the east experienced similar dramatic flooding events. This event occurred when the climate of east-central Texas was in transition from cool and moist to warm and dry, and the vegetation cover of the region was undergoing a reduction in forest and an increase in grasslands. Hence, the ca. 7700–7400 event was likely amplified by a reduction in sediment supply to the estuary triggered by this regional climatic change coupled with an increase in sediment accommodation space caused by flooding of a terrace. Following the ca. 7700–7400 yr B.P. flooding event, the estuary setting changed relatively little as the rate of sea-level rise decreased to less than 2.0 mm/yr. By ca. 2600 cal yr B.P., the modern Trinity bayhead delta had begun to form. Circa 1600 cal yr B.P., the delta experienced a phase of rapid growth. This more recent episode of delta growth may have resulted from an increase in the rate of sediment supply, perhaps associated with human occupation and agriculture in the drainage basin. More recent anthropogenic changes include accelerated subsidence due to groundwater and hydrocarbon extraction. These changes are occurring at rates that approach those that occurred during prior flooding events of the Holocene. Thus, the Galveston estuary complex could be on the verge of another flooding event that would mainly impact the Trinity bayhead delta and low-lying areas around the delta.

Rotary-drill cores from the Matagorda and Lavaca estuary complex sampled six distinct lithofacies, and high-resolution seismic data reveal four main seismic facies. The facies architecture of the bay indicates a history of Holocene flooding punctuated by major landward shifts in estuarine environments. Radiocarbon ages help to constrain the rate and timing of these flooding events and indicate significant reorganization of the estuarine environments at a decadal to century time scale. The Holocene evolution of the Matagorda and Lavaca estuary complex began ca. 11,600 yr B.P. with initial flooding of the portion of the ancestral Lavaca River incised valley that is now occupied by lower Matagorda Bay. Early flooding of the lowstand valley was punctuated by landward shifts in the river mouth, followed by episodes of fluvial aggradation. The most pronounced phase of aggradation occurred between ca. 11,600 and 9600 yr B.P., when sea level was rising rapidly, and a step in the valley floor slowed the rate of flooding. By ca. 9500 cal yr B.P., the deep, narrow part of the Lavaca incised valley had been flooded and was occupied by a bayhead delta. The river mouth shifted landward within Lavaca Bay between 8500 and 8200 cal yr B.P., followed by another landward shift in the delta between 7900 and 7700 cal yr B.P. These changes were mainly caused by variations in the rate of sea-level rise. The most dramatic change in the bay setting occurred between 7300 and 6700 cal yr B.P., when the bayhead delta stepped landward at least 30 km, establishing most of modern-day Matagorda Bay. This flooding event is attributed to a combination of rapid sea-level rise and to a reduction in sediment supply to the estuary that was associated with a change in the regional climate from cool and moist to warm and dry conditions. During the past 6700 yr, as the rate of sea-level rise decreased from an average rate of 4.2 mm/yr to an average rate of 1.4 mm/yr, the bayhead delta of the Lavaca River retreated slowly up the valley as the present-day outline of Lavaca Bay formed. The most significant change in the estuary setting during the past 6700 yr was the development of the present coastal barrier system, which led to gradual restriction of tidal exchange and associated changes in salinity.

Over 400 km of high-resolution seismic data and 53 sediment cores up to 30 m in length were collected from Corpus Christi Bay along the central Texas coast in order to study the impact of sea-level and climate change on coastal environments over the last 10 k.y. Although coastal environments experienced a general landward migration as relative sea level rose over the last 10 k.y., this retreat was punctuated by three, possibly four, major flooding events. These flooding events are marked by abrupt changes in lithologic and seismic facies interpreted to represent rapid landward shifts of bay environments. Such changes include the back stepping of bayhead deltas, tidal deltas, oyster reefs, and other bay environments. Flooding events occurred at 8.0, 4.8, 2.6 ka, and possibly at 9.6 ka, and lasted only a few hundred years. The 9.6 ka flooding surface represents the initial drowning of the ancestral Nueces River valley and may or may not have been rapid in nature. The flooding surface that formed around 8.0 ka is interpreted to record either an increase in the rate of relative sea-level rise or the flooding of relict fluvial terraces that formed by the Nueces River during the stepped fall in sea level since marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e (120 ka). The 4.8 ka flooding event is thought to have formed as a result of either a climatic change during the mid-Holocene, characterized by warmer and drier conditions compared to present, and/or the flooding of another fluvial terrace. The most recent flooding event (2.6 ka) is thought to have resulted from a decrease in sediment delivery to the bay associated with a return to more mesic conditions similar to those of the present climatic regime.

The Pearl River Delta with its network system and estuarine bays is unique and one of the most complicated large-scale estuarine systems in China. In this paper, a long-term morphodynamic model is developed to simulate the long-term morphological evolution of the Pearl River Delta. The concepts of long-term model calibration and verification are discussed. The paleo–estuary bay topography formed in the last interglacial period is reconstructed and serves as an initial and boundary condition of this model with time steps of 100 yr. Events of shorter duration are ignored. The driving forces and control factors considered in the long-term delta evolution include representative tides, sediment supply from the Pearl River system, sea-level variation, sediment condensation rates, and neotectonic movement. Deposition rates and total deposition volume are investigated and determined and then used to calibrate the model. Core data with 14 C dating at 30 locations are used to verify the model output with satisfactory results. Approximately 1700 collected cores are carefully analyzed to justify the model-simulated evolution processes. Morphodynamic analysis is conducted to justify and explain the output of the model on delta evolution and deposition modes. The study also provides more temporal and spatial details to the delta development originated from the effects of the morphodynamic structures, such as bidirectional jets and the “men” system. The model confirms that the complicated morphology, e.g., the rocky islands in the shallow estuarine bays, is one of the important factors affecting the long-term evolution of the Pearl River Delta.