Holocene evolution of an irregularly sinking coast: the interplay of eustasy, neotectonics and sediment supply

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The target of the research is the development of a consistent space-time-model of the evolution of the southern Baltic coast between Trave river and the Oder lagoon. The investigations focus on the period from 8000 calendar years BC to the present, i.e. on the time since the onset of the Litorina transgression. In three time slices the course of the relative sea-level rise, the proportions of eustatic and neotectonic components, the character, magnitude and periodicity of sea-level oscillations and the temporal distribution of storm flood deposits (tempestitic layers) have to be investigated from radiocarbon dated sediment cores. The focus is on sites characterized by different rates of submergence, which enables to develop local shoreline displacement curves with varying portions of neotectonic movements. Conclusions about the stationarity of these processes, the temporal distribution of flood events and the climate driven changes of the coastal landscape will be the result. The facies architecture of the main Holocene coastal structures as spits, barrier spits, sand planes, and lagoons has to be identified by means of drilling and geophysical methods. This allows the three dimensional modelling of the coastal structure and the calculation of its volume with geostatistical methods for particular points of time. Relating these volumes to different phases of the sea-level oscillations and their extent should provide new insights about the provenience of the material, the rates of morphological change and allows - in parts and depending on climate predictions - conclusions how the coast will change in the future.