Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-t6st2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-20T11:28:59.336Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reconstruction of Prehistoric Landfall Frequencies of Catastrophic Hurricanes in Northwestern Florida from Lake Sediment Records

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kam-biu Liu  and
Miriam L. Fearn
Kam-biu Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70803
Miriam L. Fearn
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, 36688
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sediment cores from Western Lake provide a 7000-yr record of coastal environmental changes and catastrophic hurricane landfalls along the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle. Using Hurricane Opal as a modern analog, we infer that overwash sand layers occurring near the center of the lake were caused by catastrophic hurricanes of category 4 or 5 intensity. Few catastrophic hurricanes struck the Western Lake area during two quiescent periods 3400–5000 and 0–1000 14C yr B.P. The landfall probabilities increased dramatically to ca. 0.5% per yr during an “hyperactive” period from 1000–3400 14C yr B.P., especially in the first millennium A.D. The millennial-scale variability in catastrophic hurricane landfalls along the Gulf Coast is probably controlled by shifts in the position of the jet stream and the Bermuda High.

Keywords

hurricanespaleotempestologycoastal lakeslake sedimentsoverwash eventsstorm depositsclimate variabilityGulf of Mexico

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , September 2000 , pp. 238 - 245
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Blum, M.D., Toomey, R.S. III, Valastro, S. Jr. (1994). Fluvial response to Late Quaternary climatic and environmental change, Edwards Plateau, Texas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 108, 1–21.Google Scholar
Curray, J.R.. Late Quaternary history, continental shelves of the United States. Wright, H.E. Jr., and Frey, D.C. (1965). The Quaternary of the United States. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton.723–735.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E., Ahlbrant, T.S., Anderson, R.Y., Bradbury, J.P.(1996). Regional aridity in North America during the middle Holocene. The Holocene, 6, 145–155.Google Scholar
Dean, W.G. (1974). Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: Comparison with other methods. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 44, 242–248.Google Scholar
Donoghue, J.F., Tanner, W.F.. Quaternary terraces and shorelines of the panhandle Florida region. Wehmiller, J.F., Fletcher, C.H.(1992). Quaternary Coasts of the United States: Marine and Lacustrine Systems. Society for Sedimentary Geology, Tulsa.233–241.Google Scholar
Dwyer, T.R., Mullins, H.T., Good, S.C.(1996). Paleoclimatic implications of Holocene lake-level fluctuations, Owasco Lake, New York. Geology, 24, 519–522.Google Scholar
Elsner, J.B., Kara, A.B.(1999). Hurricanes of the North Atlantic. Oxford Univ. Press, New York.Google Scholar
Forman, S.L., Oglesby, R., Markgraf, V., Stafford, T.(1995). Paleoclimatic significance of Late Quaternary eolian deposition on the Piedmont and High Plains, Central United States. Global and Planetary Change, 11, 35–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, W.M. (1990). Strong association between West African rainfall and U.S. landfall of intense hurricanes. Science, 249, 1251–1256.Google Scholar
Hall, S.A. (1990). Channel trenching and climatic change in the southern U.S. Great Plains. Geology, 18, 342–345.Google Scholar
Hargraves, P.E., Miller, B.T.(1974). The Ebridian flagellate Hermesinum adriaticum Zach. Arch. Protistenk, 116, 280–284.Google Scholar
Hodell, D.A., Curtis, J.H., Jones, G.A., Higuera-Gundy, A., Brenner, M., Binford, M.W., Dorsey, K.T.(1991). Reconstruction of Caribbean climate change over the past 10,500 years. Nature, 353, 790–793.Google Scholar
Knox, J.C. (1993). Large increases in flood magnitude in response to modest changes in climate. Nature, 361, 430–432.Google Scholar
Landsea, C.W., Nicholls, N., Gray, W.M., Avila, L.A.(1996). Downward trends in the frequency of intense Atlantic hurricanes during the past five decades. Geophysical Research Letters, 23, 1697–1700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, D.S., Feeney, T.P.(1995). Paleochannels indicating wet climate and lack of response to lower sea level, southeast Georgia. Geology, 23, 687–690.Google Scholar
