W Roland Gehrels
Biographic Data
| ID | 1412700 |
|---|---|
| NAME | W Roland Gehrels |
| GIVEN NAMES | W Roland |
| FAMILY NAME | Gehrels |
| SIGNATURE | GEHRELS W R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Plymouth |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5088-5834 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 41 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Holocene relative sea-level changes in northwest Ireland
The late-Quaternary relative sea-level (RSL) history of Ireland is complex, positioned at the margins of the former British-Irish Ice Sheet, and subject to the influence of ice unloading and forebulge collapse. Geophysical models of post-glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) provide estimates of the pattern of RSL change since deglaciation which may be tested and validated with empirical data from proxy records. For the region of northwest Ireland, …
Human observations of late Quaternary coastal change
Observations of postglacial sea‐level rise in northwest European traditions
In preliterate contexts, diverse knowledge was accumulated, processed and communicated orally. Recent research demonstrates that observations of memorable events were transferred in this way for thousands of years sometimes. Much of this information was eventually written down to reach literate audiences, which commonly judge such ‘myths and legends’ to be cultural inventions rather than ancient memories. This study examines 15 ‘submergence stori…
Development of a Training Set of Contemporary Salt-Marsh Foraminifera for Late Holocene Sea- Level Reconstructions in southeastern Australia
We collected contemporary foraminiferal training sets from two salt marshes to enable more precise and accurate proxy historical sea-level reconstructions from southeastern Australia. Combined with an existing training set from Tasmania, this new regional set consists of 112 samples and 16 species of foraminifera, of which 13 are agglutinated. Cluster analyses group the regional training set into a high–elevation cluster, dominated by Trochammini…
Testing the mid-Holocene relative sea-level highstand hypothesis in North Wales, UK
Accurate Holocene relative sea-level curves are vital for modelling future sea-level changes, particularly in regions where relative sea-level changes are dominated by isostatically induced vertical land movements. In North Wales, various glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models predict a mid-Holocene relative sea-level highstand between 4 and 6 ka, which is unsubstantiated by any geological sea-level data but affects the ability of geophysical …
The Economic Value of Climate Information in Adaptation Decisions
© 2018 The Authors Traditional methods of investment appraisal have been criticized in the context of climate change adaptation. Economic assessment of adaptation options needs to explicitly incorporate the uncertainty of future climate conditions and should recognise that uncertainties may diminish over time as a result of improved understanding and learning. Real options analysis (ROA) is an appraisal tool developed to incorporate concepts of f…
Sea-level rise impacts on transport infrastructure
Future climate change is likely to increase the frequency of coastal storms and floods, with major consequences for coastal transport infrastructure. This paper assesses the extent to which projected sea-level rise is likely to impact upon the functioning of the Dawlish to Teignmouth stretch of the London to Penzance railway line, in England. Using a semi-empirical modelling approach, we identify a relationship between sea-level change and rail i…
Reconstruction of recent sea-level change using testate amoebae
Proxy-based sea-level reconstructions place the instrumentally observed rates of recent sea-level rise in a longer term context by providing data that extend the instrumental sea-level record into past centuries. This paper presents the first sea-level reconstructions based on analyses of testate amoebae, to test their ability to produce high-precision reconstructions of past sea level. We present two reconstructions for the past 100"yr from site…
Distribution of foraminifera in salt marshes along the Atlantic coast of SW Europe
Aeolian sand movement and relative sea-level rise in Ho Bugt, western Denmark, during the `Little Ice Age
This study documents an extensive aeolian sand sheet buried in the salt marshes of the Ho Bugt embayment in western Denmark. The extent of the sand sheet was mapped from c. 60 cores and sections, which were also used to reconstruct late-Holocene changes in relative sea level based on diatom analyses. Chronology was provided by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating. Our study shows that since 2000 cal. yr BP relative sea l…
