When the river meets the sea: Transport and provenance in a long-lived estuary

Abstract

Unravelling source-to-sink relationships of sediment in coastal regions can be particularly challenging due to a variety of transport directions and mixing within varying local environments in response to sea level fluctuations. Post-glacial sea level rise in the Holocene has resulted in the flooding of former continental margins, locally leading to the separation of islands such as Rottnest in southwest Australia. Rottnest lies approximately 20 km offshore from the mouth of the Swan River, one of the largest permanent river systems across thousands of kilometres of west Australian coastline. In this contribution, we investigate the size, U–Pb age distribution and α-dose values of detrital zircon grains within 13 sand samples collected from three upstream tributaries that drain the Archean Yilgarn Craton, the Swan River estuary, offshore waters surrounding Rottnest Island and modern beaches. We explore sediment derivation, storage and mixing on this passive margin. Carbonate–silicate sands of the region contain detrital zircon with Archean, Mesoproterozoic and Cambro-Neoproterozoic age modes, reflecting regional crystalline basement. Eo- to Paleoarchean zircon grains, including a previously enigmatic >3500 Ma component, are traced from offshore into the estuary, and specifically the Avon River tributary. Detrital mixing models imply an overall fluvial contribution to the estuary and offshore systems of up to 50–65%. By contrast, modern beach samples are dominated by Swan Coastal Plain recycled sediment of up to 96%. The α-dose values of the prominent 3300–3150 Ma age component suggest more efficient fluvial discharge in the Paleo-Swan River than in more recent times. Modern estuary samples have lower average and progressively lower downstream zircon α-dose values, consistent with prolonged chemical and physical reworking and loss of metamict grains with transport distance in the river. We conclude that fluvial drainage networks distribute a locally persistent catchment signal whilst coastal plains in tectonically quiescent settings appear characterized by sediment reprocessing and mixed provenance.