Although incised valleys at
or near the highstand shoreline are common on many Holocene (and ancient)
continental margins, their dynamics remain poorly understood. To explore these
systems, Mattheus and Rodriguez use
geophysical and lithologic data and geomorphic analyses to examine the
morphology and facies architecture of coastal prism and tributary incised
valleys on the Holocene lower coastal plain of North Carolina. The results
reveal trends in Holocene coastal evolution in response to sea-level rise and
sedimentation, including the observation that incised-valley width is
proportional to drainage-basin area. They suggest that distinguishing between
valley morphologies in the coastal plain provides insight into the distribution
of sandy lithosomes, important for mapping groundwater and hydrocarbon reservoirs.
Controls on lower-coastal-plain valley morphology and fill architecture by C.R. Mattheus and
A.B. Rodriguez
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