The use of ‘bomb spike’ calibration and high-precision AMS 14 C analyses to date salt-marsh sediments deposited during the past three centuries
A combination of ‘bomb spike’ calibration and conventional calibration of AMS 14 C dating has been used to determine a detailed age-depth model for a 1-m sediment section collected from a salt marsh in Poole Harbour, southern England. These data were compared with the chronology obtained from 210 Pb analysis and 137 Cs age markers. We report post bomb values of over 1.46 F 14 C (> 146% modern 14 C), and both the rising and falling limbs of the at…
Late Holocene sea-level changes and isostasy in western Denmark
Cores and exposed cliff sections in salt marshes around Ho Bugt, a tidal embayment in the northernmost part of the Danish Wadden Sea, were subjected to 14 C dating and litho- and biostratigraphical analyses to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes and to establish a late Holocene relative sea-level history. Four stages in the late Holocene development of Ho Bugt can be identified: (1) groundwater-table rise and growth of basal peat (from at leas…
Rapid sea-level rise in the North Atlantic Ocean since the first half of the nineteenth century
A high-resolution late-Holocene sea-level record is produced from salt-marsh deposits at Vioarhólmi in Snæfellsnes, western Iceland. The stratigraphy of Vioarhólmi saltmarsh is documented using detailed descriptions of ten exposed sections and numerous hand-drilled cores. Fossil foraminifera are used as proxy sea-level indicators in an exposed section of salt-marsh peat. The agglutinated foraminifera Jadammina macrescens and Paratrochammina (Lepi…
Late Holocene sea-level changes and isostatic crustal movements in Atlantic Canada
The distribution of salt marsh foraminifera at Little Dipper Harbour New Brunswick, Canada
Salt-marsh foraminifera in Ho Bugt, western Denmark, and their use as sea-level indicators
Twenty-seven surface samples were collected from the Kjelst Enge salt marsh in Ho Bugt, Jutland, to investigate the potential use of salt-marsh foraminifera as sea-level indicators in Holocene intertidal deposits. Previous work from many coastlines around the world has shown that the vertical distribution of salt-marsh foraminifera is strongly controlled by the duration of tidal flooding (or height relative to tide level). Concentrations of foram…
Rapid sea-level rise in the Gulf of Maine, USA, since AD 1800
Two sea-level records from salt marshes in coastal Maine are derived from foraminiferal analyses and AMS 14 C, 210 Pb, 137 Cs and pollen chronology. Both records cover the period from AD 800 until the present and show corresponding patterns of sea-level change when corrected for trends which could accommodate millennial-scale isostatic adjustments. The records provide a detailed sea-level chronology for the last few centuries and thus link the in…
Using foraminiferal transfer functions to produce high-resolution sea-level records from salt-marsh deposits, Maine, USA
Quantitative analyses of foraminiferal distributions along the coast of Maine are used to provide transfer functions for reconstruction of sea-level changes from fossil foraminiferal assemblages. The indicative meaning of fossil assemblages is most accurately predicted by a training set that incorporates live and dead foraminifera and that uses flooding duration, not height, as the predictor variable. Sea-level records are produced for two sites …
Middle and Late Holocene Sea-Level Changes in Eastern Maine Reconstructed from Foraminiferal Saltmarsh Stratigraphy and AMS 14 C Dates on Basal Peat
A relative sea-level history is reconstructed for Machiasport, Maine, spanning the past 6000 calendar year and combining two different methods. The first method establishes the long-term (10 3 yr) trend of sea-level rise by dating the base of the Holocene saltmarsh peat overlying a Pleistocene substrate. The second method uses detailed analyses of the foraminiferal stratigraphy of two saltmarsh peat cores to quantify fluctuations superimposed on …
The use of testate amoebae in studies of sea-level change
Micropalaeontological techniques play an important role in high-resolution studies of sea-level change. Salt-marsh foraminifera are among the most valuable groups of sea-level indicators as their distribution shows a narrow vertical zonation which can be accurately related to former sea level. This paper focuses on testate amoebae (‘thecamoebians’), a closely related group of protozoans which have also been widely reported in salt marshes, but on…
Using foraminiferal transfer functions to produce high-resolution sea-level records from salt-marsh deposits, Maine, USA
