Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:32:40.631Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holocene Foraminifera as Indicators of Relative Estuarine-Lagoonal and Oceanic Influences in Estuarine Sediments of the River Murray, South Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John H. Cann ,
Robert P. Bourman  and
Elizabeth J. Barnett
John H. Cann
Affiliation:
School of Engineering (Applied Geology), University of South Australia, Levels Campus, Mawson Lakes Boulevard, Mawson Lakes, South Australia 5095
Robert P. Bourman
Affiliation:
School of Environmental and Recreation Management, University of South Australia, Levels Campus, Mawson Lakes Boulevard, Mawson Lakes, South Australia 5095
Elizabeth J. Barnett
Affiliation:
Mawson Graduate Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In southeastern South Australia, the River Murray debouches through a coastal barrier separating euryhaline estuarine-lagoonal waters from the Southern Ocean. Depending upon the relative freshwater outflow of the river and ingress of the ocean, water salinity varies greatly within the lower estuary. Ammonia beccarii and Elphidium articulatum are euryhaline species of foraminifera that characterize the estuary and back-barrier Coorong Lagoon. The inner-shelf marine environment hosts an assemblage in which Discorbis dimidiatus, E. crispum, E. macelliforme, and various cibicidid species predominate. In cored sediments recovered from the shallow lower estuary, the relative abundance of A. beccarii + E. articulatum was compared with that of D. dimidiatus + E. crispum + E. macelliforme + other species. These data, and AMS radiocarbon ages determined for foraminifera and ostracods, provide evidence of a change from maximum oceanic influence (5255 ± 60 yr B.P.) to maximum estuarine influence (3605 ± 70 yr B.P.). Over this same time interval, sea level fell relatively by about 2 m. However, the event was also contemporaneous with falling water levels in several Victorian lakes, and it is thus attributed to onset of climatic aridity. Reduced precipitation in the River Murray catchment and reduced freshwater outflow enhanced development of the flood-tide delta and constriction of the mouth.

Keywords

Coorong LagoonforaminiferaHoloceneLake KeilambeteostracodspaleoclimatesradiocarbonRiver Murraysea levelSouth Australia
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , May 2000 , pp. 378 - 391
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.)

