Storminess-related rhythmic ridge patterns on the coasts of Estonia
Buried or elevated coastal ridges may serve as archives of past variations in sea level and climate conditions. Sometimes such ridges or coastal scarps appear in patterns, particularly on uplifting coasts with adequate sediment supply. Along the seacoasts of Estonia, where relative-to-geoid postglac...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a3eb71e197594979b128491909c3af64 2023-05-15T17:36:06+02:00 Storminess-related rhythmic ridge patterns on the coasts of Estonia Ülo Suursaar Hannes Tõnisson 2017-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3176/earth.2017.16 https://doaj.org/article/a3eb71e197594979b128491909c3af64 EN eng Estonian Academy Publishers http://www.kirj.ee/public/Estonian_Journal_of_Earth_Sciences/2017/issue_4/earth-2017-4-220-237.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1736-4728 https://doaj.org/toc/1736-7557 1736-4728 1736-7557 doi:10.3176/earth.2017.16 https://doaj.org/article/a3eb71e197594979b128491909c3af64 Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol 66, Iss 4, Pp 220-237 (2017) beach ridge systems coastal scarps sea level storms Holocene climatic cycles LiDAR Geology QE1-996.5 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3176/earth.2017.16 2022-12-31T14:54:58Z Buried or elevated coastal ridges may serve as archives of past variations in sea level and climate conditions. Sometimes such ridges or coastal scarps appear in patterns, particularly on uplifting coasts with adequate sediment supply. Along the seacoasts of Estonia, where relative-to-geoid postglacial uplift can vary between 1.7 and 3.4 mm/yr, at least 27 areas with rhythmic geomorphic patterns have been identified from LiDAR images and elevation data. Such patterns were mainly found on faster emerging and well-exposed, tideless coasts. These are mostly located at heights between 1 and 21 m above sea level, the formation of which corresponds to a period of up to 7500 years. Up to approximately 150 individual ridges were counted on some cross-shore sections. Ten of these ridge patterns that formed less than 4500 years ago were chosen for detailed characterization and analysis in search of possible forcing mechanisms. Among these more closely studied cases, the mean ridge spacing varied between 19 and 28 m. Using land uplift rates from the late Holocene period, the timespans of the corresponding cross sections were calculated. The average temporal periodicity of the ridges was between 23 and 39 years with a gross mean value of 31 years. Considering the regular nature of the ridges, they mostly do not reflect single extreme events, but rather a decadal-scale periodicity in storminess in the region of the Baltic Sea. Although a contribution from some kind of self-organization process is possible, the rhythmicity in ancient coastal ridge patterns is likely linked to quasi-periodic 25−40-year variability, which can be traced to Estonian long-term sea level records and wave hindcasts, as well as in regional storminess data and the North Atlantic Oscillation index. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences 66 4 220 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
beach ridge systems coastal scarps sea level storms Holocene climatic cycles LiDAR Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
beach ridge systems coastal scarps sea level storms Holocene climatic cycles LiDAR Geology QE1-996.5 Ülo Suursaar Hannes Tõnisson Storminess-related rhythmic ridge patterns on the coasts of Estonia |
topic_facet |
beach ridge systems coastal scarps sea level storms Holocene climatic cycles LiDAR Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Buried or elevated coastal ridges may serve as archives of past variations in sea level and climate conditions. Sometimes such ridges or coastal scarps appear in patterns, particularly on uplifting coasts with adequate sediment supply. Along the seacoasts of Estonia, where relative-to-geoid postglacial uplift can vary between 1.7 and 3.4 mm/yr, at least 27 areas with rhythmic geomorphic patterns have been identified from LiDAR images and elevation data. Such patterns were mainly found on faster emerging and well-exposed, tideless coasts. These are mostly located at heights between 1 and 21 m above sea level, the formation of which corresponds to a period of up to 7500 years. Up to approximately 150 individual ridges were counted on some cross-shore sections. Ten of these ridge patterns that formed less than 4500 years ago were chosen for detailed characterization and analysis in search of possible forcing mechanisms. Among these more closely studied cases, the mean ridge spacing varied between 19 and 28 m. Using land uplift rates from the late Holocene period, the timespans of the corresponding cross sections were calculated. The average temporal periodicity of the ridges was between 23 and 39 years with a gross mean value of 31 years. Considering the regular nature of the ridges, they mostly do not reflect single extreme events, but rather a decadal-scale periodicity in storminess in the region of the Baltic Sea. Although a contribution from some kind of self-organization process is possible, the rhythmicity in ancient coastal ridge patterns is likely linked to quasi-periodic 25−40-year variability, which can be traced to Estonian long-term sea level records and wave hindcasts, as well as in regional storminess data and the North Atlantic Oscillation index. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ülo Suursaar Hannes Tõnisson |
author_facet |
Ülo Suursaar Hannes Tõnisson |
author_sort |
Ülo Suursaar |
title |
Storminess-related rhythmic ridge patterns on the coasts of Estonia |
title_short |
Storminess-related rhythmic ridge patterns on the coasts of Estonia |
title_full |
Storminess-related rhythmic ridge patterns on the coasts of Estonia |
title_fullStr |
Storminess-related rhythmic ridge patterns on the coasts of Estonia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Storminess-related rhythmic ridge patterns on the coasts of Estonia |
title_sort |
storminess-related rhythmic ridge patterns on the coasts of estonia |
publisher |
Estonian Academy Publishers |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3176/earth.2017.16 https://doaj.org/article/a3eb71e197594979b128491909c3af64 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol 66, Iss 4, Pp 220-237 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://www.kirj.ee/public/Estonian_Journal_of_Earth_Sciences/2017/issue_4/earth-2017-4-220-237.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1736-4728 https://doaj.org/toc/1736-7557 1736-4728 1736-7557 doi:10.3176/earth.2017.16 https://doaj.org/article/a3eb71e197594979b128491909c3af64 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3176/earth.2017.16 |
container_title |
Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences |
container_volume |
66 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
220 |
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1766135485213704192 |