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[Gallery Photo]

Danube delta on a satellite image. White lines indicate individual lobes: 1 - Sf. Gheorghe I; 2 - Sulina; and 3 - Sf. Gheorghe II are wave-dominated; 4 (a,b,c) - Chilia is river-dominated. The red line indicates the hypothetical barrier (the "initial spit" ) that barred the Danube estuary in the estuarine phase of the delta. Also shown are successive development phases of barriers separating a lagoon system from the open sea at the south of the delta. Circles indicate archeological remains of Neolithic, Greek, and Roman settlements (in red the most important Greek colony in the region: Histria).

COI Funded Project: Reconstructing Shoreline Changes in Danube Delta

Liviu Giosan and Jeffrey Donnelly,

Project Funded: 2003
Keywords: Shoreline Dynamics, River Deltas, Wave Climate, Sea Level Changes, Black Sea, Stratigraphy, Danube River

Proposed Research

The abundant resources of river deltas have made them important for human civilizations; however, deltas are now in peril due to a variety of human pressures. In this study the specific threat of increase in wave dominance will be addressed. Higher energy waves are hitting most coasts as a consequence of a climate change-induced increase in storminess. We want to understand in detail how a delta evolves in a regime of extreme wave-dominance. In Danube delta evolution of several lobes under wave-dominance has strongly influenced shoreline dynamics and coastal human civilizations from ancient Greek colonies till today. We will explore the temporal evolution of the delta by subsurface imaging with a ground-penetrating radar and by dating basal peats recovered by coring. The apparent architectural simplicity of Danube delta's asymmetric lobes makes it a valuable test case for the nascent deltaic numerical models. Moreover, the same simplicity and continuity of sedimentation in a strongly prograding environment makes the Danube delta a potential prime paleoevironmental archive.

We propose to provide an initial chronostratigraphy by dating basal peats recovered in Danube Delta by coring and augering. The land-based component of this study will also include subsurface imaging via a ground-penetrating radar. Wave dominance in Danube Delta evolution has strungly influenced shoreline dynamics and coastal human civilizations since ancient times and presents a good an alog for deltaic shoreline dynamics in the conditions of increased wave-dominance and reduced river sediment discharge. The apparent stratigraphical simplicity of Danube delta's asymmetric lobes makes it a valuable test case for the nascent deltaic numerical models. Moreover, the same simplicity and continuity of sedimentation in a strongly prograding environment makes the Danube Delta a potential prime paleoenvironmental archive. However, the chronology of the delta development is largely unconstrained, hampering these opportunities.

Originally published: January 25, 2003