Liu, K-b. (1990). Holocene paleoecology of the boreal forest and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest in northern Ontario. Ecological Monographs, 60, 179–212.Google Scholar
Liu, K-b.. Paleotempestology: Reconstruction of past hurricane landfalls from sedimentary proxy records.(2000). Science in an Uncertain Millennium: 2000 AAAS Annual Meeting and Science Innovation Exposition. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Google Scholar
Liu, K-b., Fearn, M.L.(1993). Lake-sediment record of late Holocene hurricane activities from coastal Alabama. Geology, 21, 793–796.Google Scholar
Liu, K-b., Fearn, M.L.. Holocene history of catastrophic hurricane landfalls along the Gulf of Mexico coast reconstructed from coastal lake and marsh sediments. Ning, Z.H., Abdollahi, K.K.(2000). Current Stresses and Potential Vulnerabilities: Implications of Global Change for the Gulf Coast Region of the United States. Gulf Coast Regional Climate Change CouncilFranklin Press, Baton Rouge.38–47.Google Scholar
Ludlam, D.M. (1963). Early American Hurricanes, 1492–1870. American Meteorological Society, Boston.Google Scholar
Madole, R.F. (1994). Stratigraphic evidence of desertification in the west-central Great Plains within the past 1000 yr. Geology, 22, 483–486.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaels, A., Malmquist, D., Knap, A., Close, A.(1997). Climate science and insurance risk. Nature, 389, 225–227.Google Scholar
Morton, R.A. (1976). Effects of Hurricane Eloise on beach and coastal structures, Florida Panhandle. Geology, 4, 277–280.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, H.F., Bray, E.E.. Stratigraphy and history of the Holocene sediments in the Sabine–High Island area, Gulf of Mexico. Morgan, J.P.(1970). Deltaic Sedimentation, Modern and Ancient.48–77.Google Scholar
Neumann, C. J., Jarvinen, B. R., Pike, A. C.(1987). Tropical Cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean 1871–1986. National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, NC.Google Scholar
Overpeck, J.T. (1996). Warm climate surprises. Science, 271, 1820–1821.Google Scholar
Patten, P.C., Dibble, D.S.(1982). Archeologic and geomorphic evidence for the paleohydrologic record of the Pecos River in west Texas. American Journal of Science, 282, 97–121.Google Scholar
Penland, S., Suter, J.R., McBride, R.A.. Delta plain development and sea level history in the Terrebonne coastal region, Louisiana.(1987). Coastal Sediments '87. American Society of Civil Engineers, p. 1689–1705Google Scholar
Pielke, R.A. Jr., Pielke, R.A. Sr.(1997). Hurricanes: Their Nature and Impacts on Society. Wiley, Chichester.Google Scholar
Pirazzoli, P.A. (1991). World Atlas of Holocene Sea Level Changes. Elsevier Oceanography Series, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Stapor, F.W. Jr.(1975). Holocene beach ridge development, northwest Florida. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Suppl., 22, 116–144.Google Scholar
Tanner, W.F. (1992). Late Holocene sea-level changes from grain-size data: Evidence from the Gulf of Mexico. The Holocene, 2, 249–254.Google Scholar
Toomey, R.S. III, Blum, M.D., Valastro, S. Jr.(1993). Late Quaternary climates and environments of the Edwards Plateau, Texas. Global and Planetary Change, 7, 299–320.Google Scholar
Van de Plassche, O., van der Borg, K., de Jong, A.F.M.(1998). Sea level-climate correlation during the past 1400 yr. Geology, 26, 319–322.Google Scholar
Wanless, H. R., Parkinson, R. W.(1989). Late Holocene sealevel history of southern Florida: control on coastal stability. InCoastal Sediment Mobility, Proceedings of the Eighth Symposium on Coastal Sedimentology(Tanner, W. F. Ed.), pp. 197–214.Geology Department, Florida State University, Tallahassee.Google Scholar
T. III, Webb,Bartlein, P. J., Kutzbach, J. E.(1987). Climatic change in eastern North America during the past 18,000 years; Comparisons of pollen data with model results. InNorth America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Deglaciation(Ruddiman, W. F., Wright, H. E.Jr., Eds.),Vol., K-3, The Geology of North America, pp. 447–462.Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar