A 1900-year paleohurricane record from Wassaw Island, Georgia, USA

Abstract

We present here the first paleotempestology record from Wassaw Island on the Georgia Bight, located in the south Atlantic coast of the United States. In the historical period, the Georgia Bight has experienced less frequent hits by hurricanes than other locations along the US Gulf and Atlantic coasts. The 1900-year record inferred from the overwash sand layers from a back-barrier marsh on Wassaw Island suggests that the island was directly struck by major storms on nine occasions during this interval. The Wassaw Island record shows alternating regimes, with periods of increased activity from >2000 a BP until ∼1100 a BP, and ∼100 a BP until the present, sandwiching a quiet period from ∼1100 to 250 a BP. Storm deposits from the most recent active period are perhaps amalgamated, indicating that site-specific conditions may result in event undercounting and suggests that the relative thickness of sand layers in the sedimentary record is not always indicative of hurricane strength. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.