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Spatial variations in a condensed interval between estuarine and open-marine settings: Holocene Hudson River estuary and adjacent continental shelf

¹ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, New York 11367, USA, and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA
² Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA
³ Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA

An interval of stratigraphic condensation extending for 300 km from the fluvially dominated Hudson River estuary to the adjacent continental shelf reveals stratal relationships within an unconformity-related depositional sequence that are commonly difficult to resolve in seismic reflection profiles and outcrop. High-resolution side-scan sonar and bathymetry, more than 100 sediment cores 2 m long, and radioisotope (¹⁴C, ¹³⁷Cs) age control show that much of the valley was filled by ca. 3 to 1 ka. The present rate of sediment accumulation averages 1 mm/yr, corresponding with a sea-level rise of 1.2 mm/yr relative to local bedrock. Condensation is manifested today by sedimentary bypass in most parts of the estuary and by the trapping of available sediment (1.2–5.6 x 10⁵ t/yr [metric tons]) along narrow reaches and primarily in the vicinity of the estuarine turbidity maximum, a part of the estuary located upstream of the salinity intrusion 25 km from the mouth (3.0 x 10⁵ t/yr). Shelf condensation is due to sediment starvation. The condensed interval merges updip with a nascent sequence boundary as the estuary reaches its final filling phase and downdip with the sequence boundary that developed at the Last Glacial Maximum. Delta progradation may take place as available shelf accommodation is filled, but such sediments are expected to be removed once sea level begins to fall. This sedimentation pattern, in which a condensed interval merges with different sequence boundaries, is consistent with the stratigraphic record of the Atlantic margin back to the Paleogene and may be typical of sediment-starved margins.

Key Words: estuarine sedimentation • stratigraphic condensation • Hudson River estuary

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