Coastal flooding and the 1861-2 California storm season

Laura C. Reynolds; Alexander R. Simms; Ana Ejarque; Baird King; R. Scott Anderson; Joseph A. Carlin; J. Michael Bentz; Thomas K. Rockwell; Robert Peters

doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2018.02.005

Coastal flooding and the 1861-2 California storm season

Laura C. Reynolds, Alexander R. Simms, Ana Ejarque, Baird King, R. Scott Anderson, Joseph A. Carlin, J. Michael Bentz, Thomas K. Rockwell, Robert Peters

Earth and Sustainability

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

A series of large storms attributed to Atmospheric River conditions struck the California coast in the winter of 1861-2. Although historical accounts document inland flooding, little is known about how the 1861-2 storms impacted the now heavily-developed California coast. Here we show that the 1861-2 storms emplaced a deposit of beach sand up to 50 cm thick over 450 m inland within a southern California salt marsh. This deposit is unprecedented in the post-European sediments of the marsh and more extensive than that derived from any other historical event. It is comparable in scale to hurricane and tsunami washover fans in back-barrier environments along other coastlines. The presence of overwash deposits in Carpinteria suggests that the 1861-2 storm season was erosive enough to remove coastal barriers, allowing for inundation of parts of the coastline currently developed. Efforts to prepare for a recurrence of an 1861-2-like storm season should address potential coastal impacts; likewise, interpretations of past washover deposits should consider these unusually prolonged stormy periods in addition to hurricane and tsunami inundation.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	49-59
Number of pages	11
Journal	Marine Geology
Volume	400
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2018.02.005
State	Published - Jun 1 2018

Keywords

Atmospheric rivers
Estuaries (morphology and stratigraphy)
Estuarine processes
Geochronology
NE Pacific
Storms and their deposits

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Oceanography
Geology
Geochemistry and Petrology

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10.1016/j.margeo.2018.02.005

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@article{4a65b16cd6c34171b3666fd4858f7390,

title = "Coastal flooding and the 1861-2 California storm season",

abstract = "A series of large storms attributed to Atmospheric River conditions struck the California coast in the winter of 1861-2. Although historical accounts document inland flooding, little is known about how the 1861-2 storms impacted the now heavily-developed California coast. Here we show that the 1861-2 storms emplaced a deposit of beach sand up to 50 cm thick over 450 m inland within a southern California salt marsh. This deposit is unprecedented in the post-European sediments of the marsh and more extensive than that derived from any other historical event. It is comparable in scale to hurricane and tsunami washover fans in back-barrier environments along other coastlines. The presence of overwash deposits in Carpinteria suggests that the 1861-2 storm season was erosive enough to remove coastal barriers, allowing for inundation of parts of the coastline currently developed. Efforts to prepare for a recurrence of an 1861-2-like storm season should address potential coastal impacts; likewise, interpretations of past washover deposits should consider these unusually prolonged stormy periods in addition to hurricane and tsunami inundation.",

keywords = "Atmospheric rivers, Estuaries (morphology and stratigraphy), Estuarine processes, Geochronology, NE Pacific, Storms and their deposits",

author = "Reynolds, {Laura C.} and Simms, {Alexander R.} and Ana Ejarque and Baird King and Anderson, {R. Scott} and Carlin, {Joseph A.} and Bentz, {J. Michael} and Rockwell, {Thomas K.} and Robert Peters",

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by the Southern California Earthquake Center (Contribution No. 7060) and the Santa Barbara Coastal Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project. SCEC is funded by NSF Cooperative Agreement EAR-1033462 & USGS Cooperative Agreement G12AC20038. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-1144085. We would like to thank our field helpers, as well as Andrew Brooks, David Griggs, Paul-Valentich Scott, Lorraine Lisiecki, Bruce Jaffee, Bruce Richmond, and Michael Adamson. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Elsevier B.V.",

year = "2018",

month = jun,

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doi = "10.1016/j.margeo.2018.02.005",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "400",

pages = "49--59",

journal = "Marine Geology",

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T1 - Coastal flooding and the 1861-2 California storm season

AU - Reynolds, Laura C.

AU - Simms, Alexander R.

AU - Ejarque, Ana

AU - King, Baird

AU - Anderson, R. Scott

AU - Carlin, Joseph A.

AU - Bentz, J. Michael

AU - Rockwell, Thomas K.

AU - Peters, Robert

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by the Southern California Earthquake Center (Contribution No. 7060) and the Santa Barbara Coastal Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project. SCEC is funded by NSF Cooperative Agreement EAR-1033462 & USGS Cooperative Agreement G12AC20038. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-1144085. We would like to thank our field helpers, as well as Andrew Brooks, David Griggs, Paul-Valentich Scott, Lorraine Lisiecki, Bruce Jaffee, Bruce Richmond, and Michael Adamson. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2018/6/1

Y1 - 2018/6/1

N2 - A series of large storms attributed to Atmospheric River conditions struck the California coast in the winter of 1861-2. Although historical accounts document inland flooding, little is known about how the 1861-2 storms impacted the now heavily-developed California coast. Here we show that the 1861-2 storms emplaced a deposit of beach sand up to 50 cm thick over 450 m inland within a southern California salt marsh. This deposit is unprecedented in the post-European sediments of the marsh and more extensive than that derived from any other historical event. It is comparable in scale to hurricane and tsunami washover fans in back-barrier environments along other coastlines. The presence of overwash deposits in Carpinteria suggests that the 1861-2 storm season was erosive enough to remove coastal barriers, allowing for inundation of parts of the coastline currently developed. Efforts to prepare for a recurrence of an 1861-2-like storm season should address potential coastal impacts; likewise, interpretations of past washover deposits should consider these unusually prolonged stormy periods in addition to hurricane and tsunami inundation.

AB - A series of large storms attributed to Atmospheric River conditions struck the California coast in the winter of 1861-2. Although historical accounts document inland flooding, little is known about how the 1861-2 storms impacted the now heavily-developed California coast. Here we show that the 1861-2 storms emplaced a deposit of beach sand up to 50 cm thick over 450 m inland within a southern California salt marsh. This deposit is unprecedented in the post-European sediments of the marsh and more extensive than that derived from any other historical event. It is comparable in scale to hurricane and tsunami washover fans in back-barrier environments along other coastlines. The presence of overwash deposits in Carpinteria suggests that the 1861-2 storm season was erosive enough to remove coastal barriers, allowing for inundation of parts of the coastline currently developed. Efforts to prepare for a recurrence of an 1861-2-like storm season should address potential coastal impacts; likewise, interpretations of past washover deposits should consider these unusually prolonged stormy periods in addition to hurricane and tsunami inundation.

KW - Atmospheric rivers

KW - Estuaries (morphology and stratigraphy)

KW - Estuarine processes

KW - Geochronology

KW - NE Pacific

KW - Storms and their deposits

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DO - 10.1016/j.margeo.2018.02.005

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SN - 0025-3227

VL - 400

SP - 49

EP - 59

JO - Marine Geology

JF - Marine Geology

ER -

Coastal flooding and the 1861-2 California storm season

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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