Quantitative analyses of foraminiferal distributions along the coast of Maine are used to provide transfer functions for reconstruction of sea-level changes from fossil foraminiferal assemblages. The indicative meaning of fossil assemblages is most accurately predicted by a training set that incorporates live and dead foraminifera and that uses flooding duration, not height, as the predictor variable. Sea-level records are produced for two sites …
Rapid sea-level rise in the Gulf of Maine, USA, since AD 1800
Two sea-level records from salt marshes in coastal Maine are derived from foraminiferal analyses and AMS 14 C, 210 Pb, 137 Cs and pollen chronology. Both records cover the period from AD 800 until the present and show corresponding patterns of sea-level change when corrected for trends which could accommodate millennial-scale isostatic adjustments. The records provide a detailed sea-level chronology for the last few centuries and thus link the in…
Salt-marsh foraminifera in Ho Bugt, western Denmark, and their use as sea-level indicators
Twenty-seven surface samples were collected from the Kjelst Enge salt marsh in Ho Bugt, Jutland, to investigate the potential use of salt-marsh foraminifera as sea-level indicators in Holocene intertidal deposits. Previous work from many coastlines around the world has shown that the vertical distribution of salt-marsh foraminifera is strongly controlled by the duration of tidal flooding (or height relative to tide level). Concentrations of foram…
Rapid sea-level rise in the North Atlantic Ocean since the first half of the nineteenth century
A high-resolution late-Holocene sea-level record is produced from salt-marsh deposits at Vioarhólmi in Snæfellsnes, western Iceland. The stratigraphy of Vioarhólmi saltmarsh is documented using detailed descriptions of ten exposed sections and numerous hand-drilled cores. Fossil foraminifera are used as proxy sea-level indicators in an exposed section of salt-marsh peat. The agglutinated foraminifera Jadammina macrescens and Paratrochammina (Lepi…
The Economic Value of Climate Information in Adaptation Decisions
© 2018 The Authors Traditional methods of investment appraisal have been criticized in the context of climate change adaptation. Economic assessment of adaptation options needs to explicitly incorporate the uncertainty of future climate conditions and should recognise that uncertainties may diminish over time as a result of improved understanding and learning. Real options analysis (ROA) is an appraisal tool developed to incorporate concepts of f…
Observations of postglacial sea‐level rise in northwest European traditions
In preliterate contexts, diverse knowledge was accumulated, processed and communicated orally. Recent research demonstrates that observations of memorable events were transferred in this way for thousands of years sometimes. Much of this information was eventually written down to reach literate audiences, which commonly judge such ‘myths and legends’ to be cultural inventions rather than ancient memories. This study examines 15 ‘submergence stori…
Development of a Training Set of Contemporary Salt-Marsh Foraminifera for Late Holocene Sea- Level Reconstructions in southeastern Australia
We collected contemporary foraminiferal training sets from two salt marshes to enable more precise and accurate proxy historical sea-level reconstructions from southeastern Australia. Combined with an existing training set from Tasmania, this new regional set consists of 112 samples and 16 species of foraminifera, of which 13 are agglutinated. Cluster analyses group the regional training set into a high–elevation cluster, dominated by Trochammini…
Testing the mid-Holocene relative sea-level highstand hypothesis in North Wales, UK
Accurate Holocene relative sea-level curves are vital for modelling future sea-level changes, particularly in regions where relative sea-level changes are dominated by isostatically induced vertical land movements. In North Wales, various glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models predict a mid-Holocene relative sea-level highstand between 4 and 6 ka, which is unsubstantiated by any geological sea-level data but affects the ability of geophysical …
Sea-level rise impacts on transport infrastructure
Future climate change is likely to increase the frequency of coastal storms and floods, with major consequences for coastal transport infrastructure. This paper assesses the extent to which projected sea-level rise is likely to impact upon the functioning of the Dawlish to Teignmouth stretch of the London to Penzance railway line, in England. Using a semi-empirical modelling approach, we identify a relationship between sea-level change and rail i…
The use of testate amoebae in studies of sea-level change
