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Late Holocene History of the Central Texas Coast from Galveston Island to Pass Cavallo

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Late Holocene History of the Central Texas Coast from Galveston Island to Pass Cavallo Late Holocene history of the Central Texas coast from Galveston Island to Pass Cavallo BRUCE H. WILKINSON Department of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 ROBERT A. BASSE Department of Geology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 ABSTRACT tidal passes. Unlike Follets Island and Matagorda Peninsula, Gal- veston and Matagorda Islands are progradational barriers which Mid-Holocene fades underlying Matagorda Peninsula and Gal- have been built gulfward over the past several thousand years. veston Island record a complex history of transgressive and regres- The climate of this region is humid subtropical. Surface winds sive fluvial, deltaic, and estuarine sedimentation along the central are primarily onshore from the south-southeast. Net longshore Texas coast. Data from 80 borings and jet-down holes reveal a dis- drift along this coastal segment is to the southwest. similar sequence of depositional events for northeastern and The drainage pattern of the central Texas coast is dominated by southwestern Matagorda Peninsula. Along northeastern Mat- two major rivers and several lesser streams. The largest, the Brazos agorda Peninsula and the area now occupied by the Colorado- River, has occupied and abandoned several meander belts within its Brazos delta plain, all major river valleys were flooded during the alluvial plain. It abandoned the Oyster Creek ~ 1,000 yr ago (Ber- Holocene transgression; gulfward, a barrier system developed and nard and others, 1970). The Colorado River has undergone a simi- was driven landward by rising sea level. As the rate of sea-level rise lar westward shift. Prior to a few hundred years ago, the Colorado decreased, the Colorado and Brazos Rivers completely filled their River flowed within a broad alluvial valley now occupied by Caney common estuary and prograded across ancestral Matagorda and Creek (LeBlanc and Hodgson, 1959). This flow was captured by a West Bays. Deltaic progradation terminated after the landward- headward-eroding stream (McGowen and others, 1976b) and migrating barrier system overrode the delta front; at that time, sed- began discharging into the north end of Matagorda Bay. The delta iment was delivered directly to the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly thereaf- of the modern Colorado River developed in a relatively short ter, beach and shoreface progradation began along barrier island period of time, having prograded across Matagorda Bay between systems lateral to the now rapidly eroding deltaic headland. This 1929 and 1935 (Wadsworth, 1966; Kanes, 1970). Unlike other riv- was accompanied by renewed deposition of estuarine mud in ers of the central Texas coast, the Colorado and Brazos Rivers have Matagorda and West Bays. drainage basins that extend northwest across the entire state, cross- Fades underlying southwestern Matagorda Peninsula indicate ing extensive exposures of Permo-Triassic red beds. As a result, Pass Cavallo was initially established over the axis of the Lavaca mud carried by these rivers has a distinctive reddish color. For most River valley. Southwestward migration of the pass accompanied by of the past 10,000 yr, the ancestral Brazos River (Oyster Creek) landward migration of the barrier peninsula has resulted in a well- and the ancestral Colorado River (Caney Creek) occupied a com- preserved fades tract of bay, distal and proximal flood tidal delta, mon alluvial valley and discharged into a common estuary. and spit-related sediments now underlying this coastal segment. With the exception of the alluvial plain sediments of the Modern physiographic features, as well as rates of shoreline ero- Colorado-Brazos system, the central Texas coast consists of late sion and recession, are directly related to these middle and late Pleistocene deltaic sediments (Bernard and others, 1970; McGo- Holocene depositional events. wen and others, 1976a). These deposits were dissected, oxidized, and calichified during the Wisconsin lowstand of the Gulf of INTRODUCTION Mexico. The subsequent Holocene transgressive sequence that composes and underlies Matagorda Peninsula rests upon this The central Texas coast consists of several major physiographic weathered surface. Pleistocene sediments extend from the mainland provinces. The central part of the area consists of a fluvial-deltaic shoreline out under the modern gulf, where they are buried under a complex of sediments deposited by the Colorado and Brazos Rivers thin blanket of recent sediment. during the latter stages of the Holocene transgression. The Data on the thickness and distribution of facies underlying bar- shoreline along this area projects gulfward as a bulge (Fig. 1) and riers of the central Texas coast from Bernard and others (1970), experiences some of the highest erosion rates observed along the Wilkinson (1975), and the present study, permit a reconstruction of Texas coast. Two barrier peninsulas extend laterally from this the important depositional and erosional events that have given rise headland: Follets Island to the northeast and Matagorda Peninsula to the present physiography of this coastal segment. to the southwest. Both of these peninsulas are also actively eroding For the purpose of this discussion, the area has been divided into (McGowen and Brewton, 1975; Morton and Piper, 1975) and have two parts: the first extends from northwestern Matagorda Penin- been for the past several thousand years. Two barrier islands, Gal- sula to Galveston Island, and the second extends from southwest- veston and Matagorda Island, are separated from the peninsulas by ern Matagorda Peninsula across Pass Cavallo to Matagorda Island. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 89, p. 1592-1600, 9 figs., October 1978, Doc. no. 81013. 1592 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/89/10/1592/3429527/i0016-7606-89-10-1592.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 0 15 30 Km i PLEISTOCENE MID HOLOCENE LATE HOLOCENE 1 I Deltaic Sand and Mud WH?;--- Fluvial-deltaic Sand and Mud 3 Marsh Mud Strandplain Sand Barrier Island Sand Deltaic Sand Holes and Line of Section Figure 1. Simplified geologic map of central Texas coast showing location of borings and jet-down holes and line of section. Modified from Brown and Fisher (1974), McGowen and others (1976a, 1976b), and Bernard and others (1970). Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/89/10/1592/3429527/i0016-7606-89-10-1592.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 1594 WILKINSON AND BASSE NORTHEASTERN MATAGORDA PENINSULA rectly on the oxidized Pleistocene surface, is a gray, sparsely fos- siliferous estuarine mud. The contact with the underlying stiff Pleis- Matagorda Peninsula is a narrow, shell-rich barrier separating tocene mud is always sharp and well defined. Where not dissected the Gulf of Mexico from Matagorda Bay. It is an erosional barrier by valleys cut into the weathered surface, this contact gradually which has continued to recede landward over the past several rises from depths of 12 m northeast of Maverick Bayou to depths of thousand years. This retreat results from bayward transport of 4 m southwest of Brown Cedar Cut. This rise in elevation reflects barrier sediment during storms. The numerous hurricane surge the configuration of the Pleistocene surface prior to "Wisconsin low- channels that cross the peninsula normal to the gulf shoreline attest ering of sea level. The gray mud unit is largely confined to the major to the frequency of this catastrophic process. valley underlying the modern course of the Colorado River and to Fifty jet-down holes along the margin of the bay and thirty smaller valleys to the southwest. But, the gray estuarine mud did logs of borings, provided by the Corps of Engineers through fades not bury interdrainage highs during its deposition. The lack of even now underlying the barrier sands, provide a wealth of data on thin blankets of this sediment on these highs suggests they may Holocene depositional events in this area. have been subaerially exposed during deposition in lateral flooded valleys. Fades Distribution The gray mud fades is overlain by a homogeneous reddish- brown prodelta mud of the ancestral Colorado and Brazos Rivers. Northeastern Matagorda Peninsula from Greens Bayou to It is notably fine-grained, contains little sand, and is only sparsely Brown Cedar Cut is underlain by a laterally continuous sequence of fossiliferous. Where present, the fauna is typically estuarine. The Holocene fades (Fig. 2). The late Pleistocene surface in this area has contact with the lower gray mud is relatively sharp and distinct. been dissected by two major river valleys. The modern Colorado Like the Pleistocene-Holocene contact, the surface separating these River overlies a narrow valley that is in excess of 30 m deep. The two units rises from the southwest to the northeast. Under Greens maximum depth of this valley is unknown; a hole located south- Bayou, the contact is encountered at 18 m; under Brown Cedar west of the valley axis penetrated 30 m of Holocene estuarine mud. Cut, the contact is at 9 m. This fades forms a continuous blanket An unknown thickness of transgressive fluvial and deltaic sediment under most of Matagorda Peninsula and thickens to the southwest that underlies this mud was not encountered. where it interfingers with a flood tidal delta sequence. The other major river valley was incised by the ancestral It in turn is overlain by an upper gray estuarine mud lithologi- Colorado-Brazos fluvial system. This valley system is poorly cally similar
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