Geophysics and Seismology Commons^™

Diatoms Of The Intertidal Environments Of Willapa Bay, Washington, Usa As A Sea-Level Indicator, Isabel Hong, Benjamin P. Horton, Andrea D. Hawkes, Robert J. O.Donnell Iii, Jason S. Padgett, Tina Dura, Simon E. Engelhart

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

An understanding of the modern relationship between diatom species and elevation is a prerequisite for using fossil diatoms to reconstruct relative sea level (RSL). We described modern diatom distributions from seven transects covering unvegetated subtidal environments to forested uplands from four tidal wetland sites (Smith Creek, Bone River, Niawiakum River, and Naselle River) of Willapa Bay, Washington, USA. We compared our diatom dataset (320 species from 104 samples) to a series of environmental variables (elevation, grain-size, total organic carbon (TOC_SOM), and porewater salinity) using hierarchical clustering and ordination. While no single variable consistently explains variations in diatom assemblages …