Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Radiocarbon dates and the genesis of phytogenic near-shore sediments on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, USA

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

St. Catherines Island consists of a complex association of Pleistocene and Holocene sediments. The geographic location of the island at the center of Georgia Bight, a prominent re-entrant in the coastline of the southeastern USA, has resulted in the development of a very complex depositional and erosional history. For over 40,000 years the island has experienced a variety of physical, biological, and anthropological changes brought about by climatic, biotic, depositional, and anthropogenic events. Sedimentary deposits have been studied using diverse research tracks including palynology, dendrology, sedimentology, geophysics, and radiocarbon chronology, as well as archaeological techniques. This research focused on the interpretation of environments of deposition of strata that are exposed within the present surf zone, yet which bear the distinct signatures of upland/inland environments of deposition. Data derived from Late Pleistocene and Holocene accumulations of peat and mollusc- and wood-bearing muddy strata of certain on-shore and near-shore origins reveal diverse events relating to shoreline dynamics, plant community changes, and net shoreward migration of this island during the Late Holocene.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bishop GA, Meyer BK (2011) Sea turtle habitat deterioration on St. Catherines Island, Georgia: defining the modern transgression. In: Bishop GA, Rollins HB, Thomas DH (eds) Geoarchaeology of St. Catherines Island, Georgia, vol 94. American Museum of Natural History Anthropological Papers, pp 271–296

  • Bishop GA, Hayes RH, Meyer BK, Rollins HE, Rich FJ, Thomas DH, Vance RK (2007) Transgressive barrier island features of St. Catherines Island, Georgia. In: Rich FJ (ed) Guide to fieldtrips—56th annual meeting. Southeastern Section of the Geological Society of America, Dept. of Geology and Geography Contributions Series, No. 1, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, 39-85

  • Bishop GA, Meyer BK, Vance RK, Rich FJ (2011) Geoarchaeological research at St. Catherines Island: defining the geological foundation. In: Bishop GA, Rollins HB, Thomas DH (eds) Geoarchaeology of St. Catherines Island, Georgia, vol 94. American Museum of Natural History Anthropological Papers, pp 79–98

  • Booth RK, Rich FJ (1999) Identification and paleoecological implications of a Late Pleistocene pteridophyte-dominated assemblage preserved in brown peat from St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Castanea 64(2):120–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Booth R, Rich FJ, Bishop GA (1999) Palynology and depositional history of Late Pleistocene and Holocene coastal sediments from St. Catherines Island, Georgia, USA. Palynology 23:67–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clemson Cooperative Extension (2012) All about peaches. http://www.clemson.edu/extension/peach/faq/index.html. Accessed 9 Aug 2012

  • Coile NC, Jones SB Jr (1988) Checklist of the vascular flora of St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Am Mus Novit 2920:1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Freinkel S (2007) American chestnut: the life, death, and rebirth of a perfect tree. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill K (2001) Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Quercu_virginic.htm. Accessed 8 May 2013

  • Hoyt J (1967) Barrier island formation. Geol Soc Am Bull 78:1125–1136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoyt J, Henry VJ Jr, Weimer RJ (1968) Age of Late-Pleistocene shoreline deposits, coastal Georgia. In: Wright HE Jr, Morrison RB (eds) Means of correlation of quaternary successions. Univ Utah Press, Salt Lake City, pp 381–393

    Google Scholar 

  • InsideWood (2004)-onwards. http://insidewood.lib.ncsu.edu/search

  • Kelly RL, Thomas DH (2010) Archaeology, 5th edn. Wadsworth Publishing, Belmont

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirwan ML, Murray AB, Donnelly JP, Corbett DR (2011) Rapid wetland expansion during European settlement and its implication for marsh survival under modern sediment delivery rates. Geology 39:507–510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linsley DM (1993) Depositional environments of St. Catherines Island: their relationship to late Quaternary sea-level changes and application to late Paleozoic cyclic stratigraphy. Dissertation, University of Pittsburg

  • Linsley D, Bishop GA, Rollins HB (2008) Stratigraphy and geologic evolution of St. Catherines Island. In: Thomas DH (ed) Native American landscapes of St. Catherines Island, Georgia, vol 1. The Theoretical Framework, American Museum of Natural History Anthropological Papers, No. 88, New York, pp 26–41

  • Meyer BK (2013) Shoreline dynamics and environmental change under the modern marine transgression: St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Dissertation, Georgia State University

  • Meyer BK, Bishop GA, Vance RK (2011) An evaluation of shoreline dynamics at St. Catherines Island, Georgia utilizing the digital shoreline analysis system (USGS). Southeastern Sect. Geol. Soc. Am., 60th Ann. Mtg, Wilmington

  • Meyer BK, Bishop GA, Vance RK, Deocampo DM (2012) Shoreline dynamics and environmental change under the modern transgression: St. Catherines Island, Georgia. In: Abstract with programs, Geol. Soc. Am. Ann. Mtg, Charlotte