References

Barnett, E.J., (1993). Recent Sedimentary History of Lake Alexandrina and the Murray Estuary.Google Scholar
Belperio, A.P., (1995). Quaternary. Drexel, J.F., Preiss, W.V., The Geology of South Australia, Volume 2, the Phanerozoic.Google Scholar
Belperio, A. P, Cann, J. H, Murray-Wallace, C. V., (1996).Google Scholar
Bourman, R.P., Murray-Wallace, C.V., (1996). Quaternary Coastal Evolution, Sea-Level Change and Neotectonics: The Coorong to Mount Gambier Coastal Plain, Southeastern Australia. An Excursion Guide. IGCP Project 367, Mines and Energy, South Australia, 37 pages, 23 figures.Google Scholar
Bourman, R. P., Murray-Wallace, C. V., (1991). Holocene evolution of a sand spit at the mouth of a large river system: Sir Richard Peninsula and the Murray Mouth, South Australia. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie 81, 63–83.Google Scholar
Bourman, R.P., Belperio, A.P., Murray-Wallace, C.V., Cann, J.H., (1999). A last interglacial embayment fill at Normanville, South Australia, and its neotectonic implications. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 123, 1–15.Google Scholar
Bourman, R.P., Barnett, E.J., (1995). Impacts of river regulation on the terminal lakes and mouth of the River Murray, South Australia. Australian Geographical Studies 33, 101–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowler, J.M., (1981). Australian salt lakes: A palaeohydrologic approach. Hydrobiologia 82, 431–444.Google Scholar
Bowler, J.M., Hamada, T., (1971). Late Quaternary stratigraphy and radiocarbon chronology of water level fluctuations in Lake Keilambete, Victoria. Nature 232, 330–332.Google Scholar
Bowler, J.M., Hope, G.S., Jennings, J.N., Singh, G., Walker, D., (1976). Late Quaternary climates of Australia and New Guinea. Quaternary Research 6, 359–394.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J.S., (1957). Laboratory studies on the rate of growth of the foraminifer “Streblus beccarii (Linne) var. tepida (Cushman)”. Journal of Paleontology 32, 1138–1147.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J.S., (1961). Laboratory experiments on the ecology of foraminifera. Contributions from the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research 12, 87–106.Google Scholar
Cann, J.H., De Deckker, P., (1981). Fossil Quaternary and living foraminifera from athalassic (non-marine) saline lakes, southern Australia. Journal of Paleontology 55, 660–670.Google Scholar
Cann, J.H., Gostin, V.A., (1985). Coastal sedimentary facies and foraminiferal biofacies of the St. Kilda Formation at Port Gawler, South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 109, 121–142.Google Scholar
Cann, J.H., Belperio, A.P., Gostin, V.A., Murray-Wallace, C.V., (1988). Sea-level history, 45,000 to 30,000 yr B.P., inferred from benthic foraminifera, Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia. Quaternary Research 29, 153–175.Google Scholar
Cann, J.H., Belperio, A.P., Gostin, V.A., Rice, R.L., (1993). Contemporary benthic foraminifera in Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia, and a refined Late Pleistocene sea-level history. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 40, 197–211.Google Scholar
Cann, J.H., Belperio, A.P., Murray-Wallace, C.V., (2000). Late Quaternary paleosealevels and paleoenvironments inferred from foraminifera, Northern Spencer Gulf, South Australia. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 30, 29–53.Google Scholar
Chivas, A.R., De Deckker, P., Shelley, J.M.G., (1985). Strontium content of ostracods indicates lacustrine palaeosalinity. Nature 316, 251–253.Google Scholar
Chivas, A.R., De Deckker, P., Shelley, J.M.G., (1986). Magnesium and strontium in non-marine ostracods as indicators of palaeosalinity and palaeotemperature. Hydrobiologia 143, 135–142.Google Scholar
De Deckker, P., (1982). Holocene ostracods, other invertebrates and fish remains from cores of four maar lakes in southeastern Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 94, 183–220.Google Scholar
De Deckker, P., Geddes, M.C., (1980). Seasonal fauna of ephemeral saline lakes near the Coorong Lagoon, South Australia. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 31, 677–699.Google Scholar
de Mooy, C.J., (1959). Notes on the geomorphic history of the area surrounding Lakes Alexandrina and Albert, South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 82, 99–118.Google Scholar
Dodson, J.R., (1974). Vegetation and climate history near Lake Keilambete, western Victoria. Australian Journal of Botany 22, 709–717.Google Scholar
Geddes, M.C., Butler, A.J., (1984). Physiochemical and biological studies on the Coorong Lagoons, South Australia, and the effect of salinity on the distribution of the macrobenthos. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 108, 51–62.Google Scholar
Gillespie, R., Polach, H.A., (1979). The suitability of marine shells for radiocarbon dating of Australian prehistory. Berger, R., Suess, H., Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Radiocarbon Dating University of California Press, Berkeley.404–421.Google Scholar
Lambeck, K., Nakada, M., (1990). Late Pleistocene and Holocene sea-level change along the Australian coast. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (Global and Planetary Change Section) 89, 143–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Q., McGowran, B., James, N.P., Bone, Y., Cann, J.H., (1966). Mixed foraminiferal biofacies on the mesotrophic, mid-latitude Lacepede Shelf, South Australia. Palaios 11, 176–191.Google Scholar
Li, Q., James, N.P., McGowran, B., Bone, Y., Cann, J.H., (1998). Synergetic influence of water masses and Kangaroo Island barrier on foraminiferal distribution, Lincoln and Lacepede shelves, South Australia: A synthesis. Alcheringa 22, 153–176.Google Scholar
Ludbrook, N.H., (1984). Quaternary Molluscs of South Australia.Google Scholar
McIntosh, M., (1949). The River Murray Barrages. Journal of Agriculture, South Australia 425–429.Google Scholar
Murray-Wallace, C.V., Belperio, A.P., Cann, J.H., (1998). Quaternary neotectonism and intra-plate volcanism: The Coorong to Mount Gambier Coastal Plain, southeastern Australia: A review. Stewart, I.S., Vita-Finzi, C., Coastal Tectonics Geological Society, London.255–267.Google Scholar
Oliver, H. G, Anderson, W. M., (1940). The Barrages at Mundoo, Boundary Creek, Ewe Island and Tauwitchere. Engineering and Water Supply Department, Adelaide., 23, pp.Google Scholar
Rowley, J.R., Dahl, A.O., (1956). Modifications in design and use of the Livingston piston sampler. Ecology 37, 849–851.Google Scholar
Smith, B.J., Kershaw, R.C., (1979). Field guide to the Non-marine molluscs of South Eastern Australia. Australian National University Press, Canberra.Google Scholar
von der Borch, C.C., Altmann, M., (1979). Holocene stratigraphy and evolution of the Cooke Plains embayment, a former extension of Lake Alexandrina, South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 103, 69–78.Google Scholar
Yassini, I., Jones, B.G., (1995). Recent Foraminifera and Ostracoda from Estuarine and Shelf Environments on the Southeastern Coast of Australia. University of Wollongong Press, Wollongong.Google Scholar