Micropalaeontological techniques play an important role in high-resolution studies of sea-level change. Salt-marsh foraminifera are among the most valuable groups of sea-level indicators as their distribution shows a narrow vertical zonation which can be accurately related to former sea level. This paper focuses on testate amoebae (‘thecamoebians’), a closely related group of protozoans which have also been widely reported in salt marshes, but on…
The use of testate amoebae in studies of sea-level change
Micropalaeontological techniques play an important role in high-resolution studies of sea-level change. Salt-marsh foraminifera are among the most valuable groups of sea-level indicators as their distribution shows a narrow vertical zonation which can be accurately related to former sea level. This paper focuses on testate amoebae (‘thecamoebians’), a closely related group of protozoans which have also been widely reported in salt marshes, but on…
Middle and Late Holocene Sea-Level Changes in Eastern Maine Reconstructed from Foraminiferal Saltmarsh Stratigraphy and AMS 14 C Dates on Basal Peat
A relative sea-level history is reconstructed for Machiasport, Maine, spanning the past 6000 calendar year and combining two different methods. The first method establishes the long-term (10 3 yr) trend of sea-level rise by dating the base of the Holocene saltmarsh peat overlying a Pleistocene substrate. The second method uses detailed analyses of the foraminiferal stratigraphy of two saltmarsh peat cores to quantify fluctuations superimposed on …
Using foraminiferal transfer functions to produce high-resolution sea-level records from salt-marsh deposits, Maine, USA
Quantitative analyses of foraminiferal distributions along the coast of Maine are used to provide transfer functions for reconstruction of sea-level changes from fossil foraminiferal assemblages. The indicative meaning of fossil assemblages is most accurately predicted by a training set that incorporates live and dead foraminifera and that uses flooding duration, not height, as the predictor variable. Sea-level records are produced for two sites …
Rapid sea-level rise in the Gulf of Maine, USA, since AD 1800
Two sea-level records from salt marshes in coastal Maine are derived from foraminiferal analyses and AMS 14 C, 210 Pb, 137 Cs and pollen chronology. Both records cover the period from AD 800 until the present and show corresponding patterns of sea-level change when corrected for trends which could accommodate millennial-scale isostatic adjustments. The records provide a detailed sea-level chronology for the last few centuries and thus link the in…
Late Holocene sea-level changes and isostatic crustal movements in Atlantic Canada
The distribution of salt marsh foraminifera at Little Dipper Harbour New Brunswick, Canada
Salt-marsh foraminifera in Ho Bugt, western Denmark, and their use as sea-level indicators
Twenty-seven surface samples were collected from the Kjelst Enge salt marsh in Ho Bugt, Jutland, to investigate the potential use of salt-marsh foraminifera as sea-level indicators in Holocene intertidal deposits. Previous work from many coastlines around the world has shown that the vertical distribution of salt-marsh foraminifera is strongly controlled by the duration of tidal flooding (or height relative to tide level). Concentrations of foram…
Late Holocene sea-level changes and isostasy in western Denmark
Cores and exposed cliff sections in salt marshes around Ho Bugt, a tidal embayment in the northernmost part of the Danish Wadden Sea, were subjected to 14 C dating and litho- and biostratigraphical analyses to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes and to establish a late Holocene relative sea-level history. Four stages in the late Holocene development of Ho Bugt can be identified: (1) groundwater-table rise and growth of basal peat (from at leas…
Rapid sea-level rise in the North Atlantic Ocean since the first half of the nineteenth century
A high-resolution late-Holocene sea-level record is produced from salt-marsh deposits at Vioarhólmi in Snæfellsnes, western Iceland. The stratigraphy of Vioarhólmi saltmarsh is documented using detailed descriptions of ten exposed sections and numerous hand-drilled cores. Fossil foraminifera are used as proxy sea-level indicators in an exposed section of salt-marsh peat. The agglutinated foraminifera Jadammina macrescens and Paratrochammina (Lepi…
The use of ‘bomb spike’ calibration and high-precision AMS 14 C analyses to date salt-marsh sediments deposited during the past three centuries
A combination of ‘bomb spike’ calibration and conventional calibration of AMS 14 C dating has been used to determine a detailed age-depth model for a 1-m sediment section collected from a salt marsh in Poole Harbour, southern England. These data were compared with the chronology obtained from 210 Pb analysis and 137 Cs age markers. We report post bomb values of over 1.46 F 14 C (> 146% modern 14 C), and both the rising and falling limbs of the at…
