Late Pleistocene barrier-island sequence along the southern Delmarva Peninsula: Implications for middle Wisconsin sea levels

Authors

Kenneth Finkelstein, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Michael S. Kearney

Document Type

Article

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Publication Date

1988

Journal

Geology

Volume

16

Issue

1

First Page

41

Last Page

45

Abstract

Evidence for a middle Wisconsin sea-level high at or above modern limits along the east coast of the United States has long been controversial. Most reports have been dismissed as poorly dated or lacking unequivocal documentation of a marine transgression. We describe here a 14C-dated, middle Wisconsin transgressive sequence with an extant subaerial barrier facies along the southern Delmarva Peninsula. This sequence indicates that sea levels were near their present position between ca. 23 and 34 ka; it may correlate with other inferred similar-age littoral deposits of the area, and it suggests that the evidence for glacioeustatic fluctuations during the Wisconsin Glaciation should be reconsidered.

Recommended Citation

Finkelstein, Kenneth and Kearney, Michael S., Late Pleistocene barrier-island sequence along the southern Delmarva Peninsula: Implications for middle Wisconsin sea levels (1988). Geology, 16(1), 41-45.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsarticles/2186