Holocene sediment budgets of the Rhine Delta (The Netherlands): a record of changing sediment delivery

Abstract

Holocene sedimentation in the Rhine-Meuse Delta is facilitated by sea-level rise and tectonics, but most important is the result of the sediment flux received through rivers from the hinterland. The majority of Rhine and Meuse sediment entering the delta was trapped between the apex and coastal barrier, at least during the Middle and Late Holocene. It is not known how much sediment was delivered to the delta over longer periods of time (>100 years), or how delivery rates vary over millennial time scales. Increased amounts of sedimentation owing to human land-use change (on top of climatic variability) are expected, but so far it has not been possible to quantify that impact or to establish since when it has been significant. Based on a multitude of subsurface data (borehole database, complementary digital maps, radiocarbon dates), deposited volumes for successive 1000-year time slices spanning the Holocene have been calculated.