inner shelf. However, radiocarbon- darned shallow-water samples of comparable 

 age suggest a strong seaward tilt of the outer continental shelf. The outer 

 shelf over the Baltimore Canyon trough geosyncline has subsided approximately 

 40 m in the last 10,000 years. (Authors). 



014 BELKNAP, D. F., ANDERSEN, B. G., ANDERSON, R. S., ANDERSON, W. A., 

 BORNS, H. W., JR., JACOBSON, G. L. , KELLEY, J. T., SHIPP, C. R. , SMITH, D. C.. 

 STUCKERNATH, R. , JR., THOMPSON, W. B., and TYLER, D. A. 1987. "Late 

 Quaternary Sea-Level Changes in Maine," Nummedal , D., Pilkey, O.H., and 

 Howard, J.D., eds . , Sea-Level Fluctuations and Coastal Evolution . Special 

 Publication No. 41, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, 

 Tulsa, OK, pp 71-86. 



On the Maine coast, evidence of local relative sea- level 12.5 ka is now 

 exposed 60-80 m above present sea- level. At that time, eustatic sea- level was 

 at least 70 m below present in most parts of the world. The difference is due 

 to isostatic depression of the Maine coast by the weight of glacial ice. 

 During deglaciation, the sea advanced inland in contact with the retreating 

 margin of the marine-based ice sheet. Due to isostatic rebound and the 

 contours of the land, the ice sheet grounded as much as 150 km inland of the 

 present coast, glaciomarine deltas formed, and the transgression reached a 

 stillstand at what is termed the upper marine limit. Due to differential 

 tilting during rebound, this marine limit is now over 132 m in elevation at 

 its farthest inlet extent. As rebound became dominant, sea- level reached to 

 65 m below present at about 9.5 ka. At that time rebound slowed to about the 

 same rate as that of eustatic sea- level rise. Shorelines were cut and deltas 

 were formed at this lower marine stillstand position. Subsequently, eustatic 

 rise became the predominant mode. Radiocarbon dates on fossil marine mollusks 

 provide timing for this onlap and of flap. 



From 7.0 ka to the present, radiocarbon dates on wood and salt marsh 

 peats provide a relatively precise sea- level curve. During the period 4.2-1.5 

 ka, sea- level rose at 1.22 m/1 , 000 years. Before that period, it may have 

 risen more than twice as fast. After 1.5 ka, it slowed to half the mid- late 

 Holocene rate. Recent tide-gage records show an acceleration in rate to 2-3 

 mm/year for the past 40 years. Releveling, tide gages, and other evidence 

 (Anderson and others, 1984) suggest that the coast is being warped downward to 

 the east possible due to non-glacially induced neotectonics . (Authors). 



015 BELKNAP, D. F., and KRAFT, J. C. 1981. "Preservation Potential of 

 Transgressive Coastal Lithosomes on the U.S. Atlantic Shelf," Marine Geology . 

 Vol 42, pp 429-442. 



Migration of coastal lithosomes across the continental shelf is a 

 response to the latest Quaternary rise in sea- level. Variable fractions of 

 the transgressive sequence may be preserved, depending on pre-existing 

 topography, depth of erosion, wave energy, sediment supply, erosion 

 resistance, tidal range, and rate of relative sea- level change. Materials at 

 greater depth in the stratigraphic column are more likely to be preserved. 

 Sediment samples, seismic profiles, and bathymetric observations, indicate 



