none 10.2110/jsr.2009.079 Society for Sedimentary Geology Society for Sedimentary Geology 860 39381663 44378 2026052722561259000 10.2110 2026-05-28T02:56:28Z 2009-10-09T14:38:44Z 17 Journal of Sedimentary Research 1938-3681 1527-1404 10 2009 10 01 2009 10 01 2009 79 10 Alexander R. Simms 1Boone Pickens School of Geology, Oklahoma State University, 105 NRC, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074, U.S.A.; alex.simms@okstate.edu Niranjan Aryal 2Boone Pickens School of Geology, Oklahoma State University, 105 NRC, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074, U.S.A.; present address: Schlumberger, 1325 S. Dairy Ashford, Houston, Texas 77077, U.S.A. Yusuke Yokoyama 3Ocean Research Institute and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tokyo, 1-15-1 Minami-dai, Tokyo 164-8639, Japan; Institute for Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan Hiroyuki Matsuzaki 4Department of Nuclear Engineering and Management, University of Tokyo, 113-0034 Tokyo, Japan Regina Dewitt 5Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, 145 Physical Sciences II, Stillwater, Oklahoma, 74078, U.S.A. Abstract Small lakes and ponds along the margins of estuaries and lagoons contain valuable records of paleo–sea level, past storm frequencies, and climatic change. Critical to their use in such studies is an understanding of their evolution. Using aerial photos, surveyed elevation profiles, and vibracores, we describe the geomorphic and stratigraphic evolution of ponds whose sedimentary floors range in elevation from −0.8 to +0.8 m above sea level on the margins of Baffin Bay in semiarid south Texas. These ponds are in various stages of evolution providing an excellent opportunity to study their formation. We see a three-stage evolution of (1) eolian deflation and creation of pond, (2) creation of a pathway to the open bay via headward-eroding gullies, and (3) open communication with the bay via a small tidal inlet. Each of these stages of evolution has a unique sedimentary facies associated with it. Combined with elevation and age control, the sedimentary facies from these ponds and two other cores from adjacent Baffin Bay are used to evaluate a proposed mid-Holocene sea-level highstand within the Gulf of Mexico. Deposits from these cores suggest that Holocene sea level in the Gulf of Mexico did not reach above +0.4 m and did not reach above −1.2 m until sometime after 5.6 ka. Algal mats from cores in Baffin Bay suggest sea level was −7.6 ± 1.1 m 5.6 ka. The sea-level constraints suggested by these ponds are in agreement with more traditional reconstructions of sea level since the mid-Holocene within the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to testing a higher-than-present mid-Holocene highstand within the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, we also provide an evolutionary model for the development of these ponds illustrating the important interaction between eolian and estuarine processes. 10 2009 10 01 2009 10 01 2009 757 772 10.2110/jsr.2009.079 https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/jsedres/article/79/10/757/145230/Insights-on-a-Proposed-Mid-Holocene-Highstand https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/jsedres/article-pdf/79/10/757/2824206/757.pdf https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/jsedres/article-pdf/79/10/757/2824206/757.pdf http://jsedres.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/doi/10.2110/jsr.2009.079 Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions Alaniz 24 308 1974 Recent sediments of a hypersaline estuarine bay Quaternary Science Reviews Anderson 21 49 2002 10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00083-X The Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum and its subsequent retreat history: a review Marine Geology Angulo 159 323 1999 10.1016/S0025-3227(98)00204-7 Relative sea-level changes in the last 5500 years in southern Brazil (Laguna–Imbituba region, Santa Catarina State) based on vermetid 14C ages Depositional History of Upper Baffin Bay, Texas Aryal 116 2007 Indians of the Upper Texas Coast Aten 370 1983 Behrens 7 1963 Buried Pleistocene river valleys in Aransas and Baffin Bays, Texas Science Behrens 152 642 1966 10.1126/science.152.3722.642 Recent emerged beach in eastern Mexico Contributions to Marine Science Behrens 11 168 1966 Surface salinities for Baffin Bay and Laguna Madre, Texas Journal of Geology Behrens 79 94 1971 10.1086/627590 Stable carbon isotopes in blue-green algal mats Journal of Sedimentary Petrology Behrens 42 155 1972 10.1306/74D724C3-2B21-11D7-8648000102C1865D Subtidal Holocene dolomite, Baffin Bay, Texas Quaternary Science Reviews Bentley 24 1203 2005 10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.10.004 Relative sea level curves for the South Shetland Islands and Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula Geological Society of America, Bulletin Bloom 78 1477 1967 10.1130/0016-7606(1967)78[1477:PSANTO]2.0.CO;2 Pleistocene shorelines: a new test of isostasy Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions Blum 53 64 2003 Middle Holocene sea-level and evolution of the Gulf of Mexico Coast Journal of Sedimentary Research Blum 71 581 2001 10.1306/112100710581 Middle Holocene sea-level rise and highstand at +2 m, Texas Gulf Coast Geology Blum 36 675 2008 10.1130/G24728A.1 Ups and downs of the Mississippi Delta Sedimentary Geology Bourrouilh-Le Jan 199 29 2007 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.12.032 Very high energy sedimentation (supratidal hurricane deposits) and mid-Holocene highstand on carbonate platforms, Andros, Bahamas: An alternative view Environmental Geologic Atlas of the Texas Coastal Zone—Kingsville Area Brown 131 1977 Journal of Sedimentary Research Buynevich 73 559 2003 10.1306/121802730559 High-resolution subsurface (GPR) imaging and sedimentology of coastal ponds, Maine, U.S.A.: implications for Holocene back-barrier evolution Nature Chappell 302 406 1983 10.1038/302406a0 Evidence for smoothly falling sea level relative to north Queensland, Australia, during the past 6,000 yr Quaternary Research Clark 9 265 1978 10.1016/0033-5894(78)90033-9 Global changes in postglacial sea level: a numerical calculation Sedimentology Compton 54 55 2007 10.1111/j.1365-3091.2006.00826.x Holocene evolution of the Anichab Pan on the south-west coast of Namibia Sedimentology and Geochemistry of Modern and Ancient Saline Lakes Coshell 173 1994 10.2110/pec.94.50.0173 Stratigraphy and Holocene history of Lake Hayward, Swan coastal plain wetlands, Western Australia Recent Sediments, Northwestern Gulf of Mexico Curray 221 1960 10.1306/SV21353C9 Sediments and history of Holocene transgression, continental shelf, northwestern Gulf of Mexico Dalrymple, D.W. , 1964, Recent Sedimentary Facies of Baffin Bay, Texas [Ph.D. dissertation]: Rice University: Houston, Texas, 192 p. 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