Sediment Flux Variations Correlated With Climate Zones of the Gulf of Mexico for the Past 10kyr – Testing the BQART Equation

Abstract

The sediment archive contains a record of long-term sediment flux and sediment yield rates for geological systems. Furthermore, studies that quantify detailed analysis of closed systems are particularly useful for validating the efficacy of other tools to derive sediment discharge/flux/yield for use in forward stratigraphic modeling. The BQART equation (derived from modern fluvial load measurements) provides a relatively robust tool to derive sediment yield or sediment flux for small, low-relief coastal plain fluvial systems. We test the reliability of the BQART equation using millennia-scale sediment flux estimates derived from five fluvial-bay systems of western Louisiana and Texas. These systems span humid to semi-arid climate zones, which allows us to address climate effects on sediment flux. This study supports theoretical arguments that sediment yield is greatest in semi-arid to sub-humid fluvial systems with diminishing sediment yield in arid or humid climatic regimes.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90291 ©2017 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, April 2-5, 2017