%0 Journal Article
%T Holocene sea level and climate interactions on wet dune slack evolution in SW Portugal: A model for future scenarios?
%A Anabela Cruces
%A Cesar Andrade
%A Manel Leira
%A Maria C Freitas
%A Roberto Bao
%A Simon Connor
%A Tania Ferreira
%A Vera Lopes
%J The Holocene
%@ 1477-0911
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0959683618804633
%X We examine the Holocene environmental changes in a wet dune slack of the Portuguese coast, Po£¿o do Barbarroxa de Baixo. Lithology, organic matter, biological proxies and high-resolution chronology provide estimations of sediment accumulation rates and changes in environmental conditions in relation to sea-level change and climate variability during the Holocene. Results show that the wet dune slack was formed 7.5 cal. ka BP, contemporaneous with the last stages of the rapid sea-level rise. This depositional environment formed under frequent freshwater flooding and water ponding that allowed the development and post-mortem accumulation of abundant plant remains. The wetland evolved into mostly palustrine conditions over the next 2000 years, until a phase of stabilization in relative sea-level rise, when sedimentation rates slowed down to 0.04 mm yr£¿1, between 5.3 and 2.5 cal. ka BP. Later, about 0.8 cal. ka BP, high-energy events, likely due to enhanced storminess and more frequent onshore winds, caused the collapse of the foredune above the wetlands¡¯ seaward margin. The delicate balance between hydrology (controlled by sea-level rise and climate change), sediment supply and storminess modulates the habitat¡¯s resilience and ecological stability. This underpins the relevance of integrating past records in coastal wet dune slacks management in a scenario of constant adaptation processes
%K diatoms
%K geochemistry
%K Holocene
%K peat
%K sedimentology
%K wet dune slacks
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0959683618804633