Aeolian sand movement and relative sea-level rise in Ho Bugt, western Denmark, during the `Little Ice Age
This study documents an extensive aeolian sand sheet buried in the salt marshes of the Ho Bugt embayment in western Denmark. The extent of the sand sheet was mapped from c. 60 cores and sections, which were also used to reconstruct late-Holocene changes in relative sea level based on diatom analyses. Chronology was provided by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating. Our study shows that since 2000 cal. yr BP relative sea l…
Reconstruction of recent sea-level change using testate amoebae
Proxy-based sea-level reconstructions place the instrumentally observed rates of recent sea-level rise in a longer term context by providing data that extend the instrumental sea-level record into past centuries. This paper presents the first sea-level reconstructions based on analyses of testate amoebae, to test their ability to produce high-precision reconstructions of past sea level. We present two reconstructions for the past 100"yr from site…
Distribution of foraminifera in salt marshes along the Atlantic coast of SW Europe
Sea-level rise impacts on transport infrastructure
Future climate change is likely to increase the frequency of coastal storms and floods, with major consequences for coastal transport infrastructure. This paper assesses the extent to which projected sea-level rise is likely to impact upon the functioning of the Dawlish to Teignmouth stretch of the London to Penzance railway line, in England. Using a semi-empirical modelling approach, we identify a relationship between sea-level change and rail i…
The Economic Value of Climate Information in Adaptation Decisions
© 2018 The Authors Traditional methods of investment appraisal have been criticized in the context of climate change adaptation. Economic assessment of adaptation options needs to explicitly incorporate the uncertainty of future climate conditions and should recognise that uncertainties may diminish over time as a result of improved understanding and learning. Real options analysis (ROA) is an appraisal tool developed to incorporate concepts of f…
Testing the mid-Holocene relative sea-level highstand hypothesis in North Wales, UK
Accurate Holocene relative sea-level curves are vital for modelling future sea-level changes, particularly in regions where relative sea-level changes are dominated by isostatically induced vertical land movements. In North Wales, various glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models predict a mid-Holocene relative sea-level highstand between 4 and 6 ka, which is unsubstantiated by any geological sea-level data but affects the ability of geophysical …
Observations of postglacial sea‐level rise in northwest European traditions
In preliterate contexts, diverse knowledge was accumulated, processed and communicated orally. Recent research demonstrates that observations of memorable events were transferred in this way for thousands of years sometimes. Much of this information was eventually written down to reach literate audiences, which commonly judge such ‘myths and legends’ to be cultural inventions rather than ancient memories. This study examines 15 ‘submergence stori…
Development of a Training Set of Contemporary Salt-Marsh Foraminifera for Late Holocene Sea- Level Reconstructions in southeastern Australia
We collected contemporary foraminiferal training sets from two salt marshes to enable more precise and accurate proxy historical sea-level reconstructions from southeastern Australia. Combined with an existing training set from Tasmania, this new regional set consists of 112 samples and 16 species of foraminifera, of which 13 are agglutinated. Cluster analyses group the regional training set into a high–elevation cluster, dominated by Trochammini…
Human observations of late Quaternary coastal change
Holocene relative sea-level changes in northwest Ireland
The late-Quaternary relative sea-level (RSL) history of Ireland is complex, positioned at the margins of the former British-Irish Ice Sheet, and subject to the influence of ice unloading and forebulge collapse. Geophysical models of post-glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) provide estimates of the pattern of RSL change since deglaciation which may be tested and validated with empirical data from proxy records. For the region of northwest Ireland, …
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (18 works) · Sea level (16 works) · Geological formations and processes (15 works) · Oceanography (15 works) · Geography (14 works) · Geology (14 works) · Salt marsh (13 works) · Physical geography (10 works) · Foraminifera (9 works) · Holocene (9 works)