Abstract/Description/Artist Statement
Hurricanes are hazardous and costly events that annually negatively impact people that live in coastal areas in North America. The current observational record of hurricanes is short (1970- present) and does not offer insight into the effects of climate change on hurricane frequency. One method of improving and extending our observational record of hurricanes is to reconstruct paleohurricanes using sediment cores. These cores record hurricane activity in the form of coarse-grained overwash layers that are deposited when hurricanes move sand from beaches into backbarrier ponds. In this project, we analyzed sediment cores from Atlantic Canada to locate coarse-grained storm layers left behind by ancient hurricanes. Our sediment core was collected from Holyrood Pond on the southern shore of the Canadian province of Newfoundland. We identified storm layers in our core by sieving at one centimeter intervals at 125 microns. Radiocarbon dating suggests that our core from Holyrood Pond extends back 5000 years, with each centimeter representing approximately 29 years of deposition. Clustering of storm layers in time represent periods of increased hurricane activity. Using our new reconstruction and our current knowledge of the climate during the past 5000 years, we can determine trends in hurricane activity relating to climate change in the past to better predict changes in the future.
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Elizabeth Wallace
Faculty Advisor/Mentor Email
ejwallac@odu.edu
Faculty Advisor/Mentor Department
Department of Ocean & Earth Sciences
College/School Affiliation
College of Sciences
Student Level Group
Undergraduate
Presentation Type
Poster
Included in
Reconstructing 5000 Years of Hurricane Activity in Holyrood Pond Using Sediment Core Analysis
Hurricanes are hazardous and costly events that annually negatively impact people that live in coastal areas in North America. The current observational record of hurricanes is short (1970- present) and does not offer insight into the effects of climate change on hurricane frequency. One method of improving and extending our observational record of hurricanes is to reconstruct paleohurricanes using sediment cores. These cores record hurricane activity in the form of coarse-grained overwash layers that are deposited when hurricanes move sand from beaches into backbarrier ponds. In this project, we analyzed sediment cores from Atlantic Canada to locate coarse-grained storm layers left behind by ancient hurricanes. Our sediment core was collected from Holyrood Pond on the southern shore of the Canadian province of Newfoundland. We identified storm layers in our core by sieving at one centimeter intervals at 125 microns. Radiocarbon dating suggests that our core from Holyrood Pond extends back 5000 years, with each centimeter representing approximately 29 years of deposition. Clustering of storm layers in time represent periods of increased hurricane activity. Using our new reconstruction and our current knowledge of the climate during the past 5000 years, we can determine trends in hurricane activity relating to climate change in the past to better predict changes in the future.