  • Newsom LA, Quitmeyer I (1991) Archaeobotanical and faunal remains from Fig Springs Mission (8Co1). In: Weisman B (ed) Excavations on the Franciscan frontier: Fig Springs Mission. University Presses of Florida, Gainesville, pp 206–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Newsom LA, Trieu DA (2011) Fusion gardens: Native North America and the Columbian exchange. In: Smith BD (ed) Subsistence economies of indigenous North American societies: a handbook. Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, Lanham, pp 557–576

    Google Scholar 

  • Oosting HJ (1954) Ecological processes and vegetation of the maritime strand in the southeastern United States. Bot Rev 20:226–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panshin AJ, de Zeeuw C (1980) Textbook of wood technology: structure, identification, properties, and uses of the commercial woods of the United States and Canada, 4th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Puglisi MP (2008a) Crassostrea virginica: Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Crassostrea_virginica.htm. Accessed 23 July 2012

  • Puglisi MP (2008b) Geukensia demissa: Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Geukensia_demissa.htm. Accessed 23 July 2012

  • Record SJ, Hess RW (1942–1948) Keys to American woods. Trop Woods 72:19–29; 73:23–42; 75:8–26; 76:32–47; 85:1–19; 94:29–52

  • Rich FJ (1979) The origin and development of tree island in the Okefenokee Swamp, as determined by peat petrography and pollen stratigraphy. Dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University

  • Rich FJ, Pirkle FL (1998) Steinkerns as pollen traps. In: Bryant VM Jr, Wrenn JH (eds) New developments in palynomorph sampling, extraction, and analysis. Am Assoc. Strat Palyn Cont Series No. 33, AASP Foundation, Dallas, pp 87–94

  • Riggs SR (2011) The battle for North Carolina’s coast. Univ North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruhl D (1997) Oranges and wheat: Spanish attempts at agriculture in La Florida. Hist Arch 31:36–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruhl D (2003) Imagining sixteenth- and seventeenth-century North American and Hispanic transformations of the Georgia Bight landscapes. Bull Fla Mus Nat Hist 44(1):183–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanner WF (1991) The Gulf of Mexico later Holocene sea level curve and river delta history. Gulf Coast Assoc Geol Soc Trans 41:583–589

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanner WF (1992) Late Holocene sea-level changes from grain size data: evidence from the Gulf of Mexico. Holocene 2:249–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas DH (1988) St. Catherines, an island in time. Georgia History and Culture Series, Georgia Humanities Council, Atlanta

  • Thomas DH (2008) Radiocarbon dating on St. Catherines Island. In: Thomas DH (ed) Native American landscapes of St. Catherines Island, Georgia, vol II. The Data. American Museum of Natural History, Anthropology Papers, No. 88, New York, pp 345–371

  • Traverse A (2007) Paleopalynology, 2nd edn. Springer, New York, p 814

    Google Scholar 

  • US Army Corps of Engineers (1979) Water resources development, United States Army Corps of Engineers in Georgia. United States Army Corps of Engineers, South Atlantic Division, Atlanta

  • USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program (2013) Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?7912. Accessed 7 May 2013

  • Vince SW, Humphrey SR, Simons RW (1989) The ecology of hydric hammocks: a community profile. Biological Rep. 85(7.26). US Dept of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Research and Development, Washington, D.C

  • West RR, Rollins HB, Busch RM (1990) Taphonomy and an intertidal palimpsest surface: implication for the fossil record. In: Spenser RS (ed) Paleocommunity temporal dynamics: the long-term development of multispecies assemblies. The Paleontological Society Special Publication No. 5, pp 351–369

  • Wheeler EA, Pearson RG, LaPasha CA, Zack T, Hatley W (1986) Computer-aided wood identification. North Carolina Ag Rsch Serv Bull No. 474, NC State Univ

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to the St. Catherines Island Foundation for permitting travel to the island and for granting us permission to collect samples for analysis. Dr. Gale Bishop and Mr. Royce Hayes provided guidance and logistical support for completion of this effort, and the island staff offered welcome assistance during the process of fieldwork. Mr. Sam Kennedy offered much needed assistance as we collected sediment cores in March 2012; his assistance was indispensible.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, 30460, USA

    Fredrick J. Rich & R. Kelly Vance

  2. Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Lee Newsom

  3. Department of Geosciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA

    Brian Meyer

Authors
  1. Fredrick J. Rich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lee Newsom
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Brian Meyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. R. Kelly Vance
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fredrick J. Rich.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rich, F.J., Newsom, L., Meyer, B. et al. Radiocarbon dates and the genesis of phytogenic near-shore sediments on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, USA. Environ Earth Sci 72, 2985–2997 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3203-